A Singular Matter
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19; Hebrews 11:29-12:2, Luke 12:49-56
Rev. Tiare L. Mathison, Pastor & Soul-Tender
In presbytery meetings, when there is a serious issue before the body, a member will call for ‘a division of the house’, that is, to tally the numbers of votes on either side. It has been suggested I should ask this of you all today: how many want to discuss this text and how many would prefer a sweeter one?
This is one of those texts that I describe as being ‘slayed’ by the Word. We just shared the great gift of Christ’s peace with one another, as we do each week, only now to hear “I’ve come to bring fire to the earth, division, you hypocrites!” Wow, okay. What is this? (Pause)
This is our opportunity to wrestle with a God of substance, who has a missional agenda. Jesus has NOT come to verify and validate human institutions, no matter how much we enjoy the credibility and power of our own creations. Rather, Jesus has come to initiate and complete God’s will. He set His eyes toward Jerusalem - knowing full well what is to come. His baptism of fire - is it a fire of Pentecost or the Refiner’s fire, burning the chaff from the wheat? And where does judgment land on us? Are we the hypocrites of our day?
Honestly, what really helps is that in our liturgy we say a prayer of confession every week. We are well practiced in knowing the real-life failures and limits of our own good behavior, resentments we hold, sins that cling so close and we repeat each and every day; our practice of being right rather than forgiving; and the immeasurable grace that comes with 6 simple words: IN JESUS CHRIST WE ARE FORGIVEN. It makes it possible to run the race of our lives set before us. And to grasp, in some measure, how deep and broad is the severing of God’s reordering of life in Jesus Christ. The fire cleanses…
Jesus is here to enact God’s radical agenda, the absolute disruption of all human institutions and our place in them. It is mid-August, but you can imagine we are on the edge of Holy Week.
A Singular Matter
Yes indeed, there is division - in households, in political parties, in churches - for some react to the gospel of Jesus with derision, dismissive of God’s claim as Creator and Sustainer of all that is and is to come. Especially because the way in which Jesus dies is so common; in our day He might just be shot on the street by the powers and principalities. How is it possible that His death has any meaning? It is rather foolish to believe don’t you think?
Yeah, you could say it that way. But we all know that we have world views, our own cobbled together intellectual and emotional understandings of how it all began, what’s our place here, is there something or someone transcendent to all we can see and measure? “The kindom is yours,” Jesus says and we believe it and offer our deepest gratitude for being saved. We too see the cosmic battles acted out across the world, the fires that incinerate rather than cleanse. Our own rash judgments that blind us to Jesus’ call to build relationships with God and one another based in mercy, compassion and justice.
The stripping away of our self-powered aggrandizement is painful. Its like in the Chronicles of Narnia, when Aslan the lion/Christ figure lifts his great paw to begin to rip Eustace’s dragon scales away, to make him human again.
A Singular Matter
God’s missional agenda is the reconciliation of the world to Himself through the power of love to defeat evil and sin. Jesus will be immersed in suffering on our behalf, what is called the folly of the cross. His blood establishes our covenant of grace that is permanent, generous and not subject to any of humanity’s whims. Jesus Christ does not need us to believe in Him.
This is the truth of the gospel.
Jesus wants us to believe, Jesus wants to save us, and the world, as He already has. But our belief does not make it so. Our belief is simply a recognition of what God has done in Her missional agenda, and what God continues to do to bring peace. God’s formula includes a deep stripping away of humanity’s hubris, as if we control our lives. We are invited to participate in LOVE. To act out MERCY. To extend COMPASSION as our first offering. We have a God who is willing to die for us and this creation. But, but, but - isn’t there another way, a less costly choice? Not so bloody?
No wonder Jesus gets frustrated and impatient. No as a matter of fact, there is not. This is the cost of salvation. And I’m going to Jerusalem. A Singular Matter
On the other side of the cross is the completion of reconciliation, the JOY that Jesus claims. His endurance as the pioneer of our faith, shines bright and He offers Himself as First Born of Creation, yet not only Him. There is a crowd surrounding us as we struggle to become fully human in Christ. Stop and think for a moment of your pantheon of grace. Who is in your choir loft singing and praising God; who whispers words of comfort amidst your despair? Who do you know kept the faith, even in the midst of deep and abiding sorrow?
Fill your imagination with the in-breaking creation that invades our daily lives. It is a practice of re-enchantment of the world when you stop and say, “I believe in the wonder of grace offered in Jesus Christ. I see the breath of the Spirit blowing in the midst of this community, I am willing to submit myself by faith, to open the eyes of my heart, to see beyond…”.
Jesus has entered fully into the brutal, shameful world of humanity and has come out the other side with joy and peace. He stands with us in solidarity. We are not abandoned, nor are we alone. We are surrounded by witnesses, living and gone on to eternity, who strengthen and keep us, in faith. A Singular Matter