Setting the World on Fire
Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10; Hebrews 12:1-4; Luke 12:49-53
The Revised Standard Version, or RSV, is recognized by biblical scholars as the most accurate, the most precise, English translation of the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek. In 1982, Reader's Digest published an edition of the RSV that was billed as a “condensed edition” of the text. It was designed for the sporadic bible reader or for one who might be intimidated by its length. The typical edition of the RSV averages at 1096 pages; the Reader’s Digest edition, 799 – a difference of 297 pages. That’s a heck of a lot of editing! In fact, in the Reader’s Digest version, 55% of the Old Testament and 25% of the New Testament were cut. To be honest, I’ve never seen it, but I think it’s a safe bet that today’s Gospel is probably one of the passages that has been edited out. “I have come to set the earth on fire and how I wish it were already blazing! . . . Do you think I have come to establish peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” A Gospel very difficult to hear. And from my perspective, one that is very difficult to preach.
So, strengthened by the confidence that Fr. Marc has in me to explain the deepest mysteries of our faith and the greatest perplexities of the Gospel, let’s look at this morning’s difficult passage.
And let’s begin by setting our minds at ease. Jesus was NOT an arsonist. He had no scorched earth policy. He did not want to destroy the earth by fire. But he surely did want to “fire us up” with enthusiasm for his Gospel, to “ignite” our zeal for the spread of his Gospel and the salvation of our brothers and sisters in the human community. He wanted to spread a fire of love and concern for the poor in our world. He was something of a firebrand for justice and he surely wanted his followers to be enthusiasts for justice too. He may have also thought of the faith that was his gift to us as something like a bed of embers that required fanning from time to time, fanning that raised the flame of faith to a higher intensity in prayer.
I think that this morning’s Gospel should cause all of us to reflect on the fire-like enthusiasm Jesus had for the spread of the Gospel and to consider where that enthusiasm is in each of our lives and in our world. Indeed, the words of Jesus today challenge us all to think about the degree of intensity of our own personal enthusiasm for the cause of Christianity in our world, for the spread of the word and way of life that Christ brought to our world. He chose to establish a Church for the vehicle of his mission. What is your enthusiasm for the Church today? What is mine? And, I think it’s fair to ask, what is our Church’s enthusiasm for the cause of Christ? This may sound strange, but we have to wonder if maybe we’re getting too comfortable, too detached from the urgent problems of hunger, poverty, and human need that were real concerns to the heart of Christ.
How fired-up are you and the Church today to continue the work Jesus began – preaching the good news to the poor, healing the sick, saving sinners, sanctifying all? Is the fire going out in Catholic education, Catholic health care, Catholic social services? Are there seats on governing boards of Catholic hospitals, schools, colleges, and service agencies waiting to be filled by people with your skills and resources, if only you were sufficiently enthusiastic to want to serve in this capacity? Are volunteer service opportunities failing to attract Catholic hands and hearts because Catholic ears no longer hear Jesus saying, “I have come to set the world on fire?”
Where is that fire today? Where are the Catholics who want to be priests for the parishes, nuns and brothers for the schools, nurses for Catholic hospitals and assisted living communities, trained professionals for the Catholic social service agencies. Has the “American Dream” of getting ahead, and the quest for personal wealth and status displaced Jesus’ dream of the Kingdom of God, where the first is the one who serves?
This theme seems to be a passion of Pope Francis. Listen to these six statements that he has made, at different times and in different circumstances, just in the short five months that he has been our pope:
- “True wealth is the love of God, shared with one’s brothers, that love that comes from God and makes us share among ourselves, and makes us help one another. He who experiences this . . . receives peace of heart.”
- “In the history of the Church there have been two classes of Christians: Christians of words – those “Lord, Lord, Lord” – and Christians of action, in truth.”
- “We need to avoid (becoming) a church that is wrapped up in its own world: when a church becomes like this, it grows sick.”
- “Jesus teaches us another way: Go out. Go out and share your testimony, go out and interact with your brothers, go out and share, go out and ask. Become the Word in body as well as spirit.”
- “We cannot be part-time Christians. We should seek to live our faith at every moment of every day.”
- “Are we ready to be Christians full-time, showing our commitment by word and deed?”
Fortunately, we can see that the fire of which Jesus speaks in today’s Gospel is ablaze at St. Therese in people like the twenty-nine teenagers and adults who responded to the need of the children in Dunlow, West Virginia, and sacrificed a week of their summer vacation witnessing to the Gospel by constructing a library for the elementary school there.
We see it in the outreach of our parish to those in need in Roxbury through our support of our monthly food collections that support Roxbury Social Services, in the holiday meals we provide at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter, as well as our Christmas Giving Tree and Easter Baskets.
It’s seen in the nutritious breakfasts that the children in our sister parish of St. Cecelia in Kenya are able to benefit from because of our financial support.
It’s seen in each and every item placed in our Baskets of Hope that help those in need in Haiti and parishes and Church-sponsored institutions right here in New Jersey.
But, as I’ve told my students hundreds of times, Christianity isn’t just something we do on Sunday morning. Christianity is a way of life. And so Jesus’ words today force us to internalize and take stock on whether our response to the fire which he wants to set upon the earth is an incessant blaze or a flash in the pan.
Beyond being challenging, Jesus’ sharp and startling words shake us out of our easy chairs and force us to reexamine our own personal response to who Jesus is, what Jesus said, and how Jesus lived. His words are difficult. Not so much difficult to understand, but difficult because the demands they make on us are only too clear.
He went on to say, “Do you think I have come to establish peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” Jesus was in many ways an idealist, but he also was a realist. He was well aware that his ministry would bring discord. If we go back to the beginning, to the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, we find the wise old man Simeon prophesying to Mary, when she brought the infant Jesus into the Temple, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted.”
Jesus was and still is a sign of contradiction. He is the Prince of Peace, yet nonetheless, his teachings were, are, and probably always will be a source of division. That shouldn’t scandalize us. Neither should it prevent us from standing up and speaking out for all things Catholic, while dedicating our time, talent, and treasure to the advancement of our Catholic faith and our Catholic institutions. We simply cannot permit the fire to go out!
This is our faith! This is our Church, ignited by the flame of Jesus Christ, the Light of the World!
Fired up?
Or merely lukewarm?
