+ This gospel passage always seems to surprise us: why
would God-shalom, the God of Peace, say he has come not for peace
but rather for division – to “stir things up,” using the language of Pope
Francis. Well, that is exactly the point: in order for the people of God to
break away from the mold of slavery that they insist on keeping themselves
entrapped in, Jesus says: “Come on, let’s
get with it! I wish that the purifying and purging power and fire of the Holy
Spirit were blazing all over the earth. But I know that this cannot happen
until I experience the fire of my Passion and Death for you people who are so
loved by God.”
And so in the passage he is
just inferring that there will be a lot of “stirring up” among family, friends,
and co-workers, and school-mates!” Those who allow themselves to be “touched by
God’s Spirit” – to be “set on fire” with Truth, and Love, and a Desire to Serve
People – for no other reason than because they love God - will distance
themselves from everyone else – and then the conflicts will begin. But it at
this point that we must recall the other side of the coin: that the end result
will be peace, real peace, the peace that Christ alone can bring and
the world cannot give. If we keep our sights on that fact: then all the
bickering and arguing and debating that will ensue will all be worth it!
In the second reading St Paul
calls the goal-focusing: “keeping our eyes on the finishing line of the race of
faith that we are running” – where Jesus is waiting to welcome us and reward us
with a crown of glory!
We are fortunate in our country that not many
of us have to pay the ultimate price for witnessing to this faith, but we are
called upon to do it in maybe lesser but just as significant ways on a smaller
scale: staying in there and rubbing shoulders with the ignorant and poor who
“just don’t seem to appreciate what we are doing for them” is a martyrdom all
its own.
God saved Jeremiah (of the
first reading) from his narrow escapes with death many times – he will do the
same for us: if we trust – and just do what he says, when he says it!
Amen!
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