Pentecost 10.  Luke 12.49-56

Today’s gospel reading gives us some hard words of Jesus. I am not sure you are going to find these on an inspirational greetings card. “‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” We may find his image of a divided family, hard to take. These are certainly challenging words. Jesus as the “caster of fire” and the “family divider” are not common pictures of Jesus! So….they have to make us stop and think.

I may have told you this before but when I read these words I am reminded of a baptism service at Sunderland Minster where I was the Provost. Here we had a ministry to asylum seekers and refugees, many of whom were Iranian Christians who had fled their homes and country in fear of arrest and even worse following their conversion to Christianity. Our congregation was perhaps rather unique for a church in the north east of England. It was not unusual for there to be more people who had English as a second language than native Sunderland folk, In fact at coffee after the service Farsi/Persian was commonly heard in church, alongside a great many other languages too – it was all rather wonderful. The rainbow people of God!

We held regular baptism groups for adults often Iranian and Afghan, an eight week course of preparation. The services were always amazing joyous events, very moving and often very challenging to us who had grown up in the church in the UK. At the service those who were to be baptised would speak of what baptism meant to them usually through an interpreter. This day Ali spoke of the joy of following Jesus and how he wanted to commit his life to Jesus. He ended by saying that he knew that once he was baptised that his family back in Iran would disown him and he would probably not be able to have contact with them again.

I would suggest that those who heard these words of Jesus for the first time and certainly those for whom Luke wrote would know exactly what Jesus was talking about. For many just like Ali to follow Jesus would have meant division in their families and for some the threat of persecution – a threat which has not gone away for many Christians across the world today.

It is hard to read this morning’s gospel without feeling that we are in the presence of Jesus the prophet, there is a real flavour of the prophets of the Old Testament in what Jesus says particularly the strong message of judgement “You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” As Jesus moves ever closer to Jerusalem, towards the “baptism with which (he is) to be baptized”, something I take to be referring to his death, he often challenges the crowds to get to a point of responding to him, of making a decision, of recognising the signs and the “present time” and coming to a point of conversion. In Luke at this point we hear a real urgency coming into Jesus’ message.

As Jesus cast his eyes over his disciples and the crowd before him he also casts his eye over us and it is a searching gaze. I have often asked myself would I have had the same courage as Ali and many other Iranian sisters and brothers with whom I worked, who had had to make huge sacrifices for their faith in Jesus.

Let’s make no mistake. The message of Jesus and the call to follow is both a joyous and a hugely challenging thing – Jesus warns us about the cost of discipleship and we have heard it this morning. Our commitment to Christ shapes our values, priorities, goals and behaviour and can force us to change old patterns of life. As we are faithful, conflict with others may arise. We seek to stand with Jesus in the world. We often see this when church leaders speak out on issues of the day and they are told to be quiet and to get back in their religious box. But being faithful to Jesus means being ready to speak out and act on the values and principles which are shaped by the teachings of Christ – faith has to be worked out in the public square. We will be one voice among many and that’s fine but I don’t think silence is an option. Jesus talks about knowing how to interpret the present time, and gosh what a time we live in. There is a great need for voices ready to “speak truth to power” and that may not always mean peace.

I am reminded of the words of Dom Helder Camera, a Brazilian RC Archbishop who opposed the dictatorship there in the 1970s and 80s, “”When I give bread to the poor, they call me a saint. But when I ask why the poor have no bread, they call me a communist.”

It feels to me at the moment that we are being called to find our voice, “to interpret the present time” speak up for peace, speak up for justice, speak up for the poor whenever we get the chance.

Canon Stuart Bain