Word to the Wise
Thursday, October 21, 2021 - Thursday in the 29th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 6:19-23 and Luke 12:49-53]Do you think I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. From now on a household of five will be divided three against two and two against three; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and a daughter-in-law against her m
It can be startling to read or hear these words from Jesus. After all, don't we call him "the Prince of Peace!" I suspect that title reflects our own hopes than a description of Jesus. His own birth provoked violence as we learn in the Gospel According to Matthew. [2:11-18]. However, another point to recall is that each of the evangelists told the story of Jesus at a time unique to each evangelist and according to a particular "agenda." For the evangelist Luke, the missionary thrust of Christianity was a major concern since he wrote around 30 years or more after the death and resurrection of Jesus and around 10 years after the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem by the Romans. Conversion to Christianity on the part of a family member could in Luke's time, and still can, create a family crisis. Those who have gone through the RCIA process to join our church can testify to concerns about family reactions to the conversion. It may be more than faith that is involved. Even in families that are indifferent to religious faith, the devotion of a member of the family can seem to be a judgement on them and create division, despite efforts of the believer to avoid any semblance of judgment.
Luke's recollection of Jesus' warning is meant to remind Christian missionaries and other believers that discipleship can mean hardship despite the peaceful content of Jesus' teachings. The peace of Christ is hard-won not only against exterior resistance from family but interior resistance in ourselves! AMEN