Luke 12: 49-56
Where is the Jesus that talks about love and reconciliation? The man who is always preaching forgiveness and compassion? The one who a few weeks before yelled at the disciples for wanting to reign down fire upon the villagers and is now speaking of wanting to bring down fire himself? We are left wondering what has happened to make Jesus so cold and harsh.
Earlier in Luke, we are told that Jesus is now on his way to Jerusalem. He knows where he is heading and what is coming. Perhaps the reality of it has made his words harsher than they have been before, but there is more to these words that seem out of place with the kind Savior that is often depicted in the scriptures.
Jesus loves the world, but Jesus knows us too. Jesus knows that as much as we want to be good and kind people that follow his ways, we will often and gloriously fall short of his goals. Does that mean we are going to be punished for it? This passage seems to say BEWARE! DANGER! there is a cost to being Jesus' disciple!
How many of you have been Christians your whole life? How many of us have sat in these pews all these years and heard sermon after sermon, and how many of us have read the bible in Sunday school and at home and in church? We know things about Jesus and being his disciple that others do not know. Jesus is holding us accountable for that knowledge. This passage is a serious warning to all who proclaim to know Jesus, but do not act like they know him.
Back before the Civil War, there was a man named James who thought slavery was wrong. He treated his slaves as workers, paid them wages, and did not beat or abuse them. One day, another plantation owner came to his house yelling and screaming about an escaped slave and how he had run toward James' lands. "Help me find that sorry excuse for a slave!" the owner yelled at him and so they went out searching for the escaped slave. They began to question the James' slaves and discovered the person was there on the plantation. She had heard about the way he treated his slaves and had wanted to escape her barbaric owner because she was pregnant, and knew that she would be beaten when her production went down.
When James' saw this woman crying, his heart hurt for her, but the other owner immediately demanded the woman back and yelled that those slaves of James' that had hid her should also be punished. James did not agree, for these two slaves had become his good friends and he understood why they had hid this pregnant woman. He knew this was wrong, but he let the other man drag the three slaves to the field and watched silently as they were stripped naked and tied up. When he was handed the whip to beat his slaves with, he hesitated. The other owner continued to scream abuse and slowly James' hand raised and came down upon the back of this man he had once called a friend and had looked in the eye as an equal.
This is a shocking story. It's barbaric and horrific and it's a true story. These things happened a lot before the Civil War. They happened afterward too. The message of the story isn't only about slavery and how wrong it is though, the message of this story is that James did not agree with the treatment of slaves but allowed himself to be coerced into doing what he knew was wrong. Every time we say we know the Gospel message that talks about equality and forgiveness and then we turn upon another person like a rabid dog - we have become the hypocrites Jesus calls these people in the passage. Hypocrites like James.
We know what is wrong and what is right. James knew as well, but we often let society dictate to us what we should do. We listen to voices that are not God's. We follow humans instead of Jesus. Then, like guilty children trying to escape punishment, we try to pretend we did not know it was the wrong thing to do.
We may be able to convince those around us that we did not know the truth, but Jesus knows what is in our hearts. When we ignore the need to care for the sick and shut-in; when we fail to create programs for our children and youth; when we forget to love those that others hate - we fail in our Christian duty. We can say we didn't know that God meant help THOSE people and we didn't know that Jesus wanted us to reach out even MORE, but we're lying. We knew. We just didn't care enough. We just couldn't bring ourselves to put us last and others first.
We put out excuse after excuse and hope it will be enough to dull God's voice in our hearts. Jesus tells us that he is headed toward a baptism by fire - he is about to die to make life after death possible for us. He shows us what true sacrifice and real love are all about. In the face of such love and sacrifice our excuses become pitiful. Jesus is deliberately shaming us in this passage because he does not want to see us fall into these traps.
Because Jesus sees in each of us the greatest of possibilities. Jesus sees everything you could do and be, and treasures the person you are whether you know your potential or not. Inside some of you he sees the heart of a true caregiver; one who can bring comfort to the loneliest of shut-ins and the most hurt of lost people. Inside some of you he sees the secret administrator who could organize the church from top to bottom with a couple weeks of work. Inside some of you he sees the actor or the artist; the ones who have the ability to come up with new ways of making worship and programs more interesting for all of us. Inside some of you he sees the quiet person who doesn't think they have any talents at all, but you're the first one to volunteer to bake a pie for a funeral or to offer your day to help clean up an event.
God sees you. The beautiful parts as well as the ugly ones, and God wants for you all that is good. Jesus is warning us not because he wants to be harsh and critical, but because he does not want us to become hypocrites. He does not want us to fail to help those that need us. He does not want us to look at him on Judgment Day, and try to explain away our indifference and lack of love for others. God is Our Father in heaven who wants to warn his wayward children of the dangers of self-service.
Although Jesus is harsh in this passage, we must remember what comes next. He may be disappointed with those around him who have excuses galore for the way they act and treat others, but still Jesus goes to the cross for them (for us!). He accepts the beatings, the accusations, and as they spit and ridicule him he continues to pray to God for the people's redemption. Jesus is our Judge and our Savior. It is never too late to get back on the path that he has set out for us. That is what grace is all about - loving forgiveness for all that seek it.
Today what I want you to take away from this passage and sermon is that God loves every single part of you. Jesus sees inside of you the person you hide from everyone else - the good and the bad. And if we let ourselves listen to the Holy Spirit whispering in our hearts and ears, we have the ability to stand proud on Judgment Day and tell Jesus with a happy heart that we have done everything we could to make the world a better place; that we have shared the Gospel with as many that would listen; and that we have no regrets about how we lived out our lives as His disciple.
Amen.
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