The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Luke 12:49 “I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished! 51 Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division; 52 for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two, and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (NASB)
Of the Christ, the prophet Isaiah was given to write, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.”
At the birth of John the Baptist, his father Zacharias sang of the coming Messiah, “Because of the tender mercy of our God, With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us, To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79) On the night of Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem, the angelic hosts sang, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” (Luke 2:14 ).
When Jesus healed a sick person, He sometimes sent them on their way saying, “Go in peace.” When Jesus sent out the 72 two-by-two He instructed them saying, “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’”
On the night in which He was betrayed, Jesus said to His disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). After His crucifixion and on Easter eve, Jesus greeted His disciples behind that locked door wit this greeting, “Peace be with you” (John 20:19, 21).
By virtue of His incarnation, birth, life, death, and resurrection Jesus Christ created and has given us “the peace of God,” of which St. Paul wrote, “surpasses all comprehension [and] will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 4:7)
The peace that God the Son has brought into this world is a very specific kind of peace. What it is not is the peace that many believe Jesus promoted and that politicians and activists the world over are trying to peddle. A very many of these people believe that the gospel of Jesus is a religious, philosophical, moral, and political ideology that once implemented will bring about world peace, an egalitarian utopia on earth. Scoff if you’d like, but the philosophical and political movements we are now facing in the west, the movement for boarderless territories/countries, central control over every aspect of our lives, the denial of inalienable rights, globalism, and all the other proposed remedies for whatever plagues human existence are nothing other than a promised utopianism and worldly peace that can and will never exist in this world. These things are false religions, that promise a false peace, and all they have ever delivered is tyranny and death. Activists the world over promise peace. That was the problem Jeremiah confronted in his day. False prophets promising a peace God had not given them to promise. Jeremiah 23:17 “They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, ‘You will have peace.’”
“The human heart,” Luther wrote, “must of necessity believe, hope, and love something. It places trust in riches, favor, its own power, something else, or in some absurd notion that is preach about God, either the true God or a false one.”
When Jesus stood before Pilate, He said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” (John 18:36) Even here Jesus acknowledges that if His kingdom were of this world, there would be outright war to protect Him. World peace, political peace, peace between peoples is not what Jesus came to bring in His first advent.
There will never be political, economic, philosophical, and moral peace in this world because of sin. And because of sin, Jesus divides like nothing else—even more than politics! “For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”
The Word of God is suppose to separate truth and error, right and wrong, sin and righteousness, Law and Gospel, heaven and hell. In fact, the Greek word for church is ecclesia and that means to be separated, cut or set apart, divided from the rest. The church consists of people who have been cut away and divided from the world.
Since the fall into sin, there’s been division. Adam and Eve were divided from God and each other. Cain and Abel were divided. Noah and his family were divided from the rest of the world. Think of the children of Israel and Pharaoh. Think of the prophets and all their warnings, like the warnings in the Old Testament lesson for this morning. “Behold, the storm of the Lord has gone forth in wrath, Even a whirling tempest; It will swirl down on the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart.” (Jer. 23:19-20)
Whenever Jesus was preached, people were divided. Some believed, and some rejected. Even the thieves on the crosses were divided: one repented and was saved; the other refused. When Jesus was brought to the temple as an infant, the prophet Simeon said, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel” (Luke 2:34). Jesus welcomed tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners and they received Him in true faith, while the religious leaders and moral elite rejected His teaching and plotted His death.
Jesus the Savior of all, the God/Man Who came to give His life as a ransom for many, is still the Lord of lords, King of kings, Holy of holies, the Holy One and He said, “I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled!”
That fire was started when Jesus died on the cross. It’s has been burning ever since. Jesus didn’t want division and strife. He wished that it were already ver. That what He meant when He said, He said, “How I wish it were already kindled!” Jesus wished the fire was already kindled and the baptism was already completed. Jesus had a baptism to be baptized with—that’s His way of talking about His crucifixion and death. He began his ministry with a water Baptism in the Jordan.
When He was baptized into His offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, He placed Himself under God’s judgment. He completed His ministry with His bloody baptism on the cross. He dreads the cross and the divisions that will come to His Church, but He doesn’t shrink from the cross.
Nothing divides a people and families like the real Gospel of Jesus Christ and the doctrines of His spoken and written Word. Very few families have the blessing of all being together, united in Christ.
Jesus knows all about division. “They will be divided, father against son and son against father” (v 53). That’s exactly what happened at the cross. The Father was divided against Son. It is a great mystery, but it is true nonetheless, God the Father separated Himself, divided His own family in order to save you and yours. The Father forsook Jesus. Not because the Son did any wrongs himself, but because the Son became sin, our sin. He bore our sins. The Son was cut off from the Father that we might be forever reconciled to God.
Long before He was disowned by His heavenly Father, He was injured by some of His own family members and by His hometown. Jesus is a truth teller and teacher. He has taught us. “For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” (John 13:15-17) At the same time He comforts us: “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).
The time is coming soon when that last great division will take place publicly on Judgment Day. Jesus will divide the sheep from the goats: believers on his right; unbelievers on the left. Then those who have courageously confessed the faith even to their unbelieving families will be confessed by Jesus to his Father: “Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 10:32). And take heart: in heaven there will be no more divisions, but perfect peace and unity.
Jesus has created and given us a very special kind of peace. It is the peace between God and man, between a dear Father and His dear children. It is the peace that exists in the heart and mind of the believer, even when the heart and mind are restless. It’s the peace of knowing that all of our sins are forgiven. It is the peace and comfort we receive when we hear the words of holy absolution. It is the peace we receive when we come to holy communion. It is the peace first delivered when parents bring their infant children to the baptismal font.
The divisions we experience on earth will pass away when this old sinful world and our own old sinful natures pass away. In the meantime Jesus continues to remind us that He gives us that very special peace. “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you.”
AMEN
May the Peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.