Jesus Warns about Future Division

Scripture: Luke 12:49-53(NIV)

“I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 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.”

Devotional

The fire that Jesus ignited on Earth cannot leave the landscape unchanged. He said, “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division” (v. 51). This family against family kind of discipleship is not something you see on a typical Christmas card greeting, nor something you usually hear in an Easter worship message.

But being a follower of Christ is an all-in, self-denying, cross-bearing, family-splintering undertaking. It is not something that is pleasant to behold. While it is God’s desire that all people would come to know Him, the reality is that some refuse. In many parts of the world, families are ripped apart when a person begins to follow Jesus. I imagine that they would read this passage with real understanding.

Even in the American culture, we experience a taste of this. Our “cancel culture” will unfriend and unfollow you on social media, and unwelcome and “uninvite” you to family gatherings if you state beliefs that are not held by others. Blood may be thicker than water, but it seems that political correctness can be thicker than blood.

This passage is similar to Matthew 10:34-36 (see Week 20, Day 2). There Jesus was sending out the Twelve Disciples on what would be a sometimes successful, sometimes hostile mission. Whether among family or in the community, being an authentic disciple of Jesus often turns a calm sea turbulent.

Here is a question: If it came down to following Jesus so closely that you would experience family division, or believing in Jesus so casually that your family wouldn’t care, which would you choose?

Poem

How Unpleasant It Is

How unpleasant it is
When we fight and we quarrel
When we hate one another
When we hold bitterness
Our stomachs, they tighten
Our blood pressures rise
Our mouths spew out poison
We sit and despise
How unpleasant it is
How unpleasant it is

When our Facebook posts hatred
When we “one-up” another
When we insist we are right
Our circles get smaller
Our muscles grow tense
Our teeth grit in anger
We stand and lift placards
How unpleasant it is

How unpleasant it is
When we cancel our families
When we lock our hearts’ doors
When we yell or stop talking
Our gateways get chained
Our minds get stuck
Our children go to war
We run and grab weapons
How unpleasant it is
How unpleasant it is

When we realize the destruction
When our resources end
When we bury the casualty
Our eyes can’t stop crying
Our prayers go unanswered
Our faith-light goes out
We lay and die unreconciled
How unpleasant it is

Podcast: Week 28

Sermon: Week 28

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