The Teachings of Jesus in Luke: Disturbance

(Jesus said) “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, 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 her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” ~ Luke 12:49-53

Sometimes blood isn't thicker than water and family will cross you quicker than strangers. ~ Unknown

This isn't the first time Jesus takes a stab at what it means to be family. He had also said that his family comprised of those who did the will of God.
But this feels even more shocking. Jesus didn't come to bring peace? He came to actually bring division of families?
Peace can mean many things. If you look it up, one of the first definitions is freedom from disturbance. Or you could call that as complacency.
Jesus came as a disruption. He came as a disturbance to the complacency toward how things were.
And he knew that would mean families would be divided. By the time Luke was writing his gospel, these words had already born out. Many early Christians lost their family ties. Following Jesus didn't sit well with those who were complacent about how things were.
Not every family would follow Jesus together.
The kind of peace Jesus came to bring was not the freedom from disturbance. It was the peace that passes all understanding. It was the peace that can only be found in God through Christ.
It was a peace of wholeness and truth.
If we think that our faith is meant to bring us freedom from disturbance, I have bad news for you. Jesus came to shake things up and continues to shake up the faith of those who follow him. You are meant to be disturbed by Jesus' words from time to time.
But if you think that our faith is meant to bring a peace that connects us to God and to our neighbors, to let go of the ties that bind us to our complacency, I have good news for you.
It is a peace that passes all understanding, but it is also a peace that brings life, and whether it divides us from our blood family or not, it gives us a new family to share our life with, who will walk with us during all our disturbances.

Prayer: Holy one, help me to be part of the true peace you offer, and disturb me when I need it so that I may not grow complacent in my faith. Amen.


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