Sunday, August 14, 2022

 TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

(Jeremiah 38:4-6.8-10; Hebrews 12:1-4; Luke 12:49-53)

To just about everyone with the possible exceptions of some terrorists Jesus is “the prince of peace.”  This term is found in the Book of the Prophet Isaiah to describe the future king who will conquer all enemies of Israel.  It fits Jesus well not because he is a military chief but because he has overcome sin.  For this reason, we are dumbfounded to hear him say in today’s gospel that he has not come to establish peace but division.

Jesus says that he not come not only to bring division but also fire.  He is speaking metaphorically here.  He does not intend to start fires but to institute love which often is associated with fire.  More precisely, he is speaking of the love of the Holy Spirit.  This love does not seek in the first place one’s own good but the good of the other.  Equally important, the Spirit’s love does not try a satisfy every desire of the loved one but to facilitate his or her true good.  Wouldn’t we say that the love of a mother for her child is defective if she gives her only chocolate to eat?  Love should always be directed to union of the loved with God, the greatest good.

Jesus also says that he anticipates receiving a baptism.  Because he was baptized before beginning his ministry, this baptism must be of another kind.  Originally baptism meant an immersion or drowning.  It could be said that the person overwhelmed with pain has received a baptism of suffering.  This is what is intended here.  Jesus will receive a baptism of suffering when he dies on the cross and a baptism of life when he rises from the dead.  We are baptized in these immersions of suffering and of life when we were brought to the baptismal fount.  Jesus awaits with great anticipation this baptism of both death and of life in order to share its benefits with us.  He does not mind the pain that accompanies it because he loves us so much.

How Jesus is going to bring division should now be apparent.  He has become the most significant person in history.  Every human being must decide either for or against him.  It is true that for the majority of the earth’s inhabitants like the Chinese, the Indians, and Muslims, this choice is not so much a vote for a single individual but for the love which he represents.  This love – the love of the Holy Spirit -- is more than tender feelings.  It has ramifications in the ways we live.  When we are with other kinds of people, do we respect them as images of God?  When we are alone, do we refrain from sexual desires and vengeful thoughts?  When we go to vote, do we consider the position of the candidate on crucial issues like abortion and euthanasia?

In the first reading Jeremiah can be seen as a type of Jesus.  Like Jesus, he preaches God’s love for His people.  But, again like Jesus, he speaks of a love that wants true goodness, not just euphoria.  He knows that God is correcting Israel for its infidelity.  For this reason, he does not go along with the princes who want him to encourage the people to resist Babylon.  His time in the well prefigures Jerusalem’s exile in Babylon.  The people must suffer now to experience a renewal of faith.

The reading from the Letter to the Hebrews emphasizes faith.  It exhorts the people to maintain their faith in Jesus Christ as their savior.  The author does not want them to return to the synagogues of their family members.  Rather he reminds them that siding with Jesus will result in an eternal reward.

In John’s gospel Jesus says that the peace he gives is not the peace of this world.  He means that his peace is not the euphoria of the ceasing of hostilities.  No, his peace reaches deeper.  His peace creates a permanent division between us and sin.  It is life united with God, the supreme good.

No comments: