Jesus Comes to Divide
[Jesus said:] “Do you
think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather
division” (Luke 12:51).
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ!
“This is the Gospel
of the Lord,” we say each week after reading the Gospel, but there is no good
news in these words from Jesus this week. It’s a hard text to preach on. The
difficulty stems from a dominant (and often unquestioned) cultural assumption
about God and His relationship to us. As a rule, Americans tend to believe life
is primarily about the pursuit of happiness. They also believe that God, if and
when they consider Him, exists to help them in their pursuit. This is why most
prayers are for good things—like healing, favorable weather, economic growth,
reconciliation, wisdom, strength, and … peace.
But here is the rub.
Jesus is clear in this text: “Do you think that I have come to give peace on
earth? No, I tell you, but rather division” (Luke 12:51). That’s not quite what
we would expect Jesus to say. And I must admit it would be easy to pass on the
Gospel reading this week and go with a different text. But I would suggest that
our difficulty with this text means we need to hear it and take Jesus’ words to
heart and ponder them all the more closely. This text confronts some of our
deeply held views about God and our desire for peace.
As a pastor, I see
more than enough division—divided families, divided congregations, divided
denominations, a divided nation—and I work hard to bring peace. I’ve counseled
families who are divided. I’ve met with couples who are in deep conflict, even
contemplating divorce. I’ve seen firsthand what division can do to a
congregation. Sadly, our own synod is divided—some calling themselves
confessional, others missional. Some conservative, others moderate. And in our
nation? The politics of personal destruction and partisan division rule the
day.
Yet, Jesus states
clearly that He is in the business of dividing. Jesus comes to divide—houses
and families. 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.
This needs to be
unpacked, of course. God’s ultimate purpose is not to divide spouses or
separate parents from their children. His chief goal is to separate us from our
selfishness and our sin, and in doing so, to unite us with Himself and all
believers. His words in the reading today describe what happens when that division does not take place. To
use a theological term, Jesus’ dividing work is His alien work. It is,
indeed, His will and His work, but it is not His primary will and work. This
division serves to accomplish Jesus’ ultimate will and proper work, which is
the redemption and salvation of mankind.
For those who were
originally there to hear Jesus say these things, His words would not have been
as jarring. Luke 12 falls in the middle of the travel narrative in Luke’s Gospel.
Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem, teaching the crowds. His message was not
soft and flowery. Much like Jeremiah in the Old Testament reading for today,
Jesus was calling them to turn from their sins and repent.
Jesus came to save us
from sin. That is why He became flesh. That is why He lived a perfectly holy
life. That is why He submitted Himself to endure His death on a cross. That is
why He rose again three days later and ascended into heaven. All of this was
for you and all the world—to open the gates of heaven once more, that “whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
However, this grace
is—by definition—a gift. Jesus offers it to all by means of His Word, but He
forces it upon nobody. Not everyone will hold onto the gift of life He gives. Many
in their sinfulness will reject it, throw it away. There will be those who
repent and those who do not. There will be believers and unbelievers. That is
the division that Jesus brings, that Jesus gives.
It is a blessed
division. Apart from Christ, all would be lost. Because of Christ, many are
saved.
But you know how it
often goes: When division arises, it’s the Gospel that gets the blame.
It doesn’t make sense
to blame the Gospel. Picture the aftermath of a shipwreck with survivors
flailing around in the water trying to escape drowning. A rescue ship has
arrived on scene, with rescuers pulling survivors aboard so that they’re safe.
The rescuers are dividing the drowning from death to life. But instead of
rejoicing to join those on-board ship, imagine some in the water screaming that
it’s wrong that those on board are different. Imagine them declaring that the
rescue ship should be scuttled so that everyone is united in sinking once
again.
That’s the position
in which the Church finds itself today, and always, in the world. You’re safe
aboard the ark of the Church, saved by Christ from death to life. As the
Church, we proclaim that there’s plenty of room on board; but the world will
declare that Christianity is divisive for proclaiming life in Christ.
“Jesus Christ is
Lord” is a statement that divides between those who believe it and those who do
not, and there will always be pressure exerted on the Church to change that
confession to something like “Jesus is one lord among many.” But that says that
every false god is as worthy of honor as Jesus. That leaves everyone without
hope, united in hopelessness: everyone’s sinking, and there’s no true Savior to
rescue. No, it’s far better to rejoice in the dividing Savior, to declare, “Jesus
is the one true Lord and Savior—and He has died to save you, too!
If you think about
it: Even a worship service creates division. Everyone is invited and all are
welcome to attend, but a worship service is designed foremost to feed the
people of God. It is the family meal, where the Lord feeds His beloved
children. Some will visit a worship service and not like what they hear—I’m not
so much speaking of style as I am of content. Apart from faith, people will not
like the Gospel. This creates a division—some believe the Gospel and some do
not.
As long as sinners
remain, the division Jesus brings will be apparent. This is an important truth
to accept, because many will argue that division is proof that Jesus isn’t
there. Many will argue that peace and quiet is the proof of God’s presence.
Look at the Old Testament lesson, the time of Jeremiah. God complains about the
false prophets who proclaim “peace, peace,” where there is no peace. That’s the
very sort of peace that Jesus comes to destroy, because it’s a false peace that
denies the need for grace.
So it’s left to
Jeremiah to be the bearer of bad news, to declare that the sin of the people
has divided them from God, that judgment is about to fall with a heavy hand.
And, who does everybody blame for causing division? Jeremiah, for telling the
truth. But while he received the blame of man then, he now rests from his
labors in heaven.
So there is such a
thing as “bad peace” even as there is “good division.” But even “good division”
is not without pain and cross, conflict and loss.
There are two places
where this division becomes especially acute and painful. Jesus mentions one
explicitly in our text: it is within families where some believe in Christ and
some do not. This division may manifest itself in a subtle tension when some
leave for church and some do not; or an underlying worry for the souls of those
who don’t believe; or it may be open warfare when a non-Christian makes moral
choices that contradict Scripture. This is a difficult cross for believers to
bear, and the temptation will be to blame Jesus for the division, to decide
that your loyalty to family is more important than your faith in Christ.
If you are in this
position, you are in my prayers: and I pray that you would be delivered from
the temptation of blaming the Lord. And I give thanks to God that He has
divided you to life so that you might be His instrument in your own home and
among close friends, that you might with love and patience speak His saving
Word to them. There may be distress, but God will grant you the grace and faith
to be His blessed instrument there.
The other place is
within the family of the Church. The “problem” with the Church, of course, is
that it is full of sinners; and where you’ve got a group of sinners gathered around
the holy things of God, divisions are bound to develop along the way. I’m
thankful that, at present, we have no great divisions within this
congregation—it doesn’t mean that we’ve strayed from the Gospel, but rather
that the devil’s attacks at present are of a far more personal nature on
different members in order to harm the body of Christ here.
So when trouble
arises, we first ask the question: is the disagreement over doctrine or over
some other debatable matter? If it is over a matter of Christian freedom, then
we respond by making sure that the strong in faith care for the weak. None of
us is to try to get his way, but to look out for everybody else. This love for
one another goes a long way in preventing people from being divided from the
flock. And where it is a matter of clear, biblical doctrine, we firmly hold
fast to it without compromise. We do so because we do not want to be divided
from God for the sake of a manmade peace. We want to remain divided from death
and united in Christ.
Because Jesus comes
to give division, He divides you from death to life, from sin to holiness. Why,
the word “sanctify” means “to set apart,” to divide away from that which is
common or unholy. By His grace, He has set you apart from sin to righteousness,
from death to life, from grave to heaven, from “enslaved to the devil” to
“child of God.” He has done so by enduring the cross, that baptism of fire
which damned Him so that you might be purified for His sake.
Blessed are you! For
Jesus has come to divide you from death and give you true peace. He does so
with these words: You are forgiven for all your sins.
In the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Unless
otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English
Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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