Jesus said some things that are quite uncomfortable. As followers of Jesus, it is important for us to hear these uncomfortable words, and try to understand what they mean for us today. Let us look at the context of today’s Gospel reading, and also at their historical background. Then we will be ready to ask about their meaning for us.

The Gospel of Luke has an overall plan, which is easy to miss. There are four sections: the birth stories, the ministry of Jesus in Galilee, the journey to Jerusalem, and the passion narrative. Our reading today is in the section of the journey to Jerusalem, which begins in Chapter 9 and continues to the middle of Chapter 19. Most of the content of these 10 chapters are sayings and parables, with few references to the actual movement from village to village through Samaria and Judea. Nevertheless, St. Luke made it clear in Chapter 9 that Jesus chose to leave Galilee and “set his face resolutely toward Jerusalem” (9:51). There is a theological reason for this geographical emphasis: in coming to Jerusalem, Jesus was fulfilling the prophecy of the return of the king.

In order to make sense of this, we have to remember that the experience of the Jewish people was profoundly shaped by the conquest of Jerusalem in 587 BC, and their exile to Babylon. Up until that time, the Kingdom of Judah was an independent nation, ruled by God’s anointed king, who was a direct descendant of David. Since the exile and return in the 6th century, the Jews had been ruled by foreign kings, most recently by the Roman emperor. Although the city of Jerusalem had been rebuilt, and a second Temple, larger than Solomon’s temple, was the center of worship, they had no independence, and certainly no descendant of David anointed as king. So the great prophecies of restoration and salvation in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Daniel, had not yet been fulfilled.

You are actually familiar with those prophecies, because we read them every year in Advent. “A child has been born for us, a son given to us, authority rest on his shoulders, and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Is 9:6). These words from Isaiah were originally written for a coronation ceremony, probably for King Hezekiah in 715 BC. They reveal the high expectations people had for the anointed king, the descendant of David. Later, after the Jewish people had lived subject to foreign powers for 4 centuries, the Book of Daniel was written. In Chapter 7 of Daniel, the prophet reports a vision of a throne room, where the “Ancient of Days”, that is, God the Father, takes his seat on a throne of flames, and orders a terrifying beast to be put to death. The beast was a symbol for one of the foreign kings. Then, Daniel says, “I saw one like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven, and he came to the Ancient One . . . to him was given dominion and glory and kingship . . .” (Dan 7:9, 13). These are some of the prophecies on which the hope was based, that God would return to dwell in his Temple, and God’s Anointed King would come to Jerusalem.

If you keep this background in mind, you will see how the Gospel readings we have heard recently, and many of those to come right through October, have to do with the return of the king. Last Sunday we heard Jesus urging his listeners to be like the faithful servants of a bridegroom, who are awake and ready for their master to return. Many of Jesus’ parables have this theme of a master or a king, who is absent, and expects faithful service. What will he find when he returns? The servant who has buried his talent will be rejected, along with the servant who is asleep, and the wicked tenants. Jesus was trying to wake up the religious leaders to the time of crisis and decision. This is the context in which he said, “I have come to cast fire on the earth”. Fire as a metaphor has at least four levels of meaning: first, it means crisis, emergency, response is required now!! Second, fire means change: things will not be the same after the fire. Third, fire means destruction: some things will be destroyed and lost forever. And fourth, fire means purification: burning away the imperfections, so that what is pure will be revealed.

The message and ministry of Jesus challenged both the status quo, and the expectations of the Jewish establishment. In his words, and in his actions, Jesus was deliberately casting fire on earth, deliberately forcing people to agree with him or reject him. Here is it relevant to note that Jesus did not claim for himself the title of Messiah (Anointed One), although he accepted the title when Peter said it, probably because he was intending to be a different kind of Messiah than they expected. You may be aware that he often called himself “Son of Man”, which may be a reference to that prophecy from Daniel. In effect he was choosing to embody one part of what it meant to be Messiah, and not the other parts. The parts he did not claim, were associated with the pomp and circumstance of kingship, and the exercise of power, especially military power. In fact, it might be correct to say, he did not choose to be higher than his people, he chose to be lower. All the imagery of servanthood, of humility, of taking care of those in need, of putting on an apron and serving the dinner, speak of this choice. It follows inevitably, that some people would reject him: the ancient prophecies spoke of a king, and a king was what they wanted. And other people were able to sense the presence of the Holy Spirit within him, and be willing to accept his redefinition of Messiah ship. These different responses to Jesus would divide families, he said: a father against a son, and a mother against a daughter. These are the uncomfortable words of Jesus.

What do they mean for us today? The first, simplest meaning is the emphasis on what we call free will: we have the ability to choose how we will live, what we will do, whom we will follow, where we will live our loyalty. In agreement with the law and the prophets, Jesus presented a choice to his first century listeners, and we in the 21st century also have a choice. Neither God the Father, nor God the Son, will force us to behave, or over-rule our choices. We are free.

The second meaning is different for us than it was for the people who listened to Jesus speak. Our situation is different because we are aware of the uncomfortable actions of Jesus in Jerusalem: the triumphal entry on the donkey, and the cleansing of the Temple. We are aware, above all, of the uncomfortable end of Jesus’ life on earth: his trial, his being tortured, his crucifixion and death. And for some of us, his resurrection is also uncomfortable because we don’t understand it. So there is a whole set of uncomfortable words, actions and events, which make Jesus difficult to follow.

The most important meaning of Jesus’ words is the third one. The choice to follow Jesus means change. That is the fire he has kindled, and it comes sooner or later to every one of his disciples. First we have to change our instinctive desire to follow a leader who looks and acts like a king. Face it: we would be much more comfortable with a leader who gave orders to servants, a leader who lived in a palace and wore luxurious robes . . . someone like Barry Bonds, Paris Hilton or Michael Jackson. We love to admire beautiful people, although today they are more likely to be movie stars, or athletes, or musicians, than heads of state. It takes some effort, to turn our attention and admiration and faith, to One who was not powerful, not well-dressed, not entertaining, and homeless.

Then, when we make that change and decide to follow Jesus, we find we will also have to change our attitudes, and our actions. The attitudes Jesus asks us to change, are the very ones our culture teaches: to judge people by their appearance, to hold grudges, to compete ruthlessly for position, money and influence, to focus exclusively on ourselves, and to avoid people who are failures, or sick, or poor. Jesus asks us to care more deeply about how we are serving others, than about how we are climbing a professional ladder, or how we are managing our income. Jesus says, aspire to greatness by becoming a servant. For most of us, changing our attitudes is a lifelong process of conversion. We take steps toward it, hopefully, every year, but it may only be in middle age or in later life, that the full reality of discipleship is manifest in us.

Once our attitudes begin to change, then we will gradually start changing our actions. I believe Jesus guides us individually and corporately, through the Holy Spirit, to particular kinds of service, of witness, of creativity, and of generosity. Our creation of Our Daily Bread 24 years ago is an example of such service and generosity. The establishment of the Safe Haven Transfer Center is another example of this. The Vestry went through a process of discernment about how we are called to care for children in our community, and we felt strongly led to provide this service, which will be the first in California. Now 10 people have been trained as monitors for the Transfer Center. I went through the training with them, and I know that they do not feel entirely comfortable about the responsibilities they are undertaking. But each one believes that St. Thomas is in a position to provide a safe haven, that Jesus is calling us to care for the children, and that some feelings of discomfort are as nothing compared to the honor of following our Lord.

In closing, I want to remind you that fire is the primary symbol and image of the Holy Spirit. Because fire is energy, intense energy, because the shape of fire fluctuates and is partly invisible, and because fire changes whatever it touches, fire is an excellent symbol of what the Holy Spirit is, and does. What must be added to that description is holiness: the work of the Spirit is to inspire, strengthen, and transform imperfect people. I invite you, therefore, to accept these uncomfortable words of Jesus, “I came to bring fire to the earth”, as a necessary sign of what it means to follow Jesus. Open your heart to the fire he has kindled, and allow yourself to be changed.