Fire and water; flashing swords and falling stones: a reflection for Day 29 of Lent

“I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already ablaze! 

I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what constraint 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!” (Luke 12.49-51) 

     Jesus and the disciples continue to journey towards Jerusalem.  The number of people thronging around Jesus is increasing (Lk. 11.14, 29; 12.1; 13.22), and so is the tension between Jesus and the obstinate members of “his generation”.  The tenor of Jesus’ teaching is often severe. 

     Jesus uses many different metaphors to describe the fate which awaits him in Jerusalem.  He refers to it as an exodus (Lk. 9.31), a baptism (Lk. 12.50; cf. Mk. 10.38-39), casting fire on the earth (Lk. 12.49) and “finishing his work” (Lk. 13.32).  Again, Jesus’ fate is tied up with that of the nation; indeed, his demise will be a portent of what is in store for Jerusalem and the people of God.  When some people in the crowd tell him about certain Galileans who had been killed in the courts of the Temple (Lk. 13.1-5), Jesus responds by insisting that “unless you repent you will all perish as they did”.  Jesus adds an anecdote of his own: when a tower collapsed in Jerusalem and claimed 18 lives, do you think it was because those 18 people were worse sinners than the other inhabitants of Jerusalem?  Answer: “No…but unless you repent you will all perish just as they did”.  Jesus is warning his generation to “repent”, all the while talking about death in the Temple and falling stonework.  These are ominous hints at something that Jesus will later spell out in more detail (cf. Lk. 19.41-44; 21.5-6).  Unless “this generation” (cf. 11.49-51) repents, it will perish just like those Galileans offering sacrifices in the Temple and those Jerusalemites who were crushed by the collapse of the tower of Siloam.  Violent rebellion against Rome, says Jesus cryptically, can have only one outcome.  Of course, inciting rebellion is the charge that the Sanhedrin will eventually bring against Jesus in the hope of having him executed by Pilate (cf. Lk. 23.1-5).

     Jesus was going to Jerusalem to die.  But why was Jesus so convinced that he would be killed there?  One way that we could answer this question is to say: “Jesus had to die in order to atone for our sins and to offer us forgiveness and salvation”.  That’s true, but that is the unexpected outcome of what was, first of all, a tragic but inevitable (!) rejection of Jesus as a messenger of God.  Jesus himself answers our question in Luke chapter 13:

“…it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you…” (Luke 13.33-35)

Jesus makes it clear that he will not be killed in a battle against the Romans, nor will he die because some powerful pagans hate him.  Rather, Jesus insists that he will die as the result of the hatred that (the leaders of) the people of God have for him (cf. Lk. 9.21-22).  Jesus longs to protect Jerusalem like a mother hen spreads her wings over her chicks to shelter them from a fire, but the people of God refuse the invitation to safety offered by trusting in Jesus’ teaching.  Jesus seems to have believed that “his generation” was in the grip of dark spiritual powers who were determined to drive the people of God to destruction.  Only repentance of their violent nationalism and trust in Jesus’ vision of the kingdom of God could save them.  Through Jesus, Yahweh was returning to establish his kingdom as a healer, while “this generation” of the people of God wanted a warrior.  Israel desired violent vengeance against her enemies, but Jesus knew that this is “the way that leads to death” (cf. Dt. 30.15-20; Jer. 21.8-10).

     Jesus is a prophet – the last prophet (cf. Lk. 20.9-19) – and he will share the fate of most of the prophets who had come before him.  It is the explosive combination of Jesus’ prophecies of judgment against Jerusalem and his claim to Messiahship that will lead to his demise.  Like every true prophet, Jesus will share the fate of the nation to whom he had been sent with the word of judgment and the summons to repentance (cf. Ex. 32.31-33).  Authentic prophets do not threaten the fire of divine wrath from a safe distance; rather, they plead with their countrymen to repent, knowing full well that they themselves will not escape being burned once the flames fall.

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