The Unlikely Evangelist

Lectionary Reflections
Week: Ordinary 20 Year C
Luke Chapter 12 verses 49 - 56
Hebrews Ch 11 v 29, Ch 2 v 2

A few thoughts

- Jesus just wasn't the type of Messiah people were expecting and waiting for, not a warrior king, but 'the prince of peace'.

- Yet although his message was of justice and peace, it was inevitable that this message would bring conflict, especially if Jesus and his followers grew, and began to put his message into practice.

- Not only because those who chose the Jesus way in later years would be leaving their own Jewish tradition, and therefore bringing division to family units, but simply because those with power and status in the world as it is would believe that they have much to loose in a world of justice and peace. Jesus didn't set out to bring conflict, it was just inevitable if he was truly committed to his message and its implementation.

- Therefore, perhaps a lesson for our often 'conflict shy' churches, is that yes, Christians are to love each other and believe in justice and peace, but we need to be 'as wise as serpents' and not just 'as gentle as doves'! [Matt 10 v16] As the Prayers of Intercession say in Worship: from the United Reformed Church;

God, Maker and Lover of all,
we know that your way is not always easy;
that peace is not given lightly,
that sometimes justice comes only through struggle. p 93

Jesus is clear, he is a peace maker, not a peace keeper!

The world we live in is as troubled as it ever was, and we still pray each week for the earth to be as it is in heaven. But with that prayer comes hard work and with that hard work comes struggle. But once we have heard the call of God and the message of Jesus, how can we not be changed and how can we fail to respond?

Which causes me to reflect, in our society when most are indifferent to the church, maybe the conflict of choosing the Jesus way is not so much between families, (though I am aware of difficulties within our churches where often the male partner in a couple doesn't attend, or the 'guilt' many members feel that their children no longer attend as adults) and maybe the division is not only between those who campaign for justice and those who enjoy the status quo, (though work in this area is a major part of what it is to be church) and maybe the division is not even disagreements within the church at this time, (though they are making the headlines and the URC has had its divisions in the not too distant past). Maybe, the first conflict and division is not between us at all, but within us. The choice we each face when we hear the call of God and try to respond to the message of Jesus. Are we prepared to follow, even on the way to the cross, a way of struggle and conflict, to bring about a world of Justice and Peace!