Do you think I have come to establish peace on the earth?
Is Jesus rocking your boat?
When Jeremiah tells the people they must surrender to Nebuchadnezzar, else the city will be burned and they will be destroyed, no one wants to listen to him because, they claim, he is demoralizing the soldiers and all the people. Jeremiah is rocking their boat. Yet the people are so convinced that Jeremiah is wrong that they refuse to listen what God is asking them, through the prophet, to do. Still, Jeremiah remains faithful to his message, and is ultimately saved because God is faithful. In the end, the king orders that Jeremiah be drawn out of the cistern before he should die. Jeremiah had good reason to sing Psalm 40: The Lord heard my cry; he drew me out of the pit of destruction! The psalmist knows God has put a new song into his mouth, and so he sings God’s praises.
Like Jeremiah, Jesus rocks people’s boats. I have come to set the world on fire, Jesus tells his disciples in Luke's Gospel. Do you think I have come to establish peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. Jesus’ teachings do not fit the vision of many who encounter them; to listen and believe requires that they surrender the rigidity of their own constructs in order to embrace the love and union Jesus calls them to. Jesus’ disciples are willing to embrace the disruption to the status quo that Jesus represents and follow him with their hearts.
As the Letter to the Hebrews reminds us, Jesus endured not only the cross, but opposition from sinners… Yet he kept his eyes on the purpose of the Incarnation, which is salvation for all humankind. The Hebrew community is fearful; persecutions are rocking their boat, and their fear causes them to question their faith. But they must shore up their flagging faith and focus on the eternal life to come, remembering that the world of the Christian disciple is defined solely by the love of Jesus Christ. Jesus came to challenge the constructs of our world. If we fear disruption, if we fear persecution, if we fear the cross, it’s hard to follow him. But once we understand why he came, we can open ourselves to the radical change he calls us to, especially in our hearts. We go forth arm in arm on this journey, together, united in him.
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture Class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
Wow, really asks one to embrace acceptance as the answer; what an order, I can't / won't / will have trouble going through with it. I will work to not be discouraged and keep focused on the Good News.
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