Year C Proper 15 Isaiah 5:1-7 Hebrews 11:29-12:2 Luke 12:49-56

Let me sing for my beloved my love-song concerning his vineyard:

Today’s first lesson is a song, sung by the prophet Isaiah. It has been suggested by scholars that it may have been sung at the week-long Jewish harvest festival known as the Feast of Tabernacles, also known as Sukkot (soo·coat), where such singing would have fit naturally into the festive atmosphere and would have caught the attention of the crowds.

It starts off on a joyful note as God, through the prophet, sings for the beloved. The Hebrew word from which “beloved” is translated suggests a familial relationship, so this is a friendly or family oriented song, rather than a “love song”. When it was originally sung, anyone hearing Isaiah’s words would immediately understand that God is the singer and the vineyard is the Children of Israel and the House of Judah.

The beginning of the song is enough to attract listeners who wait for more good news, but the tone changes. The Children of Israel have continued to sin. God expected better – and the Children of Israel certainly could have done better – but they were absorbed with making more, having more, expanding their wealth and their comfort. That the work for this fell on the backs of the less fortunate did not concern them. They were totally focused on themselves.

And God pronounces a judgement on them.

And now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured; I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will make it a waste; it shall not be pruned or hoed, and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns; I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

This prophecy of total destruction, made in the 8th century before Christ, will be fulfilled in the 6th century BC. Despite His disappointment and anger, God gave His people time to repent, but, sadly, they did not.

Jesus said, "I came to bring fire to the earth. . . .

Today’s Gospel doesn’t fit with our image of Christ, the Prince of Peace. We always hear of the Love of Jesus and of His healing works, His kindness, and His compassion. We depend on His steadfast Love and His constant support, so we are stunned by what He says in today’s Gospel. But, as is so often the case, we listen with modern ears, and thus do not understand, as His listeners would have, exactly what He is saying.

Fire is an eschatological image. Jesus is not saying He came to scorch the earth with the fire that burns down buildings. When we think of fire there are so many negative images, epically now, with fires raging on the west coast, and fires exploding in war in the Ukraine. Spiritually we may think of hell fire and brimstone. But Biblically, fire has another side. Though some forms of fire destroy, in Jesus’ day, fire was recognized by the Jews as a symbol for God. Jesus uses the word as a sign of the end times when the Kingdom of God will come.

We have seen God in the fire in many Bible readings. God was in the burning bush, and the Children of Israel followed a pillar of fire at night as they left slavery in Egypt. For us Christians, there is the fire of Pentecost, as the Holy Ghost descends. And fire also creates and purifies. Pots must be baked in a fiery kiln before they become solid, dependable, and useful; metals are cast into the fire to burn away impurities. Jesus first image warns of impending trials, but offers us the presence of God, the hope of holiness and salvation.

I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed!

We tend to think of baptism as a delightful time involving an adorable baby. But we then overlook or forget that for us baptism represents death (to our sin), judgment and purification. The fiery Holy Spirit descends on us, fills us, and our sins are washed away. Through our baptism we accept responsibility for our actions, knowing that when we face God we will be held accountable for all that we have done since we were baptized. This is the action that comes to mind when we hear the word baptism.

But scholars think that in Luke’s passage, which we heard today, Jesus is referring to another baptism, to the cross that He knows is coming. It is a personal statement. The cross has been before Him since He first began His ministry, and now He, who embodies the Presence of God, alludes to the fact that He is not simply meting out the fire of judgment and purification, but also bears it Himself.

In these two short sentences we encounter Jesus’ amazing strength, His humanity, and His divinity. He wants His disciples, and us, to understand that trials will come, that there will be struggles and even suffering, but that God is with us through it all, and more, that Jesus Himself asks nothing of us that He Himself is not willing to give.

Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!

These words come from the One who we have come to know as The Prince of Peace. What could have motivated them? We are shocked! But Jesus isn’t saying He wants division, rather, He is saying He brings a new order, a change in the way we live, in the way His followers must live if they wish to belong to Him. In Jesus’ day, as in our world, people were intimidated by might, often ruled by fear, and filled with respect for power. But these are not the qualities Jesus wants us to embrace. In their place He offers us forgiveness, courage, and humility.

From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided:

Jesus knows that in families there can be divisions. Children may rebel, but then, after those trying teenaged years, many will settle into lifestyles their parents find acceptable, or – perhaps not. My primary care physician, a Democrat, is married to a Republican and, knowing I’m a priest, she decided, during my last visit, to give me her political views. As she reached the end of her rather long diatribe she said, “Thank you for listening – because my husband won’t”. Obviously, families can be divided over many things, and whether things work out or not depends on the individuals involved.

There are also always divisions within any society. We are certainly seeing that now in this country, where there is a sharp political divide that is resulting in some rather terrifying reactions as ideologies clash. In our not too distant past we have watched many issues play out, women’s liberation, civil rights, LGBTQ+ rights – and though partially resolved they continue to be issues. Attitudes and acceptance depend on where you live here in the USA, and on what old issue may suddenly become a new battleground.

Unfortunately, as we can see in the violence and hatred that is becoming more common in our everyday news, sin and evil have not died. Prejudice and anger continue to thrive, and people still find themselves at odds with fellow workers, friends, and even family members.

Having spoken to His disciples, Jesus turns to the crowd.

He said to them, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, `It is going to rain'; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, `There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?"

There are people today who take this passage as a reference to the end of the world, but listening to what Jesus tells the crowd in today’s Gospel, and hearing only doom-saying, is missing the point. Jesus wants His followers to go against the world, to stand against what is hateful, and live what is loving, kind, generous, accepting. This we are to do out of love for, and with faith, in Him. Our tendency, when faced with the sin of the world, is to either fall back into nostalgic memories of “better times”, thus avoiding the present dilemma, or to ignore what is happening, reasoning that we “cannot do anything about it”. Neither of these choices is acceptable to Jesus.

Like the people to whom Isaiah sang his song, we have a familial relationship with God. We are family, with Him and in Him, bound to each other by Love by the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ teaching is that we who live in this family and honour it may well find that we are not in step with people around us, but Jesus has made it clear that that is to be expected. Our values are meant to be different from those of the world, not materialistic, our approach to life is meant to be guided by the wisdom of love and set within the boundaries laid out for us by Jesus, i.e. to love unconditionally, give generously, walk humbly with our God – and, perhaps most difficult, we are also meant to shake the dust from our shoes, when we are not welcome, not invited in. This does not mean abandoning our responsibility, but rather not trying to prove we are “right” when it is clear others are not listening.

For us, the most difficult thing to grasp is that the Kingdom we inherit is not of this world – and that means we are not the ones who acquire, not the ones who are the aggressors. We follow the One who cared so much for His followers, for us, He laid down His life for us, never taking up the sword to defend Himself, and chastising Peter when he did just that. We are not promised easy or comfortable lives. Indeed, in our epistle today Paul makes it very clear that there can be very unpleasant results for those who live their faith, but Jesus expects is to live it anyway.

In the present time, this very day, people need love, recognition, compassion, support, understanding. People need help. It isn’t hard to interpret what is happening in our society, and what is missing. In our world, people need Jesus, they need acceptance and love, and we, the baptized, are the ones who must bring Him, His love, His compassion, to them. We are not called to be “right”, but rather to be the bearers of the Love and Peace of God.

Jesus’ last days are spent filling His followers, filling us, with encouragement. He wants the people He cares for to continue His work in this world. He also wants to let us know that it won’t be easy, but He assures us again and again that when we do His work, He will be with us – even unto the ends of the earth.

Let us pray in the words of the hymn:

They cast their nets in Galilee just off the hills of brown; such happy, simple fisherfolk, before the Lord came down. Contented, peaceful fishermen, before they ever knew the peace of God that filled their hearts brimful, and broke them too. The peace of God, it is no peace, but strife closed in the sod, Yet let us pray for but one thing—the marvelous peace of God. In Jesus Name – Amen.