I Have Come to Set the Earth on Fire"

Today's Sunday Mass Reading

Today’s Gospel reading from the Gospel of Luke is a difficult one for many of us to read. Jesus says that He has “come to set the earth on fire.” Fire is often used in the Bible to describe the presence of God. Theologians sometimes joke that if the saints in heaven were to step into hell they would freeze to death. Certainly the Bible sometimes describes hell with the imagery of fire, but far more often God is described as fiery. The angels closest to God are called seraphim, flaming ones. The fire imagery is not always a comforting one, however. Here, Jesus is using the fiery image to describe God’s judgment, which is tied to God’s fiery love, but also to the fire of God’s purification which comes to purify us all. More difficult for us than the image of setting the earth on fire, is Jesus’ message that He did not come to establish peace on earth, “but rather division.” Jesus wants us to be so united to God through Him that it will cause divisions in our own families. He says that, “From now on a household of five will be divided, three against two and two against three; a father will be divided against his son and a son against his father, a mother against her daughter and a daughter against her mother,” etc. Jesus is not intending to lead people to break the fourth commandment and disobey their parents. But He recognizes that following Jesus in families that are not united around Christ, will cause divisions.

The earliest Christians who were Jews experienced these divisions. As Gentiles came into the Church, they too felt these divisions, as they stopped participating in the required sacrifices. The early martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicity describes what these divisions could look like for early Gentile Christians. Perpetua was convicted of being a Christian, and so was sentenced to be executed. Her Roman Gentile father pleaded with her to renounce her faith in Jesus and be spared death. She refused her father’s request, and so was literally divided from her family, by imprisonment and then death. We should try to sow the seeds of peace, especially within our families. But we must never compromise our faith in Jesus. This is certain to cause division when our families’ faiths are already divided. But let us have faith that the Lord will be present with us amidst these painful divisions to be our source of strength.