These words of Jesus about the division He brought into the world trouble some readers of the Gospel, especially today. Unity seems more appropriate to us now than division; we would like every division between people to disappear, and unity seems to us...
These words of Jesus about the division He brought into the world trouble some readers of the Gospel, especially today. Unity seems more appropriate to us now than division; we would like every division between people to disappear, and unity seems to us better than division by definition. And so it is when secondary matters are concerned. From the Gospel's perspective, as from the perspective of spiritual life in general, all our divisions—cultural, linguistic, racial, even religious—are essentially secondary and do not touch what matters most: our relationship with God and its dynamics. It is the dynamics of our relationships with God and with our neighbors that matter most; everything else is secondary. In this respect, people are divided into only two categories: those whose lives contain a relationship with God and the dynamics associated with it, and those whose lives do not.
A complete absence of relationship with God naturally means the complete destruction of the human personality, often followed by physical destruction as well. Yet one can also speak of this relationship being formed and strengthened, or of its gradual degradation and tendency toward total destruction. Ultimately, in the context and prospect of the Kingdom entering the world, the question must be one of striving toward the fullness of the Kingdom's life or of self-isolation: an attempt to shut oneself off, create one's own little enclosed world, and become its king, its sole master and ruler. The fallen world exists precisely in such isolation, and therefore the fundamental Christian division is the division between those who seek the life of the Kingdom and those who are content with the life of this world, the fallen world.
Here division really is absolutely inevitable. The two spiritual vectors just described are incompatible—not because some people are “spiritual” and others are not, but because some seek life and move into life, while others are content with a life-that-is-dying, a gradual descent into the death that reigns in the fallen world. These are not different views or convictions but opposite directions of spiritual movement, which inevitably divide those who choose them. People moving in different, mutually opposite directions cannot, after all, remain united.
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12:35 Let your loins be girt - An allusion to the long garments, worn by the eastern nations, which they girded or tucked up about their loins, when they journeyed or were employed in any labour: as also to the lights that servants used to carry at weddings, which were generally in the night.
12:37 He will come and serve them - The meaning is, he will show them his love, in the most condescending and tender manner.
12:38 The Jews frequently divided the night into three watches, to which our Lord seems here to allude.
12:41 Speakest thou this parable to us - Apostles and disciples: Or to all - The people? Does it concern us alone? Or all men?
12:42 Who is that faithful and wise steward - Our Lord's answer manifestly implies, that he had spoken this parable primarily (though not wholly) to the ministers of his word: Whom his lordshall make ruler over his household - For his wisdom and faithfulness.
12:43 Happy is that servant - God himself pronounces him wise, faithful, happy! Yet we see, he might fall from all, and perish for ever.
12:46 The Lord will appoint him his portion - His everlasting portion, with the unfaithful - As faithful as he was once, God himself being the Judge!
12:47 And that servant who knew his Lord's will shall be beaten with many stripes - And his having much knowledge will increase, not lessen, his punishment.
12:49 I am come to send fire - To spread the fire of heavenly love over all the earth.
12:50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with - I must suffer first, before I can set up my kingdom. And how I long to fight my way through all!
12:51 Suppose ye that I am come to send peace upon earth - That universal peace will be the immediate effect of my coming?Not so, but quite the contrary. Mat 10:34.
12:52 There shall be five in one house, three against two, and two against three - There being an irreconcilable enmity between the Spirit of Christ and the spirit of the world.
12:53 The father against the son - For those who reject me will be implacable toward their very nearest relations who receive me.At this day also is this scripture fulfilled. Now likewise there is no concord between Christ and Belial.
12:54 And he said to the people also - In the preceding verses he speaks only to his disciples. From the west - In Judea, the west wind, blowing from the sea, usually brought rain: the south wind, blowing from the deserts of Arabia, occasioned sultry heat. Mat 16:2.
12:56 How do ye not discern this season - Of the Messiah's coming, distinguishable by so many surer signs.
12:57 Why even of yourselves, without any external sign, judge ye not what is right? - Why do ye not discern and acknowledge the intrinsic excellence of my doctrine?
12:58 When thou art going - As if he had said, And ye have not a moment to lose. For the executioners of God's vengeance are at hand. And when he hath once delivered you over to them, ye are undone for ever. Mat 5:25.
12:59 A mite - was about the third part of a farthing sterling.