NOTES for Luk 12:49-53

Like Jesus' disciples who heard the terrible words in today's reading, we find it hard to accept such a prospect. They expected a Messiah who would come as a liberator and bring about Israel's triumph. The Romans would fall, Israel would be free, and at last the world would be beautiful and good. Yet by His perfection, by being the Truth, Jesus became a stumbling block for each and every person. His very presence becomes a cause of division. No one remains on the sidelines; everyone must decide Who it is that has come.

But division does not end even if Jesus is accepted as the Messiah. Children and parents, brothers and sisters - all of us stand on different sides of Him; all of us see different things and try to regard what we ourselves have seen as the most important. Some see wrath, some mercy, some love, some light. Everyone considers it necessary to establish their own view of God as supreme. This is how our fallen humanity manifests itself when it encounters His perfection. The apostles faced this, and it continues to this day. On the other hand, we have already been warned of the danger. Forewarned is forearmed: we can refuse to become instruments of division.