The great composer Ludwig van
Beethoven occasionally played a trick on audiences at small parties, especially
when he guessed that they weren’t really interested in serious music. The story
goes that he would perform a piece on the piano, one of his own slow movements
perhaps, which would be so gentle and beautiful that everyone would be lulled
into thinking the world was a soft, cozy place where they could think beautiful
thoughts and relax into semi-slumber. Then, just as the final notes were dying
away Beethoven would bring his whole forearm down with a crash across the
keys, and laugh at the shock he gave to the assembled company.
Perhaps it was a bit cruel and
impolite, but the shock of that crash of notes interrupting the haunting melody
is a good image for what Jesus had to say at the end of Luke 12. Take a look...
“I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against.
‘Father will be divided against son
and son against father;
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother;
and mother-in-law against daughter-in-law
and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.’”
Then Jesus turned to the crowd and said, “When you see clouds beginning to form in the west, you say, ‘Here comes a shower.’ And you are right. When the south wind blows, you say, ‘Today will be a scorcher.’ And it is. You fools! You know how to interpret the weather signs of the earth and sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the present times.
“Why can’t you decide for yourselves what is right? When you are on the way to court with your accuser, try to settle the matter before you get there. Otherwise, your accuser may drag you before the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, who will throw you into prison. And if that happens, you won’t be free again until you have paid the very last penny.”
-Luke 12:49-59 NLT
Just like Beethoven crashing down on
the piano to grab the people's attention, so Jesus is saying some hard words to
his audience so they will understand the implications of his message.
Jesus has come to establish a
Kingdom on earth, but it is not a Kingdom like that of Rome or of Babylon or
any other great empire of world history. It certainly isn't like the superpower
nations of today.
Jesus’ kingship is not like human
kingships—it wins influence through suffering service, not coercive power.
And to be quite honest? His kingdom
is divisive. All are welcome, but to those who don't "settle matters with
their accuser" in time? Well... the fire is coming and it will divide. It
will even divide families. And there will not be hope for them after that.
Hard words, but not much different
than the hard words these people had already heard from the mouths of Moses and
their prophets in centuries past.
But Jesus makes it different.
The author of this text of Scripture
is very interested in this type of Kingdom, it supersedes anything he has ever
known or understood about the God of Israel. For Luke, a well-educated
physician, who was a gentile (non-Jewish) this idea of God coming down and
wrapping himself in the flesh of mankind didn't sound like what he had always
heard regarding the God of the Jewish people.
