This article is occasioned by a rather innocuous request from my brother-in-law, Louis, in Australia. He wanted somebody to throw light on the Gospel reading of Sunday the 18th August. The “offending text” is from Luke’s Gospel, Chapter 12, verses 49-53. This text may sound downright offensive to family people;, where Jesus says that he has come to set fathers against sons, mothers-in-law against daughters-in-law (Saas Bahu) etc. Priests and religious who have studied Sacred Scripture would understand the text, but not the laity. Hence this attempt at shedding some light.
For those not familiar with Sacred Scripture I would first make two points. One is the old adage that “A text without a context is a pretext”. Shorn of jargon, it means that we need to see the context in which a statement is made. The second point is to see the overall thrust, and not an isolated statement. This is sometimes referred to as the Sacred Thread running through the entire Bible, binding it into one. Keeping these two points in mind, the text in question is not really as offensive as it prima facie appears to be.
Why would the “Prince of Peace” (Is 9:6) talk of casting fire and saying that he has come not to bring peace, but division, even in households? Having already been baptized by John, what need was there to talk of another baptism? What was the constraint that Jesus was struggling with? This Gospel passage is so challenging that it does indeed merit our reflection. But space constraints here restrict me to addressing the “offensive” point of division only.
We need to also remember that there is no such thing as “gospel truth”; as the Gospels were systematically codified by St Jerome, only in the 3rd Century. It was from here that the Catholic Church adopted what is today called “canonical texts”, those that it accepts as being of divine origin. There is another “word” of caution. The Bible is often referred to as the “Word of God”. I would put it slightly differently, as being the “Voice of God in the words of men”. This indicates a fusion of divine inspiration and human perception. It now becomes so much easier to understand the message that Jesus seeks to convey.
This brings me to the title of this article – Pole Position. What does it mean? Those who are familiar with motor sports will know that it refers to the driver/ rider who clocked the fastest timing in the qualifying round, and therefore gets the lead position (advantage) on the starting grid. My choice of word is “pole”. We normally refer to the North Pole and South Pole. They are at the extreme ends of the earth, giving rise to the term “poles apart” or the word “polarization”. This is exactly what happens when an electric current is passed through positive and negative poles (anode and cathode) through an electrolyte solution. This effects a chemical change and anodisation, or a deposit on one pole. This is how electro-plating is done. The relevant point for us is the process of electrolysis and the resultant polarization.
Human society is like a passive electrolyte. Jesus and his words are like the electric current. Once impacted by this current, society (human behaviour) cannot remain the same. Jesus’ words have an electrifying/ magnetic/ polarizing effect. It is in this context that we need to understand the statement that he has not come to bring peace, but division. Passive society is activated, which results in a polarization of views (acceptance or rejection). Polarization can be put to good use, as in electro-plating; or result in divisiveness a la Modi, in electoral politics.
Hence, had Jesus been walking around in today’s post-scientific world, he may have used a more scientific/ current idiom like “My words will result in a form of social polarization, which though not intended, cannot also be avoided”.
Another factor is the evolution of Jesus himself, in his own self-understanding; from the discovery of who his “Father” was when his parents thought that he was lost in the Temple (cf Lk 2:49-50), to his confirmation of sonship at his baptism (cf Lk 3:22) and his messianic mission at the Transfiguration (cf Lk 9:35). As a human being Jesus was well versed with the Jewish scriptures, what we now call the Old Testament. Since his target audience was Jews, he copiously quoted from these texts. Even his dying exclamation “Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani” was a direct quote from Psalm 22:1. So too, when he talked of division, he may have been quoting the Prophet Micah “For son insults father, daughter rebels against mother, daughter-in-law against mother-in-law; a persons enemies come from within the household itself” (Mic 7:6).
Mother Mary may also have told her son what the Prophet Simeon had said when he was being presented in the Temple on the 40th day of his birth. “Look he is destined for the fall and for the rise of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is opposed, and a sword will pierce your soul too, so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare” (Lk 2:34-35). Earlier translations used the phrase “sign of contradiction”. I prefer to use the term “contra-indication”.
An encounter with Jesus is like emerging from a dark tunnel into the light which “lays bare” hitherto unseen aspects of one’s life. It elicits a response. As Newton’s Third Law of Motion states, “To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”. A revolutionary accepts the message, while a reactionary rejects it. This incisiveness or divisiveness is further endorsed by these words, “The word of God is something active: it cuts more incisively than any two edged sword: it can seek out the place where soul is divided from spirit, or joints from marrow; it can pass judgment on secret emotions and thoughts. No created thing is hidden from him; everything is uncovered and stretched fully open … “ (Heb 4:12-13). So we do see that Sacred Thread running through Sacred Scripture. The “offending text” can now be seen in its proper perspective.
Jesus himself first experienced divisiveness, and forewarns his disciples. At the beginning of his ministry, when he stood up in the synagogue of his hometown Nazareth, to proclaim the fulfillment of the scriptures, he experienced his first reaction and angry rejection. “Everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him off the cliff …” (Lk 4:28-30). That is why Jesus says, “You will be betrayed even by parents and brother, relations and friends; and some of you will be put to death. You will be hated universally on account of my name” (Lk 21:16-18). He goes on to say “If the world hates you, you must realize that it hated me before it hated you” (Jn 15:18).
Jesus prioritizes relationships when he says “No one who prefers father or mother to me is worthy of me. No one who prefers son or daughter to me is worthy of me” (Mat 10:37). This was said when Jesus was commissioning his first set of disciples; much like a General addressing his cadets at a passing out parade, where they are exhorted to believe “Country first, family later”. Even in the case of his mother, he declined to give importance to the physical relationship of the womb that bore him or the breasts that suckled him. He raised it to a different level by saying that even more blessed is the one who hears the word of God and abides by it (cf ).
The more we reflect on Jesus’ life and mission, the more do we understand his words. They may sound strident or impractical when seen in isolation, or out of context. But the complete picture, joined by the Sacred Thread, makes for what we now call Sacred Scripture. I had earlier referred to Jesus’ evolving self-understanding of his mission. I am inclined to believe that he was more strident at the beginning of his ministry, but became more circumspect and equanimous towards the end. That is why in his final discourse to his disciples he prays to the father, “May they all be one, just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you, so that they also may be in us …” (Jn 17:21). His bequeathal to them is “Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give to you. A peace which the world cannot give, this is my gift to you” (Jn 14:27).
Division is incidental to Jesus’ mission, but peace is central to it, beginning from the nativity proclamation itself – “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace for those he favours” (Lk 2:14). At the beginning of his ministry Jesus had said “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth: it is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword” (Mat 10:34). This statement continues in the same manner as the “offending text” in Luke. However, the day before his death Mathew quotes Jesus saying to Peter, “Put your sword back, for all who draw the sword, will die by the sword” (Mat 26:52), a sentiment echoed in the last book of the Bible (cf Rev 13:10).
So all you people of goodwill, turn on the switch, and allow the current of God’s word to pass through your life. You will be transformed. You will be at Pole Position, and be able to say what St Paul said at the fag end of his life, “I have run the race to the finish, I have kept the faith” (2Tim 4:7).
(All scripture quotations are from The New Jerusalem Bible)
August 2013
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