In today’s Gospel lesson (Luke 12:49-56), we encounter a Jesus who is strong, emphatic, angry. His words are disturbing: “I come to bring fire to the earth. . . .Do you think that I come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” We are much more accustomed to a gentle, caring Jesus, who reaches out to the poor, the sick, the disenfranchised. Giving them a message of hope, of a better life.
What we see here is fierceness of faith. It is all too easy to forget that such fierceness is characteristic of Christian faith in many parts of the world. Each Sunday we pray for our companion diocese, the Diocese of Renk in the Sudan. The Sudan is an area where Christians suffer persecution for their faith and, yet, they hang on fiercely to the beliefs that are important to them. We witnessed fierceness of faith in accounts of the recent massacre of medical missionaries in Afghanistan. Fierceness of faith in the workers who were working to help the people in remote areas of the country. Fierceness of faith in the determination of the International Assistance Mission, the sponsoring organization, to continue their work.
Fierceness of faith. A quality to be admired. A quality to be celebrated. A quality to hope for in ourselves.
Peace,
Deacon Sue Nebel
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