Foretaste of the Sermon to Come
A little nibble of the Revised Common Lectionary.
Sunday’s readings are Jeremiah 23:5-6, 23-29, Hebrews 11:29–12:2 29, and Luke 12:49-56
“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” OK, Good Shepherd, what do these hard words mean?
Well, soon after his transfiguration, Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51).
The Good Shepherd began his ministry by quoting Isaiah to let everyone know that he is the promised messiah from King David’s lineage. He called disciples and has been teaching all through Galilee and into Gentile country about the Kingdom of God, casting out demons and healing bodies of all sorts of maladies along the way. He has been challenging the Pharisees to see who he is and he taught the common folk that even they can pray to God as Father, even as God is his father. He has taught about giving mercy, promised the lowly will be elevated, fed thousands from five loaves and two fish, and shown that he has authority over even the wind and waves. Just a few verses earlier, he comforted his disciples by saying, “Do not be afraid, little flock.”
Facing Jerusalem means that he knows he is headed for the cross, and the baptism he is about to be baptized into looms over him. In the baptism of his death, Jesus will burn up the old covenant where the unobtainable perfect obedience to the Law is the way to eternal life. In its place, he will cut a new covenant in his body and blood, given to us for the forgiveness of sins. The baptism Jesus speaks of in verse 49 is his death, and in our baptism into Christ, our old creature is also put to death and we rise up as new creatures, clothed in Christ’s righteousness and new recipients of eternal life.
While the disciples and many households could not interpret the present time, could not interpret his miracles or what he meant by setting his face to Jerusalem, we, Jesus’ little flock, want to shake them into recognition because we know exactly who he is and that he is headed to Jerusalem to die for us all. We know that our covenantal God will raise him in three days for our justification, as well as for the justification of the great cloud of faithful witness who came before, to gift us all with his righteousness. He will die so we can live. We know that Jesus’ harsh words come from the heart of a trustworthy, loving and self-sacrificial God. Because we have the rest of the story, we can trust that the Good Shepherd is not giving us words that only kill, but words that will cleanse us and give us life.
