Let’s put it this way, it’s not nice to hear any message of destruction, talk less of destruction by bringing fire to the earth. If Jesus was walking the streets of California, Los Angeles, London and Paris with that kind of message he would be number one on the FBI list of wanted persons. Well in his days, the Jewish leaders and the Roman goverment did not dissapoint, they had Jesus and his messianic message on top of their ’watch this bloke’ "Top Secret" caveat list of wanted people. They followed him everywhere, listened to every word he preached, albeit, with a different agenda. They weren’t listening to Jesus so that they could be saved, they were hunting him to bring him to their own judgement. How ironic it was when Jesus spoke about bringing fire to the earth, because the word ’Fire’ can sometimes connotes a meaning of judgement in the hearing of the people of his day.
"I came to bring fire to the earth, and how it were already kindled" Luke 12:49
This sentence is pregnanted with meanings, and it is designed to stir his listeners to action, action of decision, of thinking and of conflicts in their hearts. It worked to devastating effect as Jesus always demand from his followers total allegiance to God as a prerequisites of the Kingdom of God. Each hearer would have heard the same message but would definitely interprete it differently. So what do we then make of this statement of Jesus?, what does it mean to his hearers then and what does it mean to us today?
In Ancient Greek philosophy, Heraclitus the philosopher considered ’Fire’ to be one of the primary forms of the real world and quite a lot of people in ancient times believe that fire, air, earth and water are all primary elements substances of the world.
In the Old Testament, a sort of a history of the jewish people, one of the words used for’Fire’in Hebrew is ’ASh’. The letter ’A’-aleph oftens refers to God and ’Sh’ SHin infers ’bringing forth, or birth’so that the word ASh would mean ’The bringing forth or birth of God in us’. That means we can safely interprete the word fire to mean the bringing forth God in us, although there would be other meanings and ethymologies, it woul mostly all depend on the background, context and the usage of the word ’Fire’
However, the people of Jesus’ times would have been used to all permutations of the usage of the word fire, and ironically, the hearing of the word ’fire’ does really fires people up. One of the most notably usage of the Fire in the Old Testament was the Taberah, recorded in Numbers chapter 11, when the people of Israel complained too much and displeased God. He sent Fire and "consumed them that were in the uttermost part of the camp" Num 11:1-3
In the New Testament, the word fire was used many times in different forms, but their usage was relative to the prevailing conditions, background and within the context in which they existed. One of the earliest recordings of the usage of the word Fire in the NT was recorded in the gospel according to Luke, chapter 3 where John the Baptist was introducing Jesus in his absence to his followers who came to him to be baptised “I baptized you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with Holy Spirit and fire”. Here, John’s baptism with water symbolizes washing away of sin which is in line with his message of repentance and reformation. Jesus baptism by ‘fire’ includes the power needed to do God’s will, so the usage of ‘fire’ here connotes power and judgement, it symbolizes the work of the Holy Spirit as those who refuse to repent brings God’s judgement on themselves.
So it is against this background and knowledge that Jesus makes this statement to the crowd and it must have stirred more than a bit of debate among them. Today it certainly created a lot of debate among theologians. Some scholars go by the judgement interpretation, they argue that ‘fire’ here symbolizes judgement. Others think it is in relation to the descent of the Holy Spirit as evident on the day of Pentecost in Acts Chapter 2. Still some scholars feel ‘fire’ here is referring to Jesus’ work on the cross and Jesus’ reference to ‘how I wish it were already kindled’ was in regards to how He wished the task is brought to fulfilment. Yet other theologians think that the judgement inference from this passage refers to the judgement that Jesus will suffer on the cross on his own during the brief separation from His father. It is the judgement the Messiah will bear for others, not the one that He will inflict on them.
Whatever we think about the meaning of the passage, one thing is clear and certain, and that is: Jesus’ ministry does not bring immediate ‘peace’ on earth to his hearers, in fact in ironic ways, it did the opposite and this is where the power of his message lies. The immediate impact of Jesus’ words on bringing ‘fire’ on earth is:
(1) Fire: As in the efficacy of power, which burns in the hearts and minds of his hearers as to cause them to react and act in different ways. To those who accept the message of salvation that fire will burn in them in the way of the Holy Spirit and bring righteousness. To others who refuse the message, unfortunately, the fire will still burn in them in the way of self judgement. The question the message begs is simple, have you receive the message of fire and is the fire still burning in you?, Is the fire still burning in the Christian Church today?
(2) Judging: As in making a decision, People who hear the message of Jesus have to decide either way, with Jesus there is no sitting on the fence, even within families of close knit, it is a message that can be divisive as members have to act. “from now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three, they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law” Conflict of interest is inevitable with hearing the message of Jesus as the devil does not fold his hand and watch while his kingdom is being torn to shreds by the message of the light and of the truth of God’s Kingdom.
With Jesus loyalties must be declared and commitments made, sometimes to the severing of other relationships. The question this revelation poses to us is; are we willing to risk our family’s approval in order to gain eternal life? The fire which Jesus brings on earth is not the ever consuming and overwhelming fire as in such that destroyed Sodom and Gomorah (Gen 19:24-25) . No the Fire that Jesus is talking about, which He brings on earth is not a destructive fire, in fact, it is indeed a fire of Love that kindles in the heart of His hearers so much to cause them to act in a judging way as much as deciding which direction they are heading. It is a fire of Love, and it can only be that of God’s love for mankind. John sheds more light to it for us where that fire of love was coming from “For God so love the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” John 3:16. So God does not desire the death of anyone of his creation, and Jesus’ fire is not a destructive fire, it is a fire of love that kindles a decision, gives power to do God’s will to those who accept and shed light to their path.
SO HOW CLEVER ARE WE TODAY? With our technological know-how and advancement, how far are we in making our world a living Kingdom of God? The people of Jesus’ time were skilled in interpreting the weather for their own good. They were mostly farmers and they needed to be well skilled in interpreting the rising of the sun and the rushing of the wind for the little matter of the success of the harvest of their crops. Jesus challenged them to use the same skill for the more important harvest of their lives. We are equally challenged today to use our skill, talents, silver and gold for the benefit of our soul, indeed we are challenged to store up treasures for ourselves where moth, thieves and decay would not affect it. We are challenged to look even closer home within our families and cause ‘fire’ of love to burn within our clan so that we can all depart from evil ways and follow path of righteousness.
I pray that for us we may continue to accept His message, that His word will light the fire in us and that fire will remain kindle and be cleansed by it as Prophet Isaiah was during his call. “And I said; woe to me! For I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” and just as Isaiah’s sins was atoned for through the ‘fire’-the burning coal taken from the alter to touch his lips and the word spoken by the Seraph, so also are the sins of all those who turn to Jesus will have their sins wipe away by the ‘fire’ of the Holy Spirit which Jesus brings on earth. The ‘fire’ is already kindled, all that remains is the harvest of who want part of the it in the Kingdom of God on earth.
