Twentieth Sunday August 19, 2007

Jeremiah 38 :1-10 Psalm: 40: Hebrews 12: 1-4 Luke 12 : 49-53

Theme: I have not come to bring peace

1. I was preparing this homily a long time ago, because I knew I would be rushed at the last moment. I could not help thinking of Jesus saying, "I have not come to bring peace" - and yet

at Christmas, we hear Jesus described as the Prince of Peace

at Easter: the message of Jesus is "Peace I leave with you, my Peace .."

furthermore we hear Jesus saying, "come to me all you who labour and are overburdened and I will give you rest."

This is a message of doom and gloom that hardly goes with the Summer. As the song goes: Summer time and the living is easy. Fish are jumping. It is true that the War in Iraq, Iran, in Palestine and Israel makes this the bloodiest opening of any century or any Millennium. But this is not the type of unrest that Jesus is referring to.

2. To get a clue as to the meaning of his passage: I have come to bring war not peace. I have to bring strife between mother and daughter, between father and son, if we want to get a clue to its meaning, we have to go back to a passage in Luke which we describe as the Fourth joyful mystery of the Rosary: The presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Then Simeon takes the baby Jesus in his arms and says to God, a prayer that we use each night in the Breviary, "Now Lord you can let your servant go in peace." But he turns to Mary and says, "This child is CHOSEN for the destruction and the salvation of many in Israel." Luke 2:34.

3. Jesus was not advocating War, nor violence. But he knew that His Word, His message would cause major disagreements - even within families as they interpreted his message, as they put it into their daily lives.

I will cause strife between mother and daughter. Jesus is not speaking of the everyday headaches so common in families with a headstrong teenager. The young girl wants to establish her identity. It is all subconscious.

She wants to wear makeup,

she wants to wear blouses with some cleavage,

she wants a cell phone,

she wants to stay at friend's homes over night on weekends,

she wants to hang out in the Mall on a Friday night.

The mother has been a teenager herself and she knows the perils - she does not want her daughter to go through the same heartaches. And so she says NO and the daughter wants a YES. These growing up clashes is not what Jesus is talking about.

4. When Jesus taught in Galilee and Jerusalem, he was doing nothing more and nothing less than what Jeremiah was doing in the first reading, he was handing on the Message of God. He was a Prophet, which literally meant, one who spoke for God, or who spoke God's message. The King did not like the message and Jeremiah was thrown into an empty well, he was sinking in the mud and going to die.

Here there was no peace, just violence and death.

When Jesus did his wonders on the Sabbath,

when Jesus mixed with sinners and tax collectors,

when Jesus condemned the literal application of the law.

Jesus also brought strife and not peace. We are told again and again the Scribes and Pharisees sought how to kill Jesus.

5. Today, we clash in families on issues like living common law, same sex marriages, getting married in the church, baptising children, pro choice or pro life. As one wise psychologist said, the younger generation want to throw the "Baby out with the bath water" while the older generation want to save the Baby, but also the dirty bath water. Both generations know the law and what it involves, but the strife, "I have come to bring enmity not peace" comes in the way Mother and daughter, Father and son, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law interpret and observe these teachings. It is not even a matter of putting Catholics into neat categories as Liberal Catholics and Conservative Catholics.

6. To use only one example, our teenagers cannot understand the fuss about

why they should get married in the Church by a Catholic Priest - why can I not get married on a beach by any minister. But that is not a marriage, her mother says. Why not, counters the 23 year old daughter. I love him and want to commit myself to him just as you and dad 30 years ago. You think a Catholic Priest will make a difference? No, said her mother, but getting married in the Church and with God as a part of the Marriage will make all the difference.

And so the argument and strife goes on. And this is only one of the issues. The sad thing is that both are well intentioned, and very generous and hard working. But they are also very stubborn and will not give in. And so standing up for

what each one considers RIGHT,

what each one considers CORRECT,

what each one considers JUST

will make this statement of Jesus : "I have come to bring strife and not peace something that happens in our day to day life. It is a healthy tension that makes us COME ALIVE IN JESUS.