20th Sunday in Ordinary Time: Embrace the fire

For every ideology, philosophy, and political opinion that is in the world, there is a Jesus.

Socialists have constructed a socialist Jesus; feminists a feminist Jesus. There's a conservative Jesus, a liberal Jesus, and everything in between.

We each make our own Jesus every time we adjust what he actually said and taught to fit in with what we think. It's so much easier to imagine Jesus as always agreeing with us than to deal with the reality of who he is and what he demands of us.

The real Jesus - the Jesus we meet in the Scriptures and in the sacraments of the Church - is far more interesting and far more demanding than any of the imaginary ones we invent.

The real Jesus says things like what we just heard in this reading from the Gospel of Luke:

“I have come to set the earth on fire, 

and how I wish it were already blazing!"

and then:

"Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth?  

No, I tell you, but rather division."

He goes on to say that this division will even be between family members.

These are difficult things to hear. They offend our sensibilities as nice, modern people; but they bring us face to face with the seriousness of what it is Jesus offers to us.

Jesus uses the image of fire. Fire can be something comforting - it can provide warmth on a cold night or light in a dark room. We can think of the fire of the Holy Spirit as a pleasant image.

But fire can also be frightening. It consumes and transforms whatever is in its path. Jesus wishes that the whole world was on fire with the love of God. That's not just some pleasant feeling or nice emotion, but an overwhelming force.

In the face of the love of God we only have two choices: to reject it and shrivel up, or embrace it and be transformed by its flames.

That's why there will always be division - even within a family - when it comes to accepting the love of God. Choosing God means rejecting the world. It means letting go of things that the world says are the most important or even absolutely necessary for a good life - that is always going to lead to conflict.

What we have to decide is whether following Jesus is worth that?

The second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews is one of my favorite parts of the Bible. It's so good it's worth hearing again:

Brothers and sisters: 

Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, 

let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us 

and persevere in running the race that lies before us 

while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, 

the leader and perfecter of faith. 

For the sake of the joy that lay before him 

he endured the cross, despising its shame, 

and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.  

Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners, 

in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.  

In your struggle against sin 

you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood.

What it comes down to is what Nike always says: "Just do it."

Jesus has gone before us. He embraced the cross, gave every bit of his life, and then conquered death and rose from the grave. The saints - people, like us - have suffered and died for being disciples of Jesus.

What have we done? Say that to yourself: "What have I done for Jesus?"



We don't come to Mass to do God a favor. We don't come to Mass to please our parents or because of some "Catholic guilt."

We come to Mass to be changed. To worship the God the universe and receive Jesus in the Eucharist, surrounded by all the saints and angels.

And when we go out those doors at the end, if we're aren't going out with the intention to live our lives for God, then we're missing the point.

Jesus - the real Jesus - offers us everything. He didn't come to affirm everything we already to believe, to say that "we're all ok" or leave us as just nice people.

He came to make us like himself - full of the life and love of God.