His Longing

A Reflection on the Gospel for Sunday, August 14th, 2022
Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Luke
12:49-53

Jesus said to his disciples: “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 

“Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! 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.”

Jesus starts with two yearnings: a desire for the fire He brings to be spread far and wide, and a desire for His baptism to be completed.


First, the Fire.
Veni sancte spiritus. Come Holy Spirit. These three words are an ancient prayer and a deep part of our parish — an acknowledgement of our need, an acceptance of His promise, a welcoming of His presence. They are really the opening line to a sequence:
Veni sancte spiritus (Come Holy Spirit)
reple tuorum corda fidelium (fill the hearts of your faithful)
et tui amoris in eis ignum accende (and ignite in them the fire of Your love).


Latin has this quirk of sticking different endings on a word to let you know what its job is in the sentence. English uses word order to do that. Take, for instance: “Sarah gave the green book to Jill.” We know that Sarah is the giver and Jill is the receiver and that the book is green because of where the words sit. In Latin, any one of those words can come first. If the most important idea was the colour of the book, we’d have: “Green Sarah to Jill the book gave.” Nobody would think Sarah was green because “book” and “green” have the same ending. 


So here’s the thrust of this ancient prayer: COME Holy Spirit, FILL the hearts of your faithful, and ignite in THEM the fire of YOUR LOVE. Come. Fill them. Your love. This is the fire Jesus longs to see ablaze: the fire of His love.


Now, the Baptism. 
​This is a hard yearning — the yearning to be immersed in the pain, sorrow and death He signed up for — but the cross is the only way through to the fire dancing in the hearts of the people He longs for. This death is the only way through to life for those He loves, and so He carries an unsettled desire to complete this baptism, eyes wide open.


A Hard Teaching
He opens with His two yearnings in order to colour what comes next: “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!”


Love as division? Not cohesion? This division is not the opposite of love, but the precursor. There will be loss before there is life.  Jesus knows we must see the separation for real love to grow. It’s not a sentiment, it’s a choice. The dividing line is not to create an “us versus them” but an “us for them.”


I was listening to Brad Jersak teach about the justice of God. What struck that bell that hangs in my soul was this: God’s justice isn’t retributive, it’s restorative. He exercises His justice not to punish but to bring life. Jesus doesn’t call us into an isolating division, but a restorative division that leads to a life-giving fire of love burning in everyone. 

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Lord, let Your longing be met in me, in us, whatever the cost. Amen.



Noreen Smith

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