Suppose you that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:
--Luke 12:51
The whole world is festering
With unhappy souls
The French hate the Germans,
The Germans hate the Poles
'When the days for Jesus' being taken up were fulfilled,
he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem,
and he sent messengers ahead of him.
On the way they entered a Samaritan village
to prepare for his reception there,
but they would not welcome him
because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked,
"Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven
to consume them?"
Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.
As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him,
"I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him,
"Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
And to another he said, "Follow me."
But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
And another said, "I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home."
To him Jesus said, "No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God."'
This is a very uncomfortable part of Christ's message, a part which is a significant break with the Old Testament. The Old Testament was a writing of a people, a land, an ethnic group which would be selected out and saved. Christ says just the opposite. He says that man is united through each man's relationship with the divine; that relationship is held in common among all. The family, the tribe, the people might be important in the world but all of those elements are subservient to man's common bond mediated by the relationship with the divine. Those too human un-divine attachments must be divided.
It is an end of the noble Hatfields, the redoubtable McCoys.
--Luke 12:51
The whole world is festering
With unhappy souls
The French hate the Germans,
The Germans hate the Poles
Italians hate Yugoslavs
South Africans hate the Dutch
And I don't like anybody very much
--Sung by The Kingston Trio
Ours is a time of conflict. We are seeing ethnicity, race, religion, clan, cult, history all as divisions among man. And one man's loyalty is another man's xenophobia. For the first time in history the recognition of yourself in another is seen as a defect in character. But this has been spoken of before. "Suppose you that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division." Is this what Christ was talking about? Actually He was talking about the obverse.'When the days for Jesus' being taken up were fulfilled,
he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem,
and he sent messengers ahead of him.
On the way they entered a Samaritan village
to prepare for his reception there,
but they would not welcome him
because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem.
When the disciples James and John saw this they asked,
"Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven
to consume them?"
Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village.
As they were proceeding on their journey someone said to him,
"I will follow you wherever you go."
Jesus answered him,
"Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests,
but the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head."
And to another he said, "Follow me."
But he replied, "Lord, let me go first and bury my father."
But he answered him, "Let the dead bury their dead.
But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God."
And another said, "I will follow you, Lord,
but first let me say farewell to my family at home."
To him Jesus said, "No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God."'
This is a very uncomfortable part of Christ's message, a part which is a significant break with the Old Testament. The Old Testament was a writing of a people, a land, an ethnic group which would be selected out and saved. Christ says just the opposite. He says that man is united through each man's relationship with the divine; that relationship is held in common among all. The family, the tribe, the people might be important in the world but all of those elements are subservient to man's common bond mediated by the relationship with the divine. Those too human un-divine attachments must be divided.
It is an end of the noble Hatfields, the redoubtable McCoys.
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