[Propertalk] Tidbits for sermon on Luke 12:49-56 - II.

[Joe Parrish]

This is the sense of "baptism" in v. 50: Jesus is under great "stress" until his "baptism" is completed in suffering death and being raised again. 

http://montreal.anglican.org/comments/archive/cpr20m.shtml

Chris Haslam 
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At Jesus' baptism, in 2:14, a voice from God says "'Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours!'", so there will be some whom God favours, and others whom he does not. [Leaney, A.R.C. A Commentary on the Gospel according to St.Luke London: Black 1958] Recall Simeon's words to Mary in 2:34-35: "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed - and a sword will pierce your own soul too'". [Brown, Raymond E., Joseph A. Fitzmyer and Roland E. Murphy, eds. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Study Hardback edition. London: Geoffrey Chapman 1995] 

http://montreal.anglican.org/comments/archive/cpr20l.shtml

Chris Haslam 
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After mediation training I had learned that my style involved a lot of triangulation, meaning I was always in the middle so the issues between people were never really resolved.  When I stopped doing this it was uncomfortable for the church.  Instead of fixing problems, I would say things like, "It sounds like you need to speak to Mary about that.. Let's get this issue out in the open so we can hear all sides before making a decision. I sense there are strong feelings in the room-let's try to understand where they are coming from."  After a few weeks of this new behavior, our Sunday School Superintendent said, "I liked it better when you fixed everything for us."  
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Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Mayor Bloomberg are jumping on the bandwagon too, urging billionaires to give away at least 51 percent of their wealth.  Buffett noted last year that he pays 17 percent of his income in taxes (which is less than I pay in payroll taxes!)  He did the research and found that his employees paid over 30 percent of their income in taxes.  [However, giving away money instead of paying taxes on it keeps the federal government from having the opportunity to direct the funds, so it is a somewhat aggressive move against the government.]

http://bloomingcactus.typepad.com/bloomingcactus/2010/08/luke-124956-not-peace-but-a-sword.html

Todd Weir, 2010
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Clearly, in John's Gospel as in Luke's, Our Lord is distinguishing between two types of peace, secular and sacred, temporal and eternal, which is hardly a difficult distinction even for a casual reader to grasp. But it is Matthew's Gospel, not Luke's or John's, that drives the nail home. Matthew quotes Jesus as saying the same words that Luke records, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword."

http://thehardestquestion.org/yearc/ordinary20gospel/

Phyllis Tickle, 2010
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I think that in the first century, this was understood literally. Following Jesus, often meant divisions in families. This has also happened in our centuries. A woman in a church I served a few years ago, hadn't spoken with her mother in 18 years -- ever since "this good Catholic girl" married a Lutheran man and joined the Lutheran church. I know of instances where former Lutheran Church Missouri Synod clergy/seminarians ended up on the "outs" with their families when they went with the seminex walk-out. One's beliefs can bring separation from family members.

http://www.crossmarks.com/brian/luke12x49.htm

Brian Stoffregen
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What Jesus describes has happened throughout the history of Christianity and the history
of the world ever since. There have been divisions over Jesus, divisions over what does
the government of God mean, resulting in various Christian denominations. There has
been division in families. It happened in my family, it happens in many families. Two
things that people can't talk about in families are politics and religion because people get
into big fights. Jesus is describing a reality of our experience.

http://www.gotell.org/pdf/commentary/Luke/Lk12_49-56_commentary.pdf

Tom Boomershine 
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