20th Sunday of Ordinary Time

 Jesus came for Division! Lk. 12:49-53

Am I hearing this correctly?

Jesus is talking about coming for division.

I thought He was the Prince of Peace.

Didn’t Jesus say Blessed are the Peacemakers.

Then why does He talk about coming to divide families;

fathers against sons and mother against daughters?

After Jesus ascended into Heaven,

Christianity and Judaism had not yet split.

The disciples who were all Jewish continued to go to the Temple to pray on Saturday the Sabbath,

And then on Sunday evening they Broke the Bread,

As Jesus commanded them.

The Pharisees however would not stand for this,

So they forced the disciples to choose;

Between Judaism or Jesus;

If they chose Judaism they could continue to worship in the Temple

But if they chose Jesus they would be forced out of the Temple.

The disciples of course chose Jesus,

Soon everyone had to make a choice.

to remain in Judaism or to follow Jesus into the new religion of Christianity.

These choices tore families apart as fathers and daughters would become Christians and some mothers and sons would remain Jewish.

And some of this division even became violent as we know in the martyrdom of St. Stephen and other early Christians.

Nothing has changed in 2,000 years as families today are becoming divided between following Jesus or following the way of the world.

We can’t do both;

We live in the world, but we cannot be of the world. Jn. 17:16.

Everyday we have choices to make.

To follow Jesus or the way of the world.

And there are many who will reject us if we choose to follow Jesus;

And the rejection can come even from within our own family.

St. Francis had to walk away from his own father,

Who did not want him to follow Jesus,

But work in the business.

So Francis chose his Heavenly Father over his earthly father

And gave up the kingdom of this world,

For the Kingdom of Heaven.

While we should never become violent or take up the sword because of our choices or the choices that others make, 

we should not be afraid to hold firm to our choice for Jesus no matter what the cost.

For everything in this world is passing away.

Fools gold for the foolish.