Luke 12:49-53
Find a place and time free of distractions for the next 7-10 minutes. Take a moment to settle into your surroundings and then begin to recognize your breath. As you breathe in, call on the name of Jesus and become aware of his presence with you. As you breathe out, open your mind and heart to receive whatever Jesus has for you today.
As we move past the midpoint of Luke’s Gospel, we can hear a new urgency in Jesus’ words to the crowds who gather around him. Read Luke 12:49-53 noting any questions that arise as you read.
The world into which Jesus was born was one in which the acquisition and retention of power was of primary importance. The Roman Empire was continuing to expand its control throughout the known world having conquered the nation of Israel just over sixty years before. Under Roman rule, Israel functioned as a “client state” with a king appointed by the Romans, and as long as Israel maintained a peaceful posture with Rome, they were allowed to practice their religion and keep their own religious laws. Needless to say, the goal of the Israelite authorities was status quo.
Into this uneasy “peace” came Jesus, and through his upending of oppressive social norms and his questioning of empty religious beliefs and practices, the status quo began to crack. Jesus came to disrupt all the systems that keep people from finding true shalom.
Meditate on these word from C.S. Lewis regarding God’s disruption of his carefully constructed faith: “God has not been trying an experiment on my faith or love in order to find out their quality. He knew it already. It was I who didn't…He always knew that my temple was a house of cards. His only way of making me realize the fact was to knock it down.”
Take some time to consider how Jesus might be disrupting your ideas about God or faith. Sit with this for a while and share your thoughts and feelings with Jesus.
Read Luke 12:49-53 again.
The ultimate disruption of false systems was Jesus’ sacrificial death for all of humanity. Even as evil was poured out on Jesus on the cross, he refused to engage in the false systems of power, violence and revenge. He surrendered to death, and in doing so he unmasked and disarmed the lies that held humanity captive.
Jesus is true north. There is no system, relationship, or way of life that can lead us to peace apart from him. Through his death and resurrection, Jesus opened the way for people to be reunited with God and thus to experience and participate in true shalom. Many people will continue to cling to their own status quo and reject the disruption of Jesus, but for those who open themselves to him there is life in all its fullness.
Get still and let all your thoughts settle. Then listen to Jesus.
What is Jesus saying to you today?
What will you do about it?
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