On Line Bible Study - For the Week January 18-23, 2011

Lesson 476

Luke 12: ⁴⁹ “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! ⁵⁰ But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed!"

For the full text under consideration (Luke 12:49-59), click on the passage above. We will look at the full piece in three sections.

Luke 12:49-53 Jesus came to bring fire. The Greek word (Πῦρ - 'Pyr') is used to refer to judgment (see Luke 3:9, 17; 9:54, etc.), or the presence of the Holy Spirit (Luke 3:16). Jesus also came to bring peace between God and us. Ironically, that 'peace' sometimes comes at quite a cost. Darrell Bock writes: "With Jesus' arrival comes a period of decision and crisis for people and between people." (Bold mine.) Who Christ wants us to be is not always consonant with how we present ourselves in every and any given moment. Jesus separates out life from death in our own lives - and in our relationships. Choosing life sometimes means we have to let go of others - even the people we love.

Jesus knows his ministry is 'under constraint' until his baptism on the cross occurs. The fullness of his ministry can not be known or understood until it all has been accomplished.

Luke 12:54-56 ⁵⁶ Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?

In our day we might not be quite as glib as to presume we can predict the weather. In Jesus' day, it was simple - a cloud in the west meant moisture from the Mediterranean Sea was heading inland. Rain was on the way. Our weather forecasters have more equipment to work with, and greater knowledge sometimes brings greater humility! Still, whether talking about the economic environment, nature's next move, or what the market might do, we proceed with much more confidence in those areas than we do with reading the status of our spiritual health. What do the events of the present day mean?
Be careful now! This is not an invitation to start running around proclaiming the sky is falling. Rather, it is the command to be honest about the state of things, and to ask ourselves: Just what am I preparing for?

Luke 12: 57-59 ⁵⁸ As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way ...

This section has to do with what we owe God. Once again some care has to be taken. In one sense we owe God no more than any of us owes our parents. We did not ask to be brought into the world. I have always been grateful for my parent's attitude toward their children - an attitude represented in Ephesians 6:4 which instructs fathers not to "exasperate" their children! In one sense we owe our parents nothing. But in another sense, we owe them everything because apart from them we would not exist.
We owe God nothing - we owe God everything! This section of Luke 12 has to do with reminding us that Christ insures that whatever we owe to God is paid - paid in full.