Holy Fire

Proper 15C The Sunday Closest to August 17
Isaiah 5:1-7 or Jeremiah 23:23-29
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Luke 12:49-56

Today’s Propers are very troubling. The Old Testament Lesson speaks of judgment come upon God’s people because of their unfaithfulness. When I look upon the falling attendance in so many denominations, the financial difficulties faced by parishes and by extra parochial ministries, and the general lack of unity among Christians today, I am compelled to conclude that perhaps in this age we are seeing the fulfillment of that prophesy regarding what God will do to His people to recall them to lives of justice and holiness. It would not be the first time in history that God had given His people enough rope to hang themselves to lead the community of faith to rigorous self-examination, repentance, and faith. The second lesson, from Hebrews, continues last week’s catalogue of the heroes of the faith, but makes it increasingly obvious that to heroically stand for God’s ways will put a person, or an institution, at odds with the world at large, and will lead to persecution. We have seen it in our own experience. No one seems to like a boat rocker, and yet sometimes the people of God are called to make a bit of a fuss on behalf of those who suffer the gross injustices and wrongs that are so characteristic of human society. Eventually, the majority may come around to addressing the wrong that the prophet of God illuminates, but generally, the prophet is seen as an annoyance we are unwilling to tolerate, and is cast aside in one way or another. But perhaps the most troubling lesson of all today is that of the Gospel. It challenges our preferred vision of Jesus as gentle pastoral philosopher who went about doing kind and cuddly things. When he says, “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled,”# the Lord leaves us with an uneasy sense of uncertainty. We all remember playing with fire as children. It was so wonderful and unpredictable. It was beautiful and consuming, and it could turn and hurt us so very quickly. It is ultimately a disturbing image, which causes us to ask with St. Cyril of Jerusalem, “Why is it fire?”#
I would argue that St. Ambrose of Milan best answered that question in his fourth century work Isaac, or The Soul. “Love is good, having wings of burning fire that flies through the saint’s breasts and hearts and consumes whatever is material and earthly but tests whatever is pure. With its fire, love makes whatever it has touched better. The Lord Jesus sent this fire on earth. Faith shined brightly. Devotion was enkindled. Love was illuminated. Justice was resplendent. With this fire, he inflamed the heart of his apostles, as Cleophas bears witness, saying, “Was not our heart burning within us, while he was explaining the Scriptures?”(Luke 24:32) The wings of fire are the flames of the divine Scripture.”# St. Cyril of Alexandria echoes this understanding of the words of Jesus. “We affirm that the fire that Christ sent out is for humanity’s salvation and profit. May God grant that all our hearts be full of this. The fire is the saving message of the gospel and the power of its commandments. We were cold and dead because of sin and in ignorance of him who by nature is truly God. The gospel ignites all of us on earth to a life of piety and makes us fervent in spirit, according to the expression of blessed Paul.(Romans 12:11) Besides this, we are also made partakers of the Holy Spirit, who is like fire within us. We have been baptized with fire and the Holy Spirit. We have learned the way from what Christ says to us. Listen to his words: “Truly I say to you, except a man be born of water and spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”(John 3:5)”#
Does your heart burn within you? Does the love of God fly through your breast with wings of burning fire? Has God’s fire ignited you to a life of piety and fervency? Do faith, devotion, love, and justice inflame your heart? We were all cold and dead and walked in ignorance of him who is the true God, but now we have been baptized with fire, and the Holy Spirit- and we are called by God to demonstrate the reality of his holy fire to a world where so many are alone, and discouraged, and without hope. As they see the results of God’s anointing with fire in our lives, they will be drawn to his love, and will be transformed into his glory. And there will be those who will reject us even as they reject our Lord, because that piety which he places in us will remind them of the evil of their selfish ways. Our devotion to him will seem to them a root of intolerance. Our love will be interpreted as weakness. Our faith will be called a crutch for the unrealistic. And households will be divided, two against three and three against two as the word of God goes forth to the saving of the nations.
On this day, we are called to examine our lives honestly. Does your life exhibit the fire of God? Has your baptism resulted in a life of humility, honest introspection, ethical righteousness, and a desire to see God’s justice roll down like a mighty river in this world, and not just in the world to come? Have you truly forgiven those who do you wrong, even as Jesus forgave you when he said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”?(Luke 23:34) If so, give thanks to God in all humility, and go forth to share his love with everyone you meet. If not, let this be the day that you receive God’s cleansing and redirection, lest you, like the people of God in today’s Old Testament lesson, are judged and given over to the tormenters of this world that you might be brought back to God through the recognition of your own misery.
“We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us …lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.”(Hebrews 12:1-2) In the Name of the Father, and of the son, and of The Holy Ghost. AMEN.