Sunday the 17th of August 2025 - The Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10, Ps 40(39), Hebrews 12:1-4, Luke 12:49-53

I have never been much of a sportsman, I am not one who will compete in marathons or sports events although I have an admiration for those who do. We have examples of people who push their bodies to the limits of their endurance to be the best in their field. Runners. Athletes, football, rugby, and tennis players, and many more, achieve success through long arduous effort requiring almost super human endurance. We have many examples of people who rise to the challenges of life displaying extraordinary endurance.

The extract from the letter to the Hebrews today compares our lives as Christians to the endurance needed to succeed in sporting competitions but pushes it much further than that. Our Christian life can be compared to a marathon rather than a sprint, a race that requires the discipline seen by people preparing to compete seriously in these long distance endurance events, putting in hours of training, following strict diets, forgoing social activities, and enduring pain. In the same way running the lifelong marathon that is our Christian life on earth requires perseverance, focus, and determination.

To live out our Christian life can be challenging and the readings today reflect that. As well as the comparison to an endurance race we hear in the first reading of the prophet Jeremiah being thrown into a cistern because his people did not like his message. In the gospel passage surprisingly  Jesus is speaking of bringing division rather than peace. We might not find these comforting passages but they speak of what it can be to be a follower of Christ, a disciple, a Christian.

The message of the Gospel is often one that people today do not want to hear. We are the prophets of today and if the world does not hear it from us they will not hear God’s message from elsewhere. The message of the gospel is that all our sins are wiped away by the death and resurrection of Jesus. To accept this message we must first acknowledge that we are sinners and need to be redeemed. The world encourages people to see themselves not as sinners but as all good, capable of judging others on the standard they or the world around them sets. If the message does get out there can be a nagging doubt that there may be something in this Christian life. What does the world do? Throw the prophet down the well or listen to what they say?

The church is the prophet of today. We are the church and together we must pass on the message of redemption. This might spoil the fun that the world is enjoying, the fun that exploits the weak and vulnerable, that kills the unborn child, that seeks to rid itself of the sick and dependant, that turns away the migrant fleeing persecution, that reduces human dignity to mere entertainment. The world would rather not hear these truths pretending to be tolerant if only we keep ourselves to ourselves. If we speak out we risk being thrown into the well.

So what is Jesus telling us in the Gospel today. Surely Jesus brings a message of peace and love not division and surely not within families. What Jesus is warning us about is the tension between this world and his kingdom in the next. We have seen the truth of this warning down the ages. The refusal by people to accept the message of salvation brought by Jesus has indeed caused division. Division in families and those closest to us, division within local communities, division within countries and between countries and bitter and scandalous divisions even between differing groups claiming to be Christians. The message of peace brought by Jesus has indeed brought division to the world. This is not God’s intention but a result of evil in the world that seeks always to distort the truth and drag humanity away from God and the promise of salvation won for us by the endurance, suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

The fire that Jesus is talking about is not a destructive fire but a cleansing fire. A fire that renews and rebuilds. I used to live near moorland and annually there was controlled burning of the gorse. This gave new life to the vegetation that quickly sprouted up covering the scorched earth. This is the fire that Jesus brings, a fire that clears away the entangled growth of sin and renews it with a fresh and pure life, a purifying fire of truth and love, a fire that burns away what is false and corrupt giving space for new growth.

The peace that Jesus brings is not the same as the peace as the world craves. The world's peace often means compromise with evil, a false harmony that papers over injustice and sin. Christ's peace comes through conversion and truth, which inevitably creates division when some accept it and others reject it. We can take comfort that if our Christian message is being rejected, if we are being closed down, if the world seeks to throw us down a well out of sight and out of mind, we know that something of the message is getting through, there is something about it that challenges what the world is doing. We need to live out our Christian lives with courage as Jeremiah, Saint Paul, and the great cloud of witnesses that have gone before us, and Jesus did, even if doing so may cause discomfort and rejection. If the good news of the gospel brings no fire and no division then we might not be passing on the authentic message, only practicing an inoffensive woke type of Christianity.

Let us not be troubled by the readings today. We can take heart that Jeremiah was not abandoned in the cistern. Jesus endured the cross and now sits at the right hand of the throne of God. The race is long, but we do not run alone, and the finish line promises glory beyond our imagination. Let us run with confidence and endurance the race that is set before us.

God Bless Brendan