Luke 12:49-53
“Notice what you notice.” I tend to like symmetry and balance. So today’s last verse threw me a bit. Jesus is talking about creating division and he mentions three within a family: father and son, mother and daughter, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. So immediately I’m wondering, what about father-in-law and son-in-law. Then I remember that in those days a daughter left her family to be joined to her husband’s family. So there would never be a household of father-in-law and son-in-law. Jesus has it right, again.
But there remains the issue of peace vs. division. Jesus is on both sides of this issue. Clearly He came to bring peace to His followers, to those who truly followed Him: Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. (John 14:27a) But He goes on in that verse to say Not as the world gives… (14:27b). So He brings both peace and division.
Finally, the word “distress” (or “distressed”) in verse 50. It’s troubling to think that Jesus was distressed about what He knew was coming. But He also knew that His time had not yet come (John 2:4, 7:6) and that He was obeying His Father’s wishes. Still, it’s troubling…
Slava Bohu!
Thanks, Fred. I was thinking about the word “division” and that he probably was saying that they and we have a black-white/yes-no decision for Him, and that would lead to the family divisions. He was speaking to Jews. I also thought about Muslims and others who convert who are shunned and thrown out by their families today. They really need our prayers.
Maybe his feeling of distress (or whatever the original word was) is him experiencing human emotions, like he wept, he was sad, angry, full of compassion and love. I wonder, do we ever hear him laughing? Was his distress primarily for himself, or was he thinking about what would be happening to his followers?