Exegesis Paper on Luke 12:49-53
Exegesis Paper on Luke 12:49-53
“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For now on five in one house there will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53 They will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:49-53)
“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled (v49)!” As I read these words from this passage again, I can almost hear the urgency and emotion that was in Jesus’ voice when he spoke them. “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled (v49)!” This is Jesus describing his mission, his purpose for entering into our world: to cast fire on the earth. Yet it had not happened yet, for with great longing in his voice, he tells his disciples, “how I wish it were already kindled (v49)!” But whatever do these strange words mean? What is this fire about which Christ speaks of? How or when did he cast this fire to the earth, if he ever did? There are occasions in the Bible when fire did fall from heaven. Fire and brimstone fell from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24-25) and destroyed those towns and all its inhabitants. One of the ten plagues against Egypt was fire and hail from heaven (Exodus 9:3). The prophet Elijah called down fire from heaven that incinerated soldiers sent from wicked King Ahaziah (2 Kings 1:9-17). Lightning is sometimes described as fire from heaven in the Bible (Psalm 27:9; Psalm 144:5-6). All of these fires from God, however, were destructive fires. And it is the destructive and consuming force of fire that we usually think of when we think of
“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For now on five in one house there will be divided, three against two and two against three; 53 They will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:49-53)
“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled (v49)!” As I read these words from this passage again, I can almost hear the urgency and emotion that was in Jesus’ voice when he spoke them. “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled (v49)!” This is Jesus describing his mission, his purpose for entering into our world: to cast fire on the earth. Yet it had not happened yet, for with great longing in his voice, he tells his disciples, “how I wish it were already kindled (v49)!” But whatever do these strange words mean? What is this fire about which Christ speaks of? How or when did he cast this fire to the earth, if he ever did? There are occasions in the Bible when fire did fall from heaven. Fire and brimstone fell from heaven upon Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24-25) and destroyed those towns and all its inhabitants. One of the ten plagues against Egypt was fire and hail from heaven (Exodus 9:3). The prophet Elijah called down fire from heaven that incinerated soldiers sent from wicked King Ahaziah (2 Kings 1:9-17). Lightning is sometimes described as fire from heaven in the Bible (Psalm 27:9; Psalm 144:5-6). All of these fires from God, however, were destructive fires. And it is the destructive and consuming force of fire that we usually think of when we think of
Bibliography: Barclay, William. The Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of Luke. Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1975. Holy Bible:New Revised Standard Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1989 Sloyan, Gerard S. The Crucifixion of Jesus: History, Myth, Faith. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995. Trelstad, Marit, ed., Cross Examination: Reading on the Meaning of the Cross. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2006.