This passage has a sharpness to it like no other in the Gospels. Jesus is holding nothing back in these words. He speaks the truth here about himself and about the world. “I came to set fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” (Lk. 12: 49-51)
These words jar us, as we can imagine they jarred his listeners then when he spoke them. Jesus, who is the truth of the Father revealed in the flesh, knows where he is, why he has come into the world, and to whom he is speaking. And these words are directed not just to those in his presence at that moment, but to us, here and now. His words here seem to be so out of character with how we usually experience him, but they are aimed at the very core of our human experience and his reason for coming into the world.
“I have come to set fire to the earth.” What is this fire that Jesus is talking about? Jesus came into this world so battered and broken by the darkness of sin and all of its consequences, to set it afire, and by doing so, to cleanse it, to heal it, and to redeem it. The fire that Jesus wants to set the world on fire with is the fire of his love. He is not talking about human understandings of love that have been so distorted in every age. He is speaking of divine love, that love that engendered all of Creation, a love that has never been, and can never be, diminished, damaged, or destroyed even by our sinful rebellion. Well, we know that he did, indeed, start a fire in the world with his life and his words, but most importantly, by his self-sacrificing act of love on the cross and his resurrection.
The Apostle John tells us in his First letter that God is love itself (1 Jn. 4:8). It is this love, this fiery, engendering Word, that brought light out of darkness in the Creation, that came into the world in the flesh to set it afire, to initiate a new creation. We know this and, yet, how often have we walked away from this love? It is the story of our human history, is it not? Jesus came to set this world on fire, to be a light in the darkness of our sin and death, to enable us to see the way back to the Father. God is the fullness of joy and the richness of peace that we so deeply desire and so earnestly seek. Yet that joy and peace still seem so far off from us.
Jean d’Elbee writes about this passage, saying, “Once you have caught fire, you must spread it to others. To spread love, we must begin by knowing it; we must begin to believe in it; we must begin by being filled with it; we must begin by living it.” This is the fire that Jesus kindled in human space and time when he came among us in the flesh to suffer and die, and to show us the redeeming power of his love. Jesus wants us to be on fire with this same love, here and now.
But Jesus also knows that the world is the domain of the Enemy, that cold, calculating nemesis of love. In Jesus, we see how this love in action, lived out in humility and courage in this world, often brings out fear and hatred in those who will not bend their wills to anything but their own personal and presumed wisdom and demands. The Enemy, who despises God’s love, takes advantage of this human weakness and draws many, wittingly or unwittingly, to align themselves with his foolishness. And here is the great irony; it is the light of that fiery love that reveals and makes clear the foolish causes of all of our divisions in this world and, sadly, within the Church. The greater truth is that it is the fire of God’s unconditional love alone that can heal and redeem us from our foolishness.
This is why we must pray, study, and contemplate the scriptures, so that we can personally come to know and be in an active and knowing relationship with Jesus. For He calls on us daily to walk with him and to actively share His fiery love with all of those we encounter in the world of our daily lives. It is by living God’s fiery love in action, and by doing the interior work to empty ourselves of all that prevents us from being filled with that fire, and by being open to God’s generous grace, that we can begin to bring the fire of this divine love into this often brutal and hateful world with courage and conviction.
This is the love that sets the world on fire. This is the baptism that John the Baptist prophesied when he said, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire” (Lk. 3:16). Let us, then, live in accord with the Spirit and fire that we were baptized in by confidently living the Gospel of God’s love openly and joyfully wherever we are, no matter the consequences. And we can do this if we truly believe in what Jesus himself has told us, “Have confidence, I have overcome the world” (Jn.16:33).
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