The Great Divide.
Proper 15, Year C
Luke 12:49-56
In Luke 12:49–56 Jesus says something that stops us in our tracks: “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” At first, this sounds like a contradiction. Up to this point, Luke’s Gospel has presented “peace” in entirely positive terms—peace announced at his birth (Luke 2:14), peace spoken to the forgiven woman (Luke 7:50), peace proclaimed in the triumphal entry (Luke 19:38). Has Jesus changed his message? The answer is no. What he says here forces us to distinguish between the peace the world seeks and the peace he actually gives.
John 16:33 helps frame this: “In me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation.” The peace Jesus offers is only found in him, and once received, it will divide you from the world. The two are opposed—the Kingdom and the present age cannot be blended together. The peace of Christ will always create a dividing line, and those who embrace it must expect to face the world’s rejection, even from those who claim to love them. This is part of what Jesus has been teaching his “little flock” in Luke 12: do not store up treasures here, do not attach yourself to what will pass away, but separate yourself from the old order and embrace the peace of the Kingdom that is breaking in.
The word “division” in verse 51 is the same term used in Acts 2:3 to describe how the tongues of fire were distributed among the disciples. This sheds light on Jesus’ meaning. Just as the Spirit’s fire rested on the disciples, marking them out from the crowd (who thought them drunk), so the peace of Christ will distinguish his people from the world. That distinction will often scatter and separate them from old networks, even from family. In the first century, identity was deeply bound to family—“son of so-and-so,” “daughter of so-and-so.” Losing that connection brought real social and emotional cost. Yet Jesus calls his disciples to be known first as members of his family—sons and daughters of God by blood-baptism (John 1:12–13). This is a leave-and-cleave moment: leaving the old identity, cleaving to the new, finding our place in the household of God.
This is not a pointless or random separation. From creation onward, God’s way has been to separate in order to make new. He divided the waters from the dry ground and named them sea and land. He took woman from man so the two could be joined into one flesh. Separation leads to formation, and formation leads to life. The same pattern works through the gospel. Division leads to multiplication; subtraction, in God’s hands, becomes addition. Sometimes we resist this process, trying to hold onto what God is calling us to release. Other times we force division in our own way and cause needless harm. But when God brings division, it is always to bring something better to life.
Jesus himself entered this path—plunged into the baptism of suffering, cut off and despised—to bring us into new life. His followers will walk the same road. Life in Christ is a continual cycle of leaving and cleaving, of separation and forming, of death and resurrection. These cycles conform us to his image. They move us from glory to glory until the day of our final glorification. So do not fear the division Jesus speaks of here. If you are in the midst of it now, endure it in faith, hope, and love, trusting that God, the author and finisher of your faith, is shaping you into the likeness of his Son. This is the peace Christ brings—not a peaceful easy feeling that keeps everyone comfortable, but a peace that makes you new by separating you from the world and joining you to him forever.
Watch the full Sermon HERE. Listen to Sermon HERE.
Peace Be With You,
Pastor Bruce
