The Nazareth Page - A gospel meditation for your home
August 17, 2025 – Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Luke 12:49-53
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
Download this simple process to Prepare for Sunday using the Observe, Judge, Act Method
All of us carry deep within a desire that everything will be perfect. Or at least, we hope that it will be. Advertisers connect to such hopes by promising wondrous perfection when we buy their products, drink their beverages or use their supplements. In similar ways politicians are adept at promising better times if they are elected.
But did Jesus make similar claims? At Christmas time, we like to recall that Jesus came to bring peace of earth, sight to the blind and blessings to all.
Yet in today’s gospel it is clear that Jesus did not promise such earthly perfection. In fact, he predicted that with his coming, challenges, conflicts and difficulties may intensify. Also, he doesn’t say that there will be no more hunger, or that all wars will end or that everyone will be happy. One of my biblical professors used to say that unlike some politicians and religious leaders Jesus did not promise “a chicken in every pot.”
In today’s gospel, Jesus applies this principle of imperfection and challenge to the daily lives of families. Again, aren’t families supposed to be social settings where everyone always gets along, overlooks each other’s faults and failings and never gets on each other’s nerves? Isn’t that that possible?
Not according to Jesus. He goes on to describe divisions or conflicts between parents and children, wives and husbands. He even mentions in-laws. Notice, however, that he does not claim that one party is right and one isn’t. He simply observes that there will be divisions of one kind or another. In families and between friends and neighbors. And that’s okay because God has created each of us as unique. By God’s design we are all different. We all walk slightly different paths. We also are blessed with contrasting personalities.
Throughout the gospels Jesus speaks of the importance of forgiveness, acceptance and reconciliation. Today’s gospel begins with his announcement that he came bringing fire upon the earth. Fire is the result of different substances coming together. These chemicals that constitute creation eventually result in living beings coming into existence. That includes you and me. Without meeting and combining differences, the deepest processed of creation will not bring forth life. Life between us, especially in acceptation and combining our differences in love, is the process by which God’s creation and our lives become transformed into the dream God had in the beginning.
David M. Thomas, PhD