Dear friends in Christ,
In the church office there hangs a wonderful picture of Jesus cradling in his arms a little lamb. For many of us, this is the image of Jesus we think of first. This is Jesus the good shepherd, who watches over us and cradles us in his loving arms in our times of deepest need. In our narthex there is a beautiful wood sculpture of Jesus reaching out to Peter, lifting him up as he tries to walk on the water, but sinks because of fear and lack of faith. This is another image of welcome, compassion and forgiveness. But these comforting images are not the only way Jesus is presented in scripture. We are attracted to them because they make us feel good, but they do not give the complete picture of Jesus. One reason it is important to read the whole Bible, and not just our favorite selected passages, is to receive the whole picture of Jesus, and God, and the church, and many other important dimensions of our faith.
In today’s lesson we have the complete opposite image of Jesus from the pastoral, good shepherd. This is a glimpse of a more muscular Jesus – Jesus on a mission, Jesus with a focus. Former Luther Seminary president David Tiede writes in his commentary on Luke, “Those who would reduce Jesus to a sentimental savior of a doting God have not come to terms with the depth of the divine passion, of the wrath and love of God which is revealed in Jesus’ word, will, and obedience even unto death.”
In the gospel, we see Jesus as the divider, families divided by faith commitments to him. In rather graphic language, the writer of Hebrews refers to division brought on by faith commitments of the Old Testament, as he speaks about believers dying in horrible ways in the world. Christ’s presence means division in the world. That’s the first point I’d like to talk about this morning.
But I think there’s a second message here as well, again found in Hebrews, where the writer urges us to look “to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” From this and other passages I believe that in the church, Christ’s body, his presence means unity. Jesus is the unifier that holds us all together. So today I want to lift up Jesus as both divider in the world and unifier in the church and urge us to think about both as we seek to follow him faithfully.
We don’t have to look very far or think too hard about how Jesus and the kingdom of God divides the world. After all, we measure history by the decisive events of his life, his death and resurrection, dividing history into BC and AD. Christ divides.
His presence in the world becomes the fulcrum or pivot point upon which lives turn. All must decide either for him or against him. He was ushering in a new kingdom with a new family of relationships. Existing families as we know them, although vital for life together in community, are not the be all and end all. What matters in the end is having a place in the kingdom, in the family of God. And so Jesus drives home this point by saying I have not come to bring peace, but division. “From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three, father against son, mother against daughter.” Either you are going to enter into this new kingdom of God and live by its values, or you are not. There is and will be division by Jesus in the world.
Jesus makes a vital point about families. Your human family, for all of its strengths, or perhaps its weaknesses, cannot save you. It cannot make you right with God. It cannot guarantee your security forever. Only faith in God, through Jesus Christ, can do that.
And so, following the teachings of our Lord, the church has found it helpful to take you out of your human family, to adopt you, to baptize you, and place you in a much larger and secure family. We call this family the church, God’s kingdom on earth.
As is often the case, Jesus takes an idea and gives it a new understanding. He takes the idea of family, and redefines it as the family of God, entered through spiritual regeneration, what we call Baptism. And it is at that point, where conflict enters in. It is at that point that the division Jesus speaks of today can occur.
In the Roman empire at the time of Christ, there was no institution more beloved than the family. The family determined one’s social and economic destiny. There was almost nothing classical Romans would not do for their families. But Jesus said, that family cannot save you. You need to be re-born in a new family. A son might follow, but a mother might not. A sister might follow, a brother might not. Jesus said division will occur over his message and call to follow.
Even today, this occurs. How many families are there where one family member follows the Lord, and another does not. How many families are there where one or two attend church, the rest do not. There are many, for the call to follow is a call to commitment to not just a human family, but a spiritual family as well.
As we enter and live in this new kingdom, in this new family, we are also called to live by a new set of values. This, too, can be a point of division. Our American culture has largely turned into a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week money making and goods consuming machine. Do believers have the courage to step off that treadmill and make worship and time with God a regular priority? We live in culture that continues to be focused on individual needs and wants. We desire more and more and more. Can believers act differently, being generous in their giving and in serving others? Christ divides. If you never feel any unease about your Christian faith and the way you live your life, you might want to evaluate that. To following Jesus was never intended to be comfortable. He divides. Are we willing to be and act differently as we faithfully follow?
In the world, Christ’s presence means division. But in the church, I believe, Christ’s presence brings unity. Now some of you may wonder about that statement. For you, like me, have seen plenty of conflict and division in the church, on the local level, on the denominational level, and globally. The church always seems to be splitting apart over one thing or another.
Last June, our Saint Paul Area Synod gathered for its annual assembly under the theme “Cacophony of the Generations: A Pentecost Gathering.” The word cacophony means a clash of sounds. A bad sound. Conflicting. Discordant. It is the sound, for example, of an orchestra tuning up before a concert, every instrument making its own noise. At the assembly, Bishop Peter Rogness spoke powerfully at the opening worship about this issue of discord or division we so frequently see in the church, and indeed in the whole world, today. I’d like to share with you his words, which spoke powerfully to me.
“Cacophony!” he said, “ That’s simply the way church is. Maybe it will never be the case that the church makes its music in unison, with the same instruments and the same notes. If that’s church, it’s a picture of it I’ve never seen.
It certainly wasn’t there in the Book of Acts—not at Pentecost, where to burst forth with the proclamation of Christ crucified and risen, God had to provide a whole mess of different languages. It wasn’t there in Genesis, where back when they did have one language, they went so far wrong that God confused their language and sent them in different directions. Perfect harmony and unison weren’t there in the early church or at the Reformation. And it’s certainly not today, not even in a given denomination, synod, congregation, and certainly not in the cacophony of generations. Perfect unison, same notes, same instruments, same time isn’t the way we do church. The church has always been cacophony, discordant notes.
We have always had the traditionalists, those who hold the strength of the learned wisdom and practice of the church through the ages, who are not going to simply flit around with every gust of changing wind.
We have had the thoughtful reformers, those who value identity and the past but are drawn to finding new forms that proclaim and live the gospel of a loving God in each new age.
We have always had the ones who push the edges prophetically, who to traditionalists seem like malcontents and rebels. These are the people and movements on the edges, so dismayed by the disarray and unbelief and injustice in the world, so filled with urgency to share the gospel in a deeply troubled world that they push hard against the inherited patterns of church life, to unleash the renewing power of the Spirit in a new age.
And through it all, there are always the Lydias and Dorcases and Stephens, the servants, the worker bees, who aren’t swept up in the discord but simply serve people, serve the church, and serve the world.
Then add to this mix, the body of Christ we find in other lands, the church living differently in Tanzania, in Guatemala, both viewing the world in other ways.
The church has always seemed like cacophony, playing different notes with different instruments at different times. It never has been otherwise. The church of Christ will never on this earth be a church that sings in perfect unison. But we are still promised there will be one body of Christ. And that unity is not of our own crafting, but is a work of the Spirit.
When the Pentecost gathering heard the preaching in different languages, it was the one Lord Jesus Christ who was being proclaimed. When the Spirit poured out different gifts upon the believers, it was for the sake of building up the one body of Christ.
But cacophony is not our only option. In the world of music, in the hands of a gifted composer, the clash of sounds of the tuning of the orchestra becomes something else. Not unison, because each person in the orchestra is playing different instruments. Not even a round, where each plays the same notes at different times.
But when different instruments play different notes at different times, but always wind around the same theme, it is a fugue. All different sounds, finding each other, woven together around the same theme. All different voices, woven around the same God by the power of the Spirit. The church. A fugue. A Pentecost fugue.
*The basses begin. The cellos join. The violins soar. The violas make it full and rich! And so it is in the church.
The traditionalists give the foundation. The reformers begin to explore. The prophets push the edges. The servants care for them all!
And they come together, winding their different voices and different sounds, fused by the Spirit around the one God. The church—not cacophony—fugue! All of us together—a Pentecost fugue.”
And so it is that in the church, with its many divisions and conflicts, Christ remains the great unifier, the one to whom we all look through it all. As Hebrews says, “Let us also lay aside every weight and sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” And so, looking to him, may we divide from anything that would keep us from his kingdom, and may we also unite in the one faith centered on the cross. Amen

With thanks to Bishop Peter Rogness, Saint Paul Area Synod