THE REMAKING OF OUR WORLD.

TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME. YEAR C.
August 19, 2007.
(First Reading: Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10) (Second Reading: Hebrews 12:1-4)
(Gospel Reading: Luke 12:49-53)

THE REMAKING
OF OUR WORLD.

If we were to ask the peoples of our world the question: Does our world need change?, it is most likely that the answers would be divided in:
- Those who would say that there is no need for change, "everything is just fine for me", "I have everything I need, and some".

- Those who would say that our world is in dire need of change in order to bring and end to injustice, oppression and destruction of human beings by other human beings.

The gospel presents the answer the Lord Jesus gave to that question. He says: "I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing" (Luke 12:49). Indeed, Jesus sees the need for radical change in our world. That is the reason for His coming to the world.

We live in a world where human beings are profoundly divided:
- On the one hand are those who are content with injustice and oppression because they are the ones who promote and benefit from the oppression and exploitation over their fellow human beings; they are the ones who appropriate for themselves the wealth that belong to all human beings; they are the ones who lord their power over their defenseless fellow human beings(1).

- On the other hand are those who have been dispossessed of even their basic necessities of life (what they need to survive); those who suffer the injustice of deprivation; those who are prostrated in submission.

Jesus: A cause of division.
From the moment the Lord Jesus sets his mind on rescuing the world from injustice, oppression and sin, it follows inevitably that people become divided in: Those who side with the Him, and those who oppose Him.

This division is not just a separation between those who side with Jesus and those who oppose Him, it is rather a division of radical conflict between both sides.

Both sides are AGAINST each other. In other words, those who accept Jesus are against those who reject Jesus, and those who reject Jesus are against those who accept Jesus. The language of the gospel ("A father will be divided against his son and a son against his father" - Luke 12:52) emphasizes the irreconcilable nature of the reasons causing the division.

Jesus' statement about setting "the earth on fire"(2) highlights the fact that justice, peace and unity will triumph over injustice, war and division. That is to say, justice will burn down injustice, peace will burned down war, and so on.

The Lord Jesus wants to rescue a world where those who want to perpetuate injustice and oppression are too powerful, while those who are the victims of injustice and oppression are too weak. Jesus wants to redeem a world where the powerful do not hesitate to destroy anyone and anything that tries to change the world of oppression.

Consequently, Jesus must deal with the cross the powerful of the world place on His way. Through the cross Jesus becomes a victim of the division existing between human beings(3), and through His resurrection Jesus becomes the first of many who will reestablish unity among all human beings. Through the cross Jesus destroys division and death; through His resurrection He restores unity and life.

The final purpose of Jesus is to redeem all human beings.
Jesus redeems us by restoring unity, compassion, forgiveness, justice, mutual respect, equality and peace among all human beings. "How great is my anguish until it is accomplished" (Luke 12:50) says Jesus.

The anguish experienced by Jesus is equally experienced by all of his followers who want to rescue our world from injustice, oppression, sin and destruction.

The Letter to the Hebrews gives guidance to those who want to be on Jesus' side:
- We must be conscious that "we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses" (Hebrews 12:1), that is, we have the example of so many of God's people who throughout the history of salvation have made God's will known to our fellow human beings.

- We are to "rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us" (Hebrews 12:1), that is we are to rid ourselves of complicity with or indifference toward injustice, oppression, destruction against our fellow human beings.

- We are to keep "our eyes fixed on Jesus" who "for the sake of the joy that lay before Him he endured the cross" (Hebrews 12:2). That is, we must always keep in mind that the joy that awaits us is the joy resulting from fullness of life in a world of peace, justice, mutual respect and unity among all human beings.

- We are to expect the same opposition that was directed against Jesus who "endured such opposition from sinners so that [we] may not grow weary and lose heart" (Hebrews 12:3). Such opposition comes from those who want to maintain, at all cost, their world of oppression, division, war and injustice.

May the fire of the Lord Jesus kindle in our hearts our determination to remake our world into a world of peace, justice and unity among all human beings.
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Footnotes:
(1) The world, according to the oppressor, is a wonderful world. For him! Those responsible for the oppression in the world maintain their power not only by physical (military) force but also by mind control (control over the means of mass communication, censuring the truth, spreading information based on distorted facts, manipulating public opinion) by which they try to present what is unjust as just, what is abuse as order, what is aggression as peace. Thus, the world of the oppressor is the world of the lie.
(2) The fire Jesus refers to here is the "consuming fire" that burns on Yahweh's holy mountain (Exodus 3:2 and 24:17 and Deut. 4:11); the same "consuming fire" which Isaiah sees in those who live a life of justice. Isaiah says: "Who of us can live with the consuming fire? Who of us can live with the everlasting flames? He who practices virtue [justice] and speaks honestly, who spurns what is gained by oppression, brushing his hands free of contact with a bribe, stopping his ears lest he hear of bloodshed, closing his eyes lest he look on evil" (Isaiah 33:14-15).
(3) On the cross, Jesus is the victim of the most devastating effects of division: Isolation and death. He is abandoned by his friends, killed by his enemies.