Brief synopsis of the readings: In our first reading the prophet Jeremiah is in serious trouble. Some of the king’s leading men demanded that he be killed and he was thrown into a well. They accused Jeremiah of disheartening the soldiers and the rest of the people. But one of Jeremiah’s allies appealed to the king and was able to rescue Jeremiah. In Luke’s Gospel Jesus speaks a different message than we are used to. He proclaims that he has come “to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were blazing already!” He tells those gathered that he will bring division and divide households. Members of families will turn against each other.

We think of the word “Gospel” as meaning “Good News” and most of the time it is. Not so much this week. At first blush both these readings make it sound that either we are not faithful enough or that no matter what we do bad things are coming. For many of us this appears puzzling because as Christians we live a fairly comfortable life, or at least we don’t suffer much persecution.

And during times of calm these are the days we await and hope for. In 1884 in Des Moines, Iowa a group of Christians began publicizing a magazine called The Christian Oracle. Shortly after it was renamed The Christian Century in large part because it was believed that the 20th Century would be a turning point in Christian life. They wrote that “genuine Christian faith could live in mutual harmony with the modern developments in science, technology, immigration, communication and culture that were already under way.” Fourteen years later they found themselves fighting World War I and the dream became more difficult.

So to in our history. It’s commonly believed that a prophet “comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable” and we see evidence of that in our first reading. I’ve said this before but if someone tells me that he or she wishes to be a prophet, he just hasn’t read or understood much Scripture. A prophet virtually never tells the powerful that they are doing a heck of a job and they should keep doing what they’re doing.

Even by the standards of a prophet Jeremiah wandered into dangerous territory. The Israelites were facing imminent exile into Babylon and Jeremiah was counseling surrender to the Chaldeans. A group of Israelites, angered by this, threw Jeremiah into a well where he would die for the crime of demoralizing soldiers and wishing the ruin of all the people. Spoiler alert, Jeremiah is later rescued but the damage is done.

So what’s a prophet to do? I’m certain in the broad sweep of history God has chosen those who refused to fulfill their obligation but they are consigned to the dustbin of history: it is only the courageous we read. And who opposes them?

When it comes to shooting the messenger we often find ourselves thinking of the “mob” as a monolith. They are all in agreement with one purpose and one aim. But I suspect Jeremiah’s group was more diverse and oftentimes consisted of those who wounded him in their betrayal.

I’m going to trust that we have all seen the 1965 classic The Sound of Music. During the movie the eldest girl Liesl finds herself smitten with Rolfe, a young man in the village. He gives no evidence of any character flaw but at the end of the movie, when the Von Trapp family begins their escape, Rolfe (in a Nazi uniform) discovered them. In a split second he needed to decide his loyalty and love: Liesl and her family or his ambition with the Nazi’s. He was aware if he turned the family in his future will be bright. Alas, he chose ambition and betrayal over love and it’s only by a hair’s breadth did the family successfully escape.

In 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King was jailed in Birmingham, Alabama for leading an illegal gathering. While he was in jail several local religious leaders published an open letter to Dr. King claiming to agree with his goals but counseling patience and suggested that time would achieve their goals. They criticized his actions and said he was an outside agitator. We only know about this because Dr. King wrote Letter From Birmingham Jail criticizing them for their complacency. They chose fear over loyalty.

Simply put, today’s readings remind us that we are hopeful for the future of Christianity but we should never delude ourselves into believing it will be delivered to us. Most of us don’t fear persecution from the government or terrorist organizations and we don’t fear being forced to abandon our faith.

But we have countless opportunities to endure exactly what Jesus spoke about in the Gospel. Today I find family divisions coming from people who all claim to be Christian. Maybe it’s a conflict over who to vote for in a Presidential (or homeowner’s) election. Maybe it’s a stance on a recent court decision. Or maybe it’s as simple as different understandings of discipleship.

This is hard to hear but there are times when we shouldn’t work for “peace at any price” and we shouldn’t go along with something that violates our values because someone we love is demanding it. I’m not in favor of family division any more than Jesus was but I think he speaks an essential truth.

There are times when we are called to speak our own truth and hold fast to who we are in relationship to Jesus. I don’t see this as much now but I’ve counseled brave men and women who have come to an understanding of themselves as homosexual and receive blowback and even condemnation from family and friends. They are urged to pretend to be someone they’re not and even, at times, pressured to become someone they are not.

Nobody wants any division to be permanent and I’m sure Jeremiah’s mob consisted of friends who wished he would just shut up and go along. But when we are who we are we should never surrender for fear of division.

Because Jesus didn’t.