“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” 54 He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time? 57 “And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. 59 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.”

Luke 12:49-59

Introduction

Early this year, Travis Copeland fled from a Lake County courtroom where he was being sentenced for violating a bond condition. He ran down a hallway only to find police coming down the other side. So he decided to run the other way, but found that path blocked by police as well. The hallway had windows and as he saw police coming from both sides, he attempted to shoulder-slam his way through the glass, only to find that he bounced right off. It seems the glass was bullet-proof and there was no way he would have been able to break through. He was re-arrested and brought back to the courtroom to face new charges.

When Jesus makes the statement in Luke 12:49 that he has come to cast fire on the earth, and then lists in verses 50-59 what that fire will look like, He is speaking of a certain oncoming judgment that will be inescapable. But like Mr. Copeland, people tend to think there is an escape from such judgment whether it’s through active attempts to thwart God or through simple apathy towards such judgment. But again, Jesus makes it quite clear in this text that the day will come when there will be no escape at all. So when Jesus casts His fire on the earth, this leads to 1) a divided house (vv. 52-53), 2) a rebuke regarding their hard-heartedness (vv. 54-56), and 3) a warning about the oncoming judgment (vv. 57-59).

A Divided House (vv. 49-53)

So first, when Jesus casts His fire on the earth, the direct consequence of such fire is a divided house. Let’s read verses 49-53: “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! 50 I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! 51 Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. 52 For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” When Jesus uses words like fire, and baptism to describe His coming, you have to understand it in the context of all of the Bible. Luke uses the word ‘fire’ 7 times, and 6 of those usages have to do with judgment. In fact, when John the Baptist is preaching to the crowds regarding judgment and describing the Messiah who was to come, He uses these words: “He [Jesus] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” (Luke 3:16)

So in verse 50, Jesus is fulfilling exactly what John prophesied, that Jesus would bring fire through baptism. For Christians, we see baptism as a sign of our faith in Christ, which it is. But baptism also was a symbol of God’s judgment. The flood of waters were used throughout the Old Testament as metaphor for God’s full judgment (from Noah’s flood to Jonah’s time in the belly of a fish to the Psalmists continual reference to waters and judgment (Psalm 18; 42:7; 69:1-2)). Since humanity has existed, they have had no response to the power of fire and water. If a tsunami comes, no human structure can withstand the power of water. Living in California, we have seen just how devastating and powerful fire can be. And so when Jesus refers to fire and baptism, He is speaking of the raw authority and power that God has and will use against sin and sinners. Jesus’ coming to the world was a sign for all the world to see that God had come to enact His judgment.

But what the world cannot understand is the latter part of verse 51: “…and how great is my distress until it is accomplished!” This seems strange at first. If judgment is against sinners and Jesus was the only One who had no sin, then why would He be distressed at all. Only sinners should need to feel distressed unless Jesus Himself was somehow going to be punished and judged as well. And that is exactly what happens. Jesus was punished for sinners on our behalf. Listen to how Paul describes it in Galatians 3:13: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.” Isaiah predicted this suffering generations before Jesus ever came: “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isa 53:5-6) And so, Jesus’ great distress in verse 51 is a future look at how burdensome this sin-bearing would be, so much so that it would even lead Him to plead with the Father to remove this cup of wrath and judgment away from Him as He asked in the garden of Gethsemane: “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” (Matt 26:42) But God’s will will be done and Jesus will accomplish this despite the anguish, and distress, and forsakenness.

Thus, to understand the divided house, you must understand the judgment that is coming for all sinners. If you know and trust in Christ, then He has borne that judgment in your place. If you have not trusted in Christ, then my dear friend, you will bear that judgment upon yourself, a dreadful and horrible thought. This judgment divides families because there will be some who will refuse to believe there is a judgment and some who decide that Jesus is the not the true or only Rescuer from such judgment. And since this judgment is very real for the Christian and Jesus is the only True Rescuer from this judgment, there can be no neutrality or apathy. Christians must choose. James 4:4 describes it this way: “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” And sadly, this enmity can even be found in one’s own family.

Is there any closer human bond than a father and a child, a mother and a child? You’ve heard the expression, ‘Blood is thicker than water.’ And I have found Christians believe this ultimately to be true as well. Some will say that when all else fails, you can ultimately only count on your family, because they’ll always take you back. Well, whether you believe this to be true or not, you can understand the sentiment. The family relationship is a sacred bond that must never be broken. But Jesus is telling us here that sometimes, to believe in Christ means that we must break this bond. Now in no way does Jesus mean that Christians should actively dishonor their parents or neglect parental responsibilities or forgo their marital covenant. But there will be times that regardless of one’s gracious, humble, respectful attitudes toward one’s family, there will still be strong opposition to Christ. And if/when this time should come, the Christian must choose Christ.

Some of you have a divided house, where there is three against two, or perhaps you’re all alone. Some of you, when you came to know Christ, maybe that meant you were ostracized even from your own family. For so many people, faith is not only a belief system, it’s a culture. For some families and culture, to believe in Christ as Lord and Savior means a rejection not only of a family religion, it’s also taken as a repudiation of one’s family. For some of you, perhaps you’ve come from Buddhist or Roman Catholic backgrounds. Maybe when you came to know Christ, you faced strong opposition or even outright rejection and disownment from your parents. You know what Jesus’ words mean for you in this text because the reality of the Kingdom of Christ has brought division into your family.

And there is no better illustration of this division than when a Muslim turns to Christ. For example, Ahmer Khokhar was a Muslim born and raised into a very devout Muslim family and now living in England. On Easter of 1988, he was watching Jesus of Nazareth on TV when he was flipping channels by himself. That night, he was in tears knowing that Jesus Christ had died for him on the cross. Eventually he came to know Christ through the faithfulness of other Christians he knew at school. Once his father realized what Ahmer had done, he describes that his father “began to abuse me in the most vicious way. He said I had brought shame on the family and that he would rather I was dead. They were only verbal threats and I have forgiven him since, but the scars will never leave me. My mother cried herself to sleep that night.” He observes as well: “My Muslim friends accept me, but if I was living in an Islamic country I would be killed for converting to Christianity.”

For much of the world, the division that Jesus brings is very real because it can and often does cost Christians their lives when they trust in Christ. But we don’t even need to face this sort of vehement persecution from our family to still see the division that Christ can bring to us. Sometimes following Christ can mean that instead of your desire to follow your parents’ choices for your life, you have decided to follow the choice the Lord has laid out for you. Perhaps this means being a missionary or choosing vocational ministry even though that might mean your parents fervent disapproval or even rejection. Or perhaps this means that parents are so invested into the lives and success of their children (making sure their kids have everything they need even to the detriment of their children’s spiritual well-being, that they have idolized their children. In other words, we must honor our parents, but we must not worship them. And we must nurture and care for our children, but we must not worship their success. That is called idolatry. Tim Keller describes idolatry well: “When you look to some created thing to give you what only God can give you that is idolatry. An idol is anything in your life that is so central to your life that you can’t have a meaningful life if you lose it.” Is your family so central to you that you can’t see meaning and purpose without them? If they were gone, would you believe or feel or act as though life wouldn’t be worth living? Jesus has come to cast fire into your heart, to remind you that He alone deserves worship, and that ultimately, He alone has paid the price for you to have an eternal family with a heavenly Father who will love you in ways that your earthly family could never love you.

A Rebuke Regarding Their Hard-Heartedness (vv. 54-56)

Second, when Jesus casts His fire on the earth, He rebukes their hard-heartedness inverses 54-56: “54 He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A shower is coming.’ And so it happens. 55 And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens. 56 You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?” Jesus knew that in Palestine, people were fairly accurate about predicting the weather based on the clouds coming in from the Mediterranean. But while they were very intuitive about the weather, they had no clue as to how to recognize what the Lord was doing amongst them.

Luke had recorded the many signs and wonders that Jesus has done to declare His identity as the Messiah. He had healed many people of all sorts of diseases and conditions. He had cast out demons. He had calmed a raging sea. He had healed paralytics. He raised a boy from the dead. He fed close to twenty thousand people with measly rations. And He had taught like One who has authority. He left no doubt for people to see Him as God Himself. And yet, due to their stubborn will and their hard-hearted hearts, they refused to see Him as He was.

My friends, Jesus’ rebuke is for us as well. We have even more than the disciples and the people Jesus lived amongst. I used to think, “If I could have only been there to see with my own eyes, then I’d really believe.” It’s the same logic Thomas used: “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.” (John 20:25) But that is not believing at all. We have much more than anyone who lived with Jesus had to believe. We have the Gospels, and Paul’s letters, and Peter’s letters, and Hebrews. We also have the Holy Spirit (if you’re a believer of Christ) indwelling in each of you. Jesus was ‘limited’ by His physical body. But when He ascended to heaven and the Holy Spirit came to indwell in believers, the very presence of God dwells in each Christian. We have everything we need to have a faith that the disciples and the prophets of old longed for. Do you have such a faith, one that says that you will believe fully only when you see with your own eyes? Or do you have the faith that your life has been bought by the blood of the Lamb? That Christ has freed you from the power of sin forever, that you belong to the Father’s family as an adopted son or daughter, and therefore, today your life is transformed? Jesus paid this price so that you would not only believe, but that you would enjoy Him forever.

A Warning About the Repayment of All Debts (Vv. 57-59)

Third, when Jesus casts His fire on the earth, He warns us about the necessity to repay all debts in verses 57-59: “And why do you not judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer put you in prison. 59 I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.” Jesus’ words don’t seem too profound. A man either cheated or owes money to another, and the accuser seems to have some proof that the accused is guilty. Jesus advises settling with the accuser before facing a judge, or else the consequences could be dire. Because once the accused is thrown into prison, he will not be released until he repays every last penny. So what’s Jesus’ point?

It actually follows closely with Jesus’ previous point about understanding what God has already done, and the people’s hard-heartedness towards the signs. Jesus warns that every person owes an unimaginable debt to God, essentially what amounts to an unpayable debt. And there will be a time when we must settle our accounts with Him. We can either deny that we have a debt, hoping that it will go away, or we can admit that we have failed in our responsibilities (sin) and decide to ask for mercy. I’ve shared this before, but when Shua and I first got married we had the bad combination of very little money and very poor financial management skills. As the bills kept coming and as our bank account had very little money to pay those bills, it became easy to fall into the trap of ignoring late payment warning letters. Somehow when you’re in that state, you tend to think that by disregarding those letters, the debts will go away. Well guess what? They didn’t go away. In fact, they became worse. It was only when I acknowledged that there was a problem, that I had failed not only to pay the debts, but also to lead my wife, that I began to see hope because that what when I decided to actually respond to the problem.

And my friends, there is a far greater debt that we owe than money before a holy God. Now is the time to settle the case against you. By stating that you don’t have a problem, or that you’re not as bad as the Bible says you are, is no better than my ignoring those late payment warnings. And if you think you can repay this debt once your ask to settle accounts, you will be sorely mistaken. Jesus says in verse 59: “I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the very last penny.” The stark reality of this verse is the consequences of debt defaults in Jesus’ day. In His day, if a person failed to repay debts, he was thrown into debtors prison until that debt was paid. And unless that person had some benefactor who would pay those debts, it would essentially be a life imprisonment. After all, how could he ever find hope to repay those debts while still in prison? The same is true for sinners as well. There is a debt that must be paid when judgment comes. And if we fail to pay back that debt, that is, the insurmountable debt of sin against a holy God, we will be thrown into the eternal prison of hell forever.

So what hope is there when this debt is unpayable? The answer is not to ignore the debt. And the answer is not to attempt to repay the debt through our good works. That would be similar to my kids breaking their piggy banks open to pay back the federal debt (which is now $13, 050,555,398,774.98 as of June 11 ). And to give you some perspective, I’ve provided these series of graphics for you to show the debt. And as great a debt that was, it pales in comparison to the debt of sin we owe God. Obviously then, what a foolish task it is to attempt to repay the debt we owe God by our good works. No, the answer is to ‘make an effort to settle,’ to simply plead for God’s mercy and grace. We have nothing at all to pay back our God. So what hope is there, unless a benefactor comes and pays our debt for us. And we have such a benefactor in Jesus Christ. Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 2:5-6: “For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all.” Jesus paid our ransom price, our debts, on the cross so that we are now free forever from the power of sin and the debt of sin. Charles Wesley, in the hymn, “And Can It Be,” wrote these powerful words that describes this freedom:

Long my imprisoned spirit lay
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray;
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free;
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

Oh to be free! And all that our Savior asks is that you come humbly before Him, that you acknowledge today that you are massively in debt without any hope apart from His grace. And so, you come for Him asking for mercy. And John reminds us of God’s response: “And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” He sets us free by this indescribable grace.

Tullian Tchividjian, pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, tells the story of a northerner from the Civil War era prior to the emancipation of slaves, who went to a slave auction and purchased a young slave girl. As they walked from the auction, the man turned to the girl and said, “You’re free.” Shocked from hearing this news, she responded, “You mean, I’m free to do whatever I want?” “Yes,” he said. “And to say whatever I want to say?” “Yes, anything.” “And to be whatever I want to be?” “Yep.” “And even go wherever I want to go?” “Yes,” he answered with a smile. “You’re free to go wherever you’d like.” She looked at him intently and replied, “Then I’d like to go with you.” (Tullian Tchividjian, Surprised By Grace, 182.)

And like Charles Wesley noted, when we are set free, we want to follow Thee. The freed girl knows that there is no safer place, no more joyous place, then to go wherever the emancipator goes. Jesus has come to the slave market to redeem us, to buy us back, to pay the insurmountable debt. The price was His blood. But He endured the cross with joy so that we could be free to live in joy with Him forever. Will you trust Him today?

Conclusion

Pastor Bill Whittaker tells this story: “A car accident occurred in the small town where I was a pastor. A mother and three children from out-of-town were injured and taken to the emergency room. I was called to the hospital and asked to wait with the nine-year-old daughter. I tried to calm her and give assurance. She asked me several times, “Are we going to live?” Her question has often come to mind over the intervening years; as far as life is concerned I could have answered her question with a no. That is the truth from Hebrews 9: 27 — It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.”

The fire is coming. Jesus brought it when He came to the earth. And the fire of judgment will be fully realized either when He comes again or when we die. His fire divides homes. It rebukes the hard-hearted. The little girl in the story asks the question you must ask yourself: Are you going to live? Will your debts be repaid either by Christ Himself on the cross, or by the judgment of hell? Won’t you trust in Him? Won’t you see that only Christ can repay your insurmountable debt of sin owed to the Holy Creator God? Won’t you come and taste and see the Lord is good?