Jesus is preparing us for a baptism by fire that will shatter our expectations.
I was talking with a nurse at the hospital as I visited a friend. I asked her how long she had been a nurse. “Since COVID,” she said... and there was a pause. My friend and I looked at each other. “You started during COVID?” we both asked. “Yes,” she said. “It wasn't what I expected.” And then, looking across the room at nothing in particular, she whispered, “It was a baptism by fire.”
A baptism by fire shatters your expectations. You start working at a social work agency and your soon-to-be coworkers have both quit, leaving you with three times the normal case load. That is a baptism by fire. It is fierce not only because of the difficulties you face but also because of the way in which it shatters your expectations. You expected to be on-boarded like a regular employee and mentored in your work. But instead, you are doing the work of three people on your first day. Baptism by fire shatters expectations.
In our text this morning, Jesus is preparing us for a baptism by fire that will shatter our expectations. If we listen closely, we can hear how He is offering a prediction of His passion which will shatter our expectations of God’s work among us and shock us with God’s mercy and love.
Jesus is speaking to disciples who have an expectation that God is coming in judgment. When John the Baptizer prepared the way for Jesus, he prophesied Jesus would baptize “with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (3:16). The landscape John imagined was lit with the fires of judgment. Trees not bearing fruit would be cast into the fire (3:9) and chaff would “burn with unquenchable fire” (3:17).
As the disciples followed Jesus, they carried with them this vision of a ministry of judgment. Traveling to Jerusalem, they came to a Samaritan village that did not accept Jesus. James and John immediately ask, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from Heaven and consume them” (9:54)? John had prophesied a ministry of judgment, and the disciples were ready to bring it to bear on an unbelieving and unhospitable city. It seemed like they were tracking with Jesus. Jesus would destroy those who resisted His work, and they were willing to be His agents of destruction. But instead of resisting this city, Jesus resisted His disciples. He rebuked them. Jesus was about to shatter their expectations. The fire that Jesus would bring was something completely different, something unexpected, something full of mercy and love.
As our text begins, Jesus says, “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished” (verse 49-50). These verses bear close reading.
At first, it could sound like Jesus is ready to enact the ministry of judgment that John predicted. He wishes the fires of judgment were already kindled. That, however, does not correspond to what Jesus says about His mission in Luke. Jesus proclaims He came “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10; see also John 3:17). He did not come to watch them burn.
Jesus proclaims He came “to seek and to save the lost.” He did not come to watch them burn.
Upon deeper reflection, one sees Jesus is talking about His passion. For me, this is an overlooked passion prediction of Jesus. Jesus is giving His disciples a glimpse of His upcoming passion. Although He does not talk explicitly about His death and resurrection, those are the events He is foreseeing.
Here, Jesus offers us a glimpse of His heart. He shares with us two things: What He desires (verse 49) and what tears Him apart (verse 50). Jesus is torn in two. On the one hand, He passionately desires to bring about something on earth. On the other hand, He is distressed and torn apart as He thinks about the baptism He must undergo.
Consider the baptism. Jesus says, “I have a baptism to be baptized with” (verse 50). That is a baptism by fire. This is His death. Jesus is going to take the fire of God’s judgment on Himself. He is going to suffer the punishment for every sin committed by every person in all of history. Jesus is going to shatter our expectations of a God who is coming in judgment and reveal to us a God who comes in mercy and love. Rather than bring judgment down upon others, Jesus takes judgment upon Himself and He is distressed until that baptism is finished. Jesus longs for the day when He has taken our punishment on Himself that He might bestow upon us God’s mercy.
Consider the fire. Jesus says, “I came to cast fire on earth” (verse 49). The fire Jesus brings is not the burning of God’s judgment but the burning of God’s love. This is the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the world. After Jesus dies, He will rise from the dead and ascend into Heaven and send tongues of fire on His disciples so that they are filled with the Spirit and preach salvation to the ends of the earth.
This is the work God continues through us today. We live in a world that has its expectations about religion. Many see the Church as a hostile place, a place filled with hatred. They are thinking of the ministry of judgment. What they have not seen is the mission of love. As we enter into the world and do the work Jesus calls us to do, God will shatter people’s expectations. They will see a people who are called by the Savior to seek and to save the lost. They will encounter a people whose hearts are filled with a burning passion, so all might be part of God’s Kingdom when Christ returns and brings about a new creation.
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Additional Resources:
Craft of Preaching-Check out out 1517’s resources on Luke 12:49–53 (54–56).
Concordia Theology-Various helps from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, MO to assist you in preaching Luke 12:49–53 (54–56).
Lectionary Kick-Start-Check out this fantastic podcast from Craft of Preaching authors Peter Nafzger and David Schmitt as they dig into the texts for this Sunday!
The Pastor’s Workshop-Check out all the great preaching resources from our friends at the Pastor’s Workshop!
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