Martin Luther King Jr. said that “a good leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus – he is the one who lights a fire in people’s hearts.”
In the Gospel today, Jesus said, “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!” Jesus is not talking about destruction – he is talking about a fire of transformation. And like any fire, it changes whatever it touches.
This is one of the more unsettling passages of Luke’s Gospel. We often think of Jesus as the bringer of peace, and rightly so. But here he says: “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” What is this fire Jesus is talking about? It is the fire of God’s love, God’s truth, God’s justice – the power of the Holy Spirit. And like fire, it can be warm and life-giving, or it can be challenging and purifying. Fire can comfort us on a cold winter night, but it can also burn away what is rotten and useless.
When the fire of Christ enters a life, it often causes change that others resist. Some relationships are strained, because not everyone wants to be transformed by that fire. That is what Jesus means by “division” – not that He delights in conflict, but that the truth He brings forces a choice. And choices divide.
We live in a time when following Christ sometimes means standing apart from the crowd – even from friends or family. The fire of Jesus’ Gospel challenges us to stand for honesty in a world that rewards half-truths, to choose generosity when selfishness is easier, to standup against bigotry, to defend the powerless, to forgive when holding a grudge feels justified.
This is not easy. Division can hurt deeply. But Jesus reminds us that faith is not about avoiding conflict at any cost – it is about being faithful to God at all costs.
Think of a refiner’s fire: gold is purified when heat burns away the impurities. In the same way, God’s fire burns away the fear, the selfishness, the sin in our lives – if we let God.
Sometimes the hardest divisions are within us – between the part of us that wants to follow Christ completely and the part that still clings to comfort, to control, to old habits. The fire Jesus brings is not meant to destroy us but to make us whole, burning away what keeps us from loving God and neighbor fully.
Jesus came to bring a fire that warms the heart and purifies the soul. But it is a fire we must allow to burn within us, even if it causes discomfort or division. Fire dies out if it is not fed. Prayer, Scripture, Eucharist and acts of charity – these are the wood and oxygen that keep the flames alive within us. This week, let us ask: Where in my life does Jesus’ fire need to burn more brightly? Where do I need to let God purify, change, or challenge me? Because the fire Jesus brings is not to destroy – it is to transform the world, starting with you and me.