Drawn to the Fire

And the path on which it shines.

I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! (Jesus, recorded in Luke 12:49)

Jesus tells us that turning to him as our Lord and Savior will ignite conflict with the world, the flesh and the devil, even to the point of breaking up close relationships as people take sides,

For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. 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. (Luke 12:52-53)

This potential for conflict is part of following Jesus, according to Sunday’s lesson from The Leter to the Hebrews. It tells us to reorient our lives,

…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.

This looking to Jesus will turn into walking with Jesus, and that gets rough:

For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

The rewards are out there — perfection, joy, peace, righteousness, healing are with Jesus — but they are found along his path marked by endurance, shame, hostility, training, drooping, weakenss and striving for peace and holiness.

Morning Prayer’s Collect for Endurance is spot on,

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the Cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.

And so is the Collect for this Sunday (Proper 15 in the 2019 Book of Common Prayer), which also reminds us to walk with others who are relying on God’s grace to keep us on the way to salvation,

Keep your Church, O Lord, by your perpetual mercy; and because without you the frailty of our nature causes us to fall, keep us from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable for our salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Man, I wish this message were more bright and shiny, as much for me as for you. It’s got me on edge. Uncomfortable. Which is what God promises through Jeremiah this week,

Is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? (Jeremiah 23:29)

Keep looking to Jesus, and hang in there with and for one another as his brothers and sisters on the path.