Welcome to our parish

18 August 2019                                                     20^th Sunday Year C

RAISING EYEBROWS?

From time to time we have to remind ourselves just what it means to be a Christian. That’s why today we hear a passage from a chapter of Luke’s gospel that examines different aspects of being a disciple.

People who have been Christians from infancy tend not to experience the challenge of following Christ as much as those who are converted in later life. Cradle Christians are prone to play down the significance of their baptism. After all we were baptised as children just as we were given certain injections to inoculate us against diseases.

As a result we grow up with the attitude that our Christianity is just one string to our bow. We may be members of the local amateur dramatic society, we may support the local football team and we are also Christians.

But today Jesus warns us that if we are true Christians then we will be the cause of division. That’s because the message of Christ is radically disturbing; it overturns accepted wisdom and agitates people. When we speak out about our vision of God’s world it upsets others. When we say what we think about moral decisions and the way life should be enjoyed we run the risk of antagonising.

This is because to be a Christian means making a fundamental decision to proclaim a vision of God that is usually at odds with what society values. It’s not that we set out deliberately to make life uncomfortable for others. It’s simply that the message of the gospel is subversive: it turns everything on its head. Telling a world that prizes success that the only way to prosper is to die to self is not geared to making you very popular. It angers those who do not accept Christ and it causes division.

If we are ever tempted to think of our religion as normal, as being an obvious way of living in the twenty-first century, then we have to read the gospel again. It is a challenge to our world and its values, and so we should not be surprised if people find it hard to take. Maybe if we are finding opposition to our faith it is a sign that we are close to Christ; for he said he had come not to bring peace but division. If, on the other hand, our faith raises no more eyebrows than our membership of the local flower arranging club then perhaps we’ve either lost sight of what our faith really is or we’re afraid to let it show.

Do you suppose that I am here to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.

(Luke 12: 51)