Pew Sheet, Sunday the 17th of August 2025. The 9th Sunday after Trinity

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells his listeners that he has not come to bring peace on earth but division, and will set a father against his son, a son against his father, a mother against her daughter, and a daughter against her mother in a statement which seems completely at odds with the claim in Isaiah 9:6 that Jesus is the ‘Prince of Peace’, given that this is the way we more often think of him. This statement and its correlate in Matthew’s Gospel makes this passage one of the most challenging and disturbing of Jesus’ sayings, for it challenges our concept of Jesus as a peace maker and a peace giver (John 14:27), one who has come to bring unity rather than division (John 17:21), and to preach forgiveness rather than hatred – even if we have to do so 490 times or more (Matt. 18:22)! How then, can both these things be true?

There is no doubt that Jesus is the Prince of Peace, but the peace he brings is primarily peace in our relationship with God, and not necessarily peace within the world. In his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus reconciles people to God (Romans 5:1), but this may also bring division between those who do and do not accept him. The path we walk and the gateways we must pass through can be narrow and difficult at times (Matthew 17:14), and this can sometimes set us at odds with even close family members, especially if we are genuinely trying to do the right thing, rather than the expedient or comfortable one. This is the division which Jesus describes here. He does not intend to cause division, but division can be a natural consequence of following Christ’s example which can make us smell like ‘the stench of death’ (2 Corinthians 2:15-16) to those who do not see the world in the same way, or inhabit it as we do: as travellers, sojourners or pilgrims – citizens of another King and another kingdom entirely, though living on earth in the here and now.

In the equivalent passage in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus supplements this claim with the statement, ‘do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.’ This can make the whole idea of his coming to bring division even more troublesome, but this is because we largely misunderstand what he means by ‘a sword’ here. He does not mean that he has come to bring or condone physical violence – or use it in a martial sense, even in the name of religion, but uses it as a metaphor, just as it is used in Hebrews 4:12 to talk about the sword of scripture which can be used more like a scalpel to distinguish the soul and the spirit, or the joints and marrow in surgery. In other words, it opens and reveals the innermost thoughts, desires, motivations, and inclinations of our hearts – and others’ too. When these are truly inclined towards God and God alone, they can seem offensive – or a stench even, to others less inclined to do as God wants (Philippians 3:20).

We should never actively seek discord and division, or to be its cause, but sometimes it is an unavoidable consequence of remaining true to ourselves and true to God. It can be the price we must pay for discipleship, though hard and costly; whilst at the same time, continuing to pray for those who find us – or our faith so unpalatable that it may ‘smell’ completely offensive to them.

Collect

Gracious Father, revive your Church in our day,
and make her holy, strong, and faithful for your glory’s sake,
in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Jeremiah 23:23-29

Am I a God nearby, says the Lord, and not a God far off? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ How long?
Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back—those who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart? They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal. Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream; but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the Lord. Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

Hebrews 11:29-12:2

Now by faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented - of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better so that they would not, without us, be made perfect.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

Luke 12:49-56

Jesus said, ‘I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on, five in one household will be 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.’

He also said to the crowds, ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, “It is going to rain”; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, “There will be scorching heat”; and it happens. 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?

Post Communion Prayer

Strengthen Holy Father, those gathered here around the table of your Son to share this meal with the whole household of God in that new world where you reveal the fullness of your peace. Gather we pray, people of every race and language to share in the eternal banquet of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Most of our usual midweek activities are taking a break in August and will resume next month, but please check with the churchwardens for more info.

Tuesday (Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot and Teacher of the Faith, 1153; William and Catherine Booth, Founders of the Salvation Army. 1912 and 1890)

Wednesday (Florence Nightingale, Nurse and Social Reformer, 1910)

Friday Tony Morley’s funeral 1.30pm in St Laurence.