Luke 12 / August 19 - What did He say?

Did you ever notice that sometimes people say one thing but mean another? That happens in marriage and in other relationships. But Jesus never said anything that He didn't mean.

In verses 49,50 Jesus does just this. He says one thing but it is not to be taken at face value.

In Jesus' first statement he speaks of coming to bring fire on the earth and how He wishes it was already kindled.

• Given his previous statement about the servant who doesn't do his job one might think Jesus is talking about the fire of wrath or anger.
• Given the statement following these verses you might think it is a fire of disagreement between family members.
• But I think a better opinion is that the fire represents the Holy Spirit that came in Acts 2 as "tongues of fire."
• This makes sense for two reasons. 1-Jesus was not looking forward to His death but the Holy Spirit would only come after His death and resurrection, so Jesus the terrible death Jesus knew He would suffer would be over if the "fire" were already kindled. 2- Jesus knew that for the church/Kingdom to move forward the Holy Spirit would need to come and live "in" His followers.

Jesus next speaks of a baptism that He needed to undergo, but His immersion had already happened. So what baptism is He speaking of? It is the baptism of pain and death that He would need to undergo before the "fire" could come.

here's the deal. Jesus wanted us to have the Holy Spirit because He knew it would be better for us, to have Him "in" us. But the pain He would undergo could only be expressed as a complete immersion in pain. Jesus could have stopped it. He could have said no. But He knew the only way the plan would work is if He gave Him self willingly to the death that would usher in the Christian age.

He did this for you. He suffered so that we could have the "down payment guaranteeing our inheritance in heaven." Thank you Jesus for your willing submission to this baptism so that we could receive the "fire."