Beautiful genes

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Consideration for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, year C2

“I have come to throw the fire on the ground, and how much I wish it would already be kindled,” says Jesus in the Gospel according to Luke. “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but a split.” And he announces divisions that go so far that the son will be against the father, the daughter against the mother, the daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law.

This passage is contained within a very emphatic text. The evangelist who tells it is commonly called the chronicler of mercy. Is it compatible? The words about divisions because of Jesus are surrounded by other equally categorical statements, such as those about confessing Jesus before men – otherwise the Son of Man will deny the angels of a man who denies Him – and those about demanding a lot from those who have been given much, and more those with a narrow gate. Do these emphatic exhortations match the other words of this Gospel on mercy, which are the main focus of the story of the Son of God?

Comments in Polish editions of the Holy Scriptures pass over these words on the agenda – Jesus wants to save the whole world, he brings peace, but there are those who oppose it. Certainly this is one of the most difficult moments in reading the Gospel. Perhaps, especially now, interpersonal relationships, even the closest ones, are exposed to a greater test than before (geographic dispersion, demographic decline, priority assigned to a professional career, etc.), so it is all the more valuable – and here Jesus announces that, because of him, this fragile the reality of human relationships may collapse.

Man contains the divine element within himself. If we say that we are children of God, it is in the sense that we have our beginning in God’s love. In this love that gives life, but also in that which is faithful to him. It is a parental love that does not leave. The Catechism describes our condition as one that requires communion with God. So maybe it is a matter of writing in human DNA the initial molecule that encapsulates God’s love for man.

Perhaps this parenting relationship we have with God does indeed require at some time of maturation that we understand that in our genotype there is not only human but also divine part of the genetic chain – more primal and more essential. More obliging us than the human one. God Himself commits Himself to it and never denies the promise made by His mercy. Man can live as if he did not have God’s part in him, but God cannot treat man this way.

The split that Jesus brings can be understood in many ways. The broadest: Jesus in this text mentions his waiting for the fulfillment of the mission entrusted to him by the Father. Along with the full revelation of His divine identity, a split may include having to turn away from those idols that are human and turn to God. Broadly: the split may be about breaking with life solely according to human DNA, thus breaking away from sinful habits. Narrow: a split can refer to the communities in which we live and the culture in which we are sunk, in order to even support the culture of love. Most narrowly: a split can be understood literally as a choice of God with priority over family ties, even if the parents do not want to respect or even oppose the primacy of God in human life.

Although Jesus’ words sound emphatic, seem provocative and encourage confrontation, they do not conflict with God’s mercy. They set up human and divine relationships properly.