Scripture Reflection - August 17, 2025

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time

First Reading: Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10

Second Reading: Hebrews 12:1-4

Gospel: Luke 12:49-53

“Do you think that I have come to establish peace on the earth? 

No, I tell you, but rather division.” (Luke 12:51) 

The Gospel today seems inconsistent with most of what we know about Jesus. He is typically asking his disciples to love each other as God loves them, to show mercy, to care for the widows and orphans, to bring food to the hungry. What do we do when we come across a passage where Jesus declares that he was sent to bring division, not establish peace? What are we to take away from a reading that encourages family members to turn against each other? How are we to understand a scorched earth and anguish filled God?  

First, there may not be a clear consistency, as Jesus is fully human and fully God. There are times we see Jesus get angry - turning the tables in the temple or scolding the Canaanite woman asking for her daughter to be healed, until her persistence and faith convince him to heal her. This is not the norm, but we witness the full range of human emotions in Jesus. 

Second, it might be that Jesus isn’t willing to allow for easy surface-level peace. We can easily get along with others if we don’t ask any hard questions and avoid controversial topics. Similar to the “cheap grace” that Dietrich Bonhoeffer speaks about, cheap peace doesn’t get to the root of the violence or disagreement.  

I was recently reading The Moral Imagination: The Art and Soul of Building Peace by John Paul Lederach. In the text, Lederach provides several examples of people who have found solutions to violence by building relationships across lines and through varying levels of community power.  

We are living in times of great division and polarization. I wonder if the Gospel today is perhaps not asking us to make enemies of those who think differently, even in our own families, but rather to be really honest about our experiences and seek truth together. It might just be these types of conversations that will help us move from cheap peace to actual peace, respect, compassion, and understanding of each other.  

If this seems difficult, which it likely will be, we can find comfort in the Second Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, which reassures us that we have a “great cloud of witnesses” who have also followed Jesus. Like them, we should also be strengthened by Jesus and not grow weary or lose heart.   

Sr. Jenn Schaaf, OP