Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C (2025) - Fr Mannes Tellis, OP

Too often in our glancing through scripture do we seek the comfortable, loving, and consoling words of Jesus; phrases like: "Come to me all you who are burdened and I will give you rest;" or "Love one another as I have loved you."

But who is this Jesus we meet in this week’s gospel? This “imposter” Jesus talks about bringing fire on earth, inciting division in families and acting as the herald of disquiet rather than the familiar prince of peace.

To grapple with these hard sayings of Jesus we need to view him within the context of the prophets who proceeded him, like Jeremiah whom we saw in the first reading thrown into a well to die because his prophecies didn’t fit with the prevailing culture and views of the time. Fundamental to the prophetic witness is to be a sign of contradiction, a counter cultural agency, if you wish. Jesus, like Jeremiah, acts in a prophetic way by challenging the status quo, questioning such things as the use of money, relations between people, and how to conduct oneself in view of the final judgement.

Jesus, first of all, seeks to cast fire on the earth. This imagery is deliberately left open by St Luke and can have two meanings. First, it is a reference to the prophet Elijah who brought fire down from heaven twice, first on Mt Carmel against the prophets of Baal, and then again on the soldiers of King Ahaziah who had come to arrest him. This symbolism highlights that Jesus stands strongly within the prophetic tradition of Israel. The second meaning to the casting of fire could also be a reference to the Pentecost event in the future, whereby the Holy Spirit comes down to enlighten the disciples and burn away their fear. With these two aspects of Jesus’ desire for fire, one can then appreciate what he is endeavouring to convey.

The heralding of division and disquiet amongst a household likewise demonstrates Jesus’ prophetic office, the office of challenging society’s comfort zones. Jesus predicts that his teaching will be both embraced and rejected. This is the outcome of a prophet’s job. Like Jeremiah, whose predictions about the destruction of Jerusalem poured disquiet, fear, and anger into the hearts of his listeners, so too do Jesus’ teachings provoke anger, fear, and disquiet. When Jesus criticises the rich and wealthy, the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, the immorality of religious professionals, and the carelessness of believers who think that they can evade judgment, a natural response is division. Some will readily embrace Jesus' teaching and repent of their sin, while others will only react with anger because their conscience has been pricked and they don’t like it.

As we, then, reflect on these hard sayings of Jesus,

let us pray in this week’s Eucharist that these difficult words may challenge our comfort zones and spur us on to repentance and to holiness of life.

Fr Mannes Tellis, OP is the Parish Priest of Prospect-North Adelaide, South Australia.