Today’s readings show us that we must speak the truth even when we know there will be pushback - even when we know it will be met with resistance. For example, parents know they must challenge the wrong behavior of their children even if the response will be door slamming or foot stomping or screaming even. 

 

Can parents claim to truly love their children if they don’t discipline them when necessary? 

 

The same goes for pastors, teachers, coaches, anyone charged with leading others. If we care about the ultimate welfare of those for whom we are responsible, can we claim to love them if we do not challenge their wrong behaviors and attitudes? 

 

Jesus Christ was sent by the Father on a mission. He was sent to establish the Kingdom of God, preaching the Good News of repentance and salvation. 

 

He taught his disciples what it meant to live in the Kingdom, and the behaviors and values inherent in doing so: mercy, unconditional love, commitment to justice, concern for the most vulnerable among us like the orphans and widows, and more. 

 

In His teaching, Jesus was offering us the path to new life. Yet He knew that not all would embrace His message, especially if His words challenged their current behavior and attitudes, to change their ways, His message wouldn’t be accepted. 

 

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says: I have come to set the earth on fire. He came to purify and refine. He came to free us from sin and all that squeezes life out of us. 

 

Those who embraced His way might find themselves at odds with their father, mother, sister, brother, or friend. Surely their intention is not separation, but alienation could well result from their choice to follow Jesus and His Church. 

 

The prophet Jeremiah faced resistance and persecution for the word of God he proclaimed. Faithful to God’s call, he reminded the people of Israel and their leaders that corruption, greed, and neglect of the orphan, widow, and poor were not part of God’s plan and would lead only to ruin.

 

For speaking the truth, he was thrown into a cistern filled with mud and left there to die. To his credit, Jeremiah did not back down from preaching God’s word, even though he knew there could well be dire consequences on earth. He knew the consequences in eternity would be even more dire. 

 

This perseverance and determination made a difference to the court official, because he argued for and brought about Jeremiah’s rescue.

 

There’s a modern lie in our culture that Christianity is all about unity. There is a lot of truth in that statement. God desires unity from His children, but not at any cost. Not at the expense of the truth. Jesus Himself says here that He came to bring division. Yes, He wants all people to be united, but only under His banner. Compromising truth for the sake of unity is not truth at all - neither is it unity. 

 

Christian discipleship is not a popularity contest. Inevitably, there is a cost involved; yet, for followers of Jesus Christ, we trust that his path ultimately leads to eternal life. 

 

We should, therefore, never apologize for the Truth, nor ever shrink from proclaiming and living it. Whether as a parent, coworker, friend, or neighbor, we can ask the Lord’s help in being a voice for the Gospel: speaking the truth in love against behaviors and values that run contrary to God’s commands, especially when there are offenses against the human dignity of another.

 

In the second reading from the Letter to the Hebrews, we are encouraged to persevere in running the race, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus who embraced the cross that we might have New Life. 

 

The passage reminds us that we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses – men and women who are our heroes for their courageous way of living God’s word, for how they ran the race, and now they are saints in heaven. We are all called to be saints, and that starts on earth. 

Nobody can escape, we can't stay on the sidelines here, we can’t stay quiet.

 

Last weekend I was at a conference, Dr. Mary Healy was the speaker, she is a prominent scripture scholar, one of three women in the world on the pope’s Biblical Commission.

 

She said that she once heard a speaker say that “in heaven we will sit around and share war stories.” Dr. Healy said that when we get there, we want to have something to talk about, our battle stories, so right now, we have to imagine that we are in a great stadium running the race that is before us, and the saints are cheering us on in the arena.

 

If we went to Heaven today, what would our war stories be? Our stories will be about speaking truth even when we know there will be pushback or a negative response. We can see this all over our culture, there will be a battle when we stand up for Jesus and the Truth revealed through the Catholic Church.  

 

We know that is going to happen when we stand up against abortion, for instance.  This is the hot topic this summer, and there has been so much pushback against Christians, Catholics especially, even against the pregnancy centers who are just trying to help - there have been at least 40 acts of vandalism across the United States.

 

It’s sad to see this because they’re just trying to help mothers to keep their babies, make sure the child doesn’t get hurt and ensure the mom can still have a good life, but the culture twists it to say, oh no, the Christians are trying to take away their choice, that the Catholic church and pregnancy centers are trying to hurt these women.

 

Listen again to this line from the first reading: “the princes said to the king: "Jeremiah ought to be put to death; he is not interested in the welfare of our people, but in their ruin."” Sound familiar?

 

They thought wrongly about Jeremiah, they think wrongly about us too, but that doesn't stop us from needing to say the truth. We are called by God to speak the truth in love in these situations, and no doubt there will be a battle.

 

When Jesus says “I have come to set the earth on fire” it’s not that He wants to ruin everything, to destroy our peace, no, He wants to set fire in our hearts.  We will have peace in our hearts when we live by God’s commands and follow His will, our hearts united to His.  

 

Jesus wants us to be so filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit, filled with God’s love, that we will do whatever we need to do, which is going to be a trial, a difficult trial.

 

When Jesus said, “There is a baptism with which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is accomplished!” He was talking about the trial that He was about to face in His suffering and death.  

 

Our anguish is great when we know we have to speak up, it will be a trial also which is likely to bring division, just as Jesus said, but that cannot stop us. As followers of Jesus, we must risk our peace and security, and speak the Truth in love.

 

In our current times, there is no way to avoid it, we have to get in the race, enter into the battle, and “persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.”

 

It is important to remember that our battles are not against flesh and blood, they are against powers and principalities, against the wickedness and snares of the devil, against evil, against sin.  This fire that Jesus brings is meant to burn away everything in us that is not loving, that is not of God, ultimately everything that is sinful, and after doing that ourselves, very often we have to help our brothers and sisters in that.

 

Ask God for help in our struggle against sin, He will give us strength to persevere.

Living the Gospel is not always easy and will lead to opposition. With our eyes fixed on Jesus, we must walk in His way and trust that life now and forever awaits those who are faithful.