Jesus said, [49] "I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! [50] I have a baptism with which to be baptized, and what stress I am under until it is completed! [51] Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! [52] From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three; [53] they will be divided: father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."
[54] He also said to the crowds, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, `It is going to rain'; and so it happens. [55] And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, `There will be scorching heat'; and it happens. [56] You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?"
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It is important to get the context here, in order to understand who Jesus was talking to, before we read in verse 54 “He also said to the crowds.” Jesus was speaking to his disciple, after Peter asked him (in verse 41) to explain the parable he told to the crowd earlier – the Parable of the Rich Fool (the lesson of the prior Sunday, Proper 14 Year C).
In verse forty-nine, the first word written by Luke is a capitalized “Pyr,” which is a divinely elevated “Fire.” By reducing that to the lower case, the translation presented by the NRSV makes it seem that Jesus is going to strike a match and set something on “fire.” That is not the case. The word “pyr” is explained by HELPS Word-studies in this way: “In Scripture, fire is often used figuratively – like with the "fire of God" which transforms all it touches into light and likeness with itself.” Capitalization makes this most certainly be “fire of God,” as it applies to an assignment by Yahweh, given to His Son Jesus. Thus, the metaphor of “earth” is the ”flesh,” where the “fire of God” is the inner enlightenment of Yahweh’s truth, as found written in Scripture. When Jesus exclaimed, “how I wish it were already kindled,” this says Yahweh sent Jesus because of the lying leaders (false shepherds, hired hands, and souls possessed by lesser gods in leadership positions) were doing nothing to set the Jews on “Fire” with the truth of Yahweh.
When “Fire” is read in this light, verse fifty beginning with “baptism” is then furthering how Yahweh sent Jesus to kindle Spiritual “Fire.” It is through leading souls to desire in their hearts to marry Yahweh. Jesus is then the High Priest who would officiate that divine union of a soul to Yahweh’s Spirit. The Spirit is what pours out upon one’s soul, so the “baptism” Jesus brings is the “Christ” – a word meaning Spiritual “Anointment” [not the last name of Jesus] – and to make lost souls become a Christ requires a wife-soul of Yahweh become also united with the soul of His Son – Jesus.
Here, the NRSV has struggled with the Greek word “synechomai,” which is the first-person singular Present Indicative form of “sunechó,” where one usage [Passive] has it mean “I am afflicted with (sickness).” This has them have Jesus say he is “distressed,” as if he has “stress” waiting for all the Jews to wade in the water of the Jordan (or some other stream) and be dunked by Jesus (such tiring word!). However, the truth is (beyond Jesus was not “stressed” doing the work given him by Yahweh) the word also means in usage: “(a) I press together, close, (b) I press on every side, confine, (c) I hold fast, (d) I urge, impel.” (Strong’s Usage) This says the “baptism” brought by Jesus to ignite a “Fire” of desire for Yahweh, so he can officiate that wedding ceremony (the Christ Anointment), is then he can “press together” his soul with the wife-soul of Yahweh, becoming that soul’s Lord. Jesus will spiritually become one’s neighbor and will hold fast to their desires of the flesh, so they do not sin. Jesus will “impel” them to walk righteously and deny urges to sin.
When verse fifty-one is translated so it says, “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!” the question should be, “Wait a minute! Why is division necessarily a bad thing; and, why would it be opposite of peace?” The answer is the Greek word “eirēnēn” is translated as the ambiguous “peace,” when in truth it means “properly, wholeness, i.e. when all essential parts are joined together; peace (God's gift of wholeness).” (HELPS Word-studies) When Jesus would enter the closed room and tell the souls of his disciples, “Peace” (a capitalized version), the meaning then was their souls finally had the “Wholeness” of Jesus’ soul in union with each of their souls. Thus, to “Think” (a capitalized “Dokeite”) says each soul in its body of flesh was already a union of self – brainy flesh controlling a wimpy sinner-soul – which was refusing to deny the Big Brain and sacrifice self to serve Yahweh, out of love and total devotion, such that Yahweh sent Jesus to “divide” that union that led to ruin and replace false loves with true love – Jesus is the love of Yahweh.
In verse fifty-two, one must ask, “What is the significance of five; and, why is five divisible only by three plus two?” As to “five” (“pente”), this is said by HELPS Word-studies: “used in Scripture with added symbolic meaning ("redemption by grace").” They add in brackets: “[This is derived from the collocations (associations) that "five" has when used in reference to the Tabernacle, Temple, etc.]” It should be seen how the Greek word “pente” is the core word of Pentecost, which is ten times five, or fifty (numbered in days). The fifth day of Creation was when Yahweh’s elohim made the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky, before making man (male and female) on day six. The number “five” is then like the stepping stone to a higher state of being. The number reflects the symbolism of innocence, like that of a child. When the spirituality of the number “five” is seen as one’s absolute submission to the parent influence, this becomes a reflection of the ”house” (from “oikō” – one’s body or tabernacle) that is “within one” (“en heni”), but for the child to grow, it must be “divided” beyond the “one.”
This division comes with maturity. The playtime of the “five” (the green fruit that must ripen) must seek the Trinity Spiritually (“three”), in order to find the promise of eternal salvation. That eternal salvation come when a soul (“one”) is “divided” so another soul is added, making “two” souls connect to the Father, as the Trinity (“three”). This seems so natural but the reality is the soul (“one”) will often join with a lesser spirit or demon (“two”), so that unholy union then fights against submission to the Trinity (“three”). Which ever way a soul (“one”) is “divided,” it will have to go “against” its own soul, either in self-sacrifice to Yahweh or self-sacrifice to a worldly spiritual possession.
When you understand the numbers used in verse fifty-two, then you can see the examples of the “three” and “two” are all related to “father against son,” “mother against daughter,” and “mother-in-law against daughter-in-law” (and vice versa). These are all “divisions” that must occur within the “one” spiritually, as a form of maturity. Certainly, the first is easiest, when read as “Father-Son,” as Yahweh and Jesus; but there is nothing “against” those two together. The Greek word “epi,” which does translate as “against,” also translates as “on, upon,” implying in usage “to, on the basis of, and at.” According to HELPS Word-studies, “The precise nuance of 1909 (epí) is only determined by the context, and by the grammatical case following it – i.e. genitive, dative, or accusative case.” In each to the words following “epi” a Dative case word is written, meaning the transitions of the pairs of relatives is “upon to,” as a transition from “one” to another “one.” Everything is then the maturity of a human, from child to adult and from adult to child.
While it is easy to see the masculinity of “they will be divided father upon to son,” with the two next sets of growth focusing on the feminine, all three sets must be seen as feminine, as a soul trapped in a body of flesh – in the worldly-material realm – is ‘negative-receptive-feminine,’ thus always in a state of change (from birth to death). A soul, being a spirit that is eternal, coming from Yahweh and always returning to His (for Judgment as to where next), is masculine; but this masculinity is only when either removed from the flesh or joined with the masculine soul of Jesus (the Son). The “mother upon [this] to daughter kai daughter upon this to mother” is not about a female human being, but about all human beings, which are all souls trapped within bodies of flesh. The call for “division” is to mature into one who sacrifices self in order to produce a new self in the flesh. Therefore, the addition of “in-law” reflects upon the willingness to sacrifice self to another in marriage. The “mother-in-law” is the “daughter” soul married to Yahweh, who in turn gives ‘birth’ (the resurrection of) His Son. The wife-soul has found out the reason divine marriage is necessary, as it is to become the Son of Yahweh reborn into new flesh – every time in every committed wife-soul.
Before proceeding to verse fifty-four, where Jesus turns back to the crowd to speak, it is important to recall that Jesus did not say this out of the blue. He explained the parable of the Rich Fool, who put off being “divided” and matured, “Thinking” he could do more work that would profit more things, before he would say, “Okay. I am ready to marry Yahweh now.” Yahweh told him how stupid that idea was, because his death and Judgment was happening then. When Peter asked to clarify the meaning, Jesus said all this about sacrificing oneself to Yahweh and being a brand new, walking and talking Jesus – NOW! – rather than piddle-paddle around, wasting valuable time. Jesus was there to ignite the “Fire” of desire for Yahweh, so souls would bow down at the altar of marriage and surrender their souls to His, as His wives, mothers-to-be to Jesus’ soul.
When we then read verse fifty-four, it has Jesus again looking at the crowd, which means the crowd most likely heard what Jesus told his disciples; but it is doubtful that anyone understood anything Jesus was saying, to either group. The disciples were all engaged to be married to Yahweh, and Jesus was the High Priest who would officiate their Spiritual Anointment, with his soul duplicated in eleven of the twelve (plus other followers of his, mostly family). The crowd was not yet so committed; so, Jesus spoke to them about how well they could see the future. The crowd was just as ignorant about what would happen next, so they were foolishly wasting their lives in the flesh by taking care of themselves, doing nothing to sacrifice and become Yahweh’s bridesmaids.
This is why Jesus said they could read the signs of nature and be fairly close as to what nature would bring. When he said, “you can see a cloud coming from the Mediterranean Sea and expect it to rain … kai it rains,” this is missing the deeper meaning of a spiritual dark cloud “rising up” over their souls, like the leaders of Jerusalem were. Luke capitalized the word “Ombros,” which elevates it to a level of Yahweh meaning, where “rain” is much less than the “Violent Storm” that comes from standing under that “cloud” that darkens their souls. Still, just as one can predict the rain coming (when it looks like rain, smells like rain, and feels like rain), one can equally predict the Judgment coming from being blind from the signals coming from the “cloud rising up” from the Temple.
When Jesus then said (in verse fifty-five), “kai when a south wind is blowing , you say because , Heat it will exist , kai it comes into being .” Certainly, this too sounds like one being able to forecast the weather and know when to water the grass and wear cool clothes. However, the deeper truth is a “south wind” is the ‘hot air’ blown through the lips of false shepherds and hired hands. When you feel that foul breath stinking up the Temple and synagogues, then you know “Burning Heat” (from a capitalized “Kausōn”) means those sermons are leading a soul to the depths of Hell. Be assured that end can be expected when death releases a soul for Judgment, if nothing has been done to avoid that “hot air” influencing one’s soul in the flesh. The importance of “it comes into being” means a demon soul “is born” within the soul of a lost lamb, due to the thieves who steal sheep from Yahweh’s sheepfold.
In verse fifty-six, Luke began with the word “hypocrites,” which means the crowd was all Jews, who all believed they were privileged and special, as God’s chosen people. They were the definition of “hypocrites,” because they all said they were Yahweh’s children, when everything they did was contrary to how a “son, daughter, father, mother, or in-laws” that were truly “divided” into the maturity of divine marriage did. When Jesus referred to the “the flesh kai the sky,” this is metaphor for the body and the soul, Discernment of the truth … coming from literature the Jews memorized, but did not understand … can only come when the soul of Jesus has been born into each of them. That time was then, as Jesus stood there physically among them; but they were all still too busy to give up their souls to someone unseen and be reborn as someone who was already born (like Nicodemus unable to understand being born again).