Thursday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
October 20, 2022
Daily Reading from the USCCB: Luke 12:49-53
Many of Jesus’ hearers thought that the coming of the kingdom would be peaceful. Today Jesus points out that it is not so, that the kingdom is not just peace and tranquility. It’s also fire and strife and struggle, even within the same family.
Why? Because the context in which the kingdom is planted and grows is so resistant to what Jesus offers. The world’s attitude toward sin and wealth and sex and marriage and war and peace is quite different from what Jesus preaches–from what Jesus calls for.
You have to be strong and courageous to pursue the kingdom in our world. You have to keep your values clear. You have to keep your priorities straight. It’s not easy. Jesus never that said it would be.
