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<DIV><FONT size=4>The point is that the Good News brings us to the place of
commitment and discipleship, not the other way around. I am dumbfounded when I
hear preaching that implies that only when we have done the “hard stuff” will we
experience grace. “<EM>No! No! No!</EM>“, I want to scream, “<EM>We do the hard
stuff because we have experienced grace!</EM>“<BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><A
href="http://thelisteninghermit.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/the-cost-of-values/">http://thelisteninghermit.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/the-cost-of-values/</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Peter Woods, 2010</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT size=4>A common view holds that "fire" in verse 49
refers only to judgment (e.g., Gen 19:24/Lk 17:29; 2 Kgs 1:10-16; Am 1:4; Lk
9:54; Rev 8:5, 7; 19:10). The figurative language, however, suggests that more
than judgment is intended. The destructive power of fire is not merely
associated with judgment, but with purification and cleansing (Lev 13:52; Num
31:23) and with divine revelation and deliverance (Ex 3:1-10; 13:21-22). Fire,
then, is a figurative statement that depicts the powerful irruption of the
Kingdom in the ministry of Jesus (cf. 16:16/Mt 11:12; see also 10:8-11;
11:20).</FONT> </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.goodpreacher.com/shareit/readreviews.php?cat=28">http://www.goodpreacher.com/shareit/readreviews.php?cat=28</A></FONT></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>James J.H. Price</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>...let's read this text as Jesus being eager for
constructive cooking and not destructive conflagration.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.holytextures.com/2010/07/luke-12-49-56-year-c-pentecost-august-14-august-20-proper-15-ordinary-time-20-sermon.html">http://www.holytextures.com/2010/07/luke-12-49-56-year-c-pentecost-august-14-august-20-proper-15-ordinary-time-20-sermon.html</A></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><FONT size=4>David Ewart,
2010</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>
<P>A lecturer at Agricultural College told us he had once casually asked a
student if he was going back on the farm after university to take over from Dad.
The young man replied, “Well, Grandpa hasn’t let Dad have a go at running the
farm yet.”</P>
<P>There can be a tyranny of power in families. Crossan notes that the divisions
in the household are related along lines of power, particularly between the
generations.</P>
<P><></P>
<P>...we face a full scale conflict, taken right into the heart of human
formation: the family. The family is being dethroned from its absolute
claims.</P></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><A
href="http://churchrewired.org/god-s-time---luke-12-49-46.html">http://churchrewired.org/god-s-time---luke-12-49-46.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: xx-small"><FONT
size=4>Andrew Prior, 2010</FONT><BR></SPAN>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>Is it time we were, by grace, better at taking
spiritual temperatures, measuring & responding in a godly way to the
pressures of society (of God or not of God), reading the Wind of the Spirit
& its blowing where God will, rather than being mere windbags? </DIV></FONT>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/laterallyluke/LLK124959PENT11.html">http://www.angelfire.com/journal2/laterallyluke/LLK124959PENT11.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>Brian McGowan</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><FONT size=3
face="Trebuchet MS"></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>v52-53. Jesus now explains what he means by
"division" and then, in v53, supports his words by quoting Micah 7:6. "Division"
was one of the commonly expected signs of the coming messianic kingdom, and so
now, with the coming of Jesus the messiah, families can expect that household
members will "turn against one another", CEV. Some members of the family will
stand with Jesus and others will stand against him. <BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.lectionarystudies.com/studyg/sunday20cg.html">http://www.lectionarystudies.com/studyg/sunday20cg.html</A></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4>Bryan Findlayson</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><STRONG>...the passage speaks neither about the
<EM>inevitability </EM>of division in families nor the <EM>selected or
chosen</EM> nature of this division. It is, according to my reading,
<EM>imposed</EM> as something that flows naturally from the new
commitment.</STRONG> Nor does it say that <EM>every </EM>family is so divided.
Like the poor whom we will always have us (another one of Jesus'
statements--John 12), so we learn from this passage that Jesus' message causes
division, even to the very relationships that may have nurtured us in our youth.
But, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews goes even further. He speaks about
the living and active word of God as so sharp that it splits even bone from
marrow (4:12). <STRONG>We miss the Gospel if we think it is just one pluralistic
and inclusive love feast for all the people of the world.</STRONG></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.drbilllong.com/LectionaryII/Lk1248.html">http://www.drbilllong.com/LectionaryII/Lk1248.html</A></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><FONT size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV align=justify><SPAN class=style1><FONT size=4>Bill Long,
2007</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4><FONT size=4>- - - - -</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=justify><FONT size=4></FONT> </DIV>
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