FIRE
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August 16, 2025There is this quote from the Wilder Poetry, “Don’t play with fire if you can’t handle the flame.” It is always a reminder to be careful about our human tendency to flirt with situations that can lead us to danger. At times, acting recklessly causes harm to someone and even on our self.
Fire in the Scriptures has been used in several instances, both with negative and positive presentations. Fire through the burning bush has brought to Moses a mission to lead the Israelites from Egypt to the Promised Land (Exodus 3:2), fire has guided the Israelites in their journey throughout the desert (Exodus 13:21), the Holy Spirit descended to the apostles as tongues of fire during Pentecost (Acts 2:3). In the Book of Daniel, those who will not worship the golden image will be thrown into the fiery furnace (3:8). The Gospel of Matthew, trees that do not bear good fruits shall be cutdown and thrown into the fire (7:19), the wicked shall also be thrown into the fire where they grind their teeth (13:22). And in our Gospel this 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Jesus was talking about fire, he said, “I have come to set the earth onfire and how I wish it were already blazing!” (Luke 12:49)
Fire carried a lot of symbolism in the Scriptures but whether it was presented in a negative or positive way, one thing is for sure, fire always leads to change!
Since the fall in the Book of Genesis, change has always been the standard message of the prophets, it was their battle cry throughout the Old Testament and when John the Baptist came, and his message was the same, crying out in the wilderness inviting us for repentance, for a change.
Change is something that many people are not ready to embrace. It is a struggle that many of us would try as much as we can to escape, no matter how difficult it takes. Change can also lead to a struggle within us, especially if it involves shedding out our security blankets, giving up something that in our personal judgement is important and taking that “leap of faith” that can transform our lives or the lives of others around us. There are also changes that can create animosity among us and Jesus has pointed this out. “Do you think that I have come to establish peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” (Luke 12:51)
But yes, Jesus wants to bring peace on earth that is why in many instances after his resurrection, he would show himself to his disciples with the greeting of peace, but not just the peace that we usually know like the absence of war or when we agree with one another. Jesus wants a genuine peace that brings a change of heart, a peace that makes us choose between right and wrong, between love and hate, between good and bad. This is the peace that burns our selfish desires and molds us once again into the image of God.
This is where Jesus wants us to lead into, having that fire that changes us, a fire that ignites our willingness to say as the Psalmist does, “Create a clean heart in me O God, and renew in me a steadfast spirit!” (Psalm 51:10). And there lies the genuine peace that Jesus brings.