This essay first appeared in our weekly Scripture reflection newsletter on August 16, 2025.
Jer 38:4-6; Heb 12:1-4; Lk 12:49-53
You can find the readings for the 20th Sunday of Ordinary Time here.
Every Christian should know something about the Bible.
That statement should seem obvious. Of course every Christian should know something about the Bible—in fact, a lot about the Bible! We should know the saga of what theologians call “salvation history” as it unfolds in the Old Testament; we should know the story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Gospels; we should know the story of the early church, as told in the Acts of the Apostles and the various letters (a.k.a. “epistles”) of St. Paul and other early church leaders; and we should know about the visions and images contained in the Book of Revelation. So, yes, Christians should know, and know about, the Bible.
What I mean is something slightly different. I mean that every Christian should also know a little about biblical studies, which includes understanding how the books of the Bible were written (and edited), how the various texts interact with one another, and something about the history of the times during which the books were written. For Christians, this is especially important when it comes to the writing of the Gospels. Understanding the history of the times, the common Jewish practices, how the evangelists chose what to include in (and what to leave out of) their Gospels, and how the Gospels are related to one another is essential if we want to understand Jesus. This approach is called the “historical-critical” method of study.
The point of today’s Gospel is not Jesus’ love for division but his recognition that his presence requires people to make a choice: are you for him or against him?
This doesn’t mean that you need a Ph.D. to understand the Bible. The Holy Spirit is the one who ultimately opens the Scriptures to us. But grace builds on nature, and what we understand about what Jesus is saying and doing in the Gospels can be limited by our own lack of curiosity and study. If you know nothing about first-century Judaism (or, worse, if your mind is filled with stereotypes of first-century Judaism) you won’t truly understand what Jesus is doing in the Gospels. Simply put, while the Spirit opens us to the Bible, Catholics are not literalists.
That somewhat long windup is necessary for us to reflect on a Gospel verse that is occasionally taken out of context: Jesus saying that he has come to bring “division.” Without any knowledge of the Gospels, some may be (and have been) tempted to use that to excuse divisions in society and in the church. “Why worry about a disunited church or nation or world? Didn’t Jesus say that’s what he wants?”
Not at all. In fact, elsewhere in the Gospels, Jesus prays that “they all may be one” (Jn 17:21). The point of today’s Gospel is not Jesus’ love for division but his recognition that his presence requires people to make a choice: are you for him or against him? In the Hellenistic world in which Jesus also lived it would have been seen as a krisis, which is not exactly a “crisis” as that word is understood in English, but more a time for a decision. (Jesus seems to have meant this primarily for the people of Israel.)
He demands of his listeners an ultimate decision for the reign of God, and that necessarily leads to divisions.
Interestingly, the divisions that Jesus predicts in the Gospel are intergenerational ones: father against son, mother against daughter, and so on. More to the point, they are familial divisions. Jesus may have been reflecting on what was happening around him at the time in response to his ministry, which included his own rejection (at least early on) by his family and neighbors in Nazareth (Mk 3:21).
In his superb book The Most Important Words of Jesus, the New Testament scholar Gerhard Lohfink writes, “He demands of his listeners an ultimate decision for the reign of God, and that necessarily leads to divisions; in fact, it causes divisions that tend into the most intimate social relationships, into the house, the community of the extended family.”
Jesus wanted unity among his disciples and within families. But he also understood human nature and recognized that not everyone would follow his message of love, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, care for the poor and needy, and welcome of the stranger. It asks people to take sides. Which side are you on?
