Two statements here are un-Jesus-like. " I have come to bring fire on earth and how I wish it were already kindled." and "Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? No. I tell you, rather, division." Was Jesus serious when He said this? Was He not a peacemaker? Was He not an advocate of forgiveness and kindness? Why these statements?
The statements were undoubtedly strong. The messages of Jesus were strong, that was why! If we reflect closely to the statements of Jesus, He really meant well. He said these statements to stress His points. Fire maybe a devastating element but it has its uses; for cooking, for warming, and disinfecting, etc. But fire is also used to purify; to separate the impurities from valuable elements like gold. That is why we have a saying, "A test of fire is a test of gold!"
And that is the point of Jesus in the Gospel. He wanted to challenge His listeners to determine and make their stand. Christian life is absolute faithfulness and commitment to God. There are no compromises. Lukewarm life of faith is not acceptable. Either you are a fully committed and passionate faithful or none at all. The Kingdom of God is the only Kingdom. There is only one king, and that is Christ the King. The only way He can make them commit themselves was to challenge them with His Word and Deed. And the best would be if they will be put to test, i.e. to see themselves in the light of what He preached and witness to. He expressed His great concern when He wished that it had started already!
It is in this same context that He gave the other message of division and not peace. Following the Lord Jesus can not but put relationships to test. The teachings of the Lord would really subject relationships to test, at times destroying the peace and introducing division. The teachings of forgiveness, repentance, loving neighbor, morality, respect, detachment and others, nothing but create tensions in all relationships. It is the hope of Jesus that everyone will embrace Him. If not, then division, not peace will prevail. For the Lord Jesus, this is better than living in civility, lukewarmness, and toleration which is anything but merely allowing a peaceful co-existence among brothers and sisters. The Lord Jesus would rather encourage people to be willing to abandon everything and everyone for the Lord rather than place everyone on the same level or at times compromise God Himself. Full faith in the Lord is required. Christian Peace is attained only in unity with God even when one is divided from everyone. Again, it is not the intention of the Lord to merely rock the boat for the sake of rocking it. He rocks it so as to place everyone where they should be.
In the end, the ultimate purpose of Jesus iss to recover everybody to His fold. He will do everything even as far as jolting and putting in the heat on us. That is how much He cares for us. heaven will be very happy for every one person who would repent. Jesus would not settle for only one, ten, hundreds, thousands etc. He wants everyone. That was His promise to His Father, "No one was lost!".
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