Traditional Catholic Teaching

Appendix to Supplement B: Lesson 12

Appendix: The Last Warning

From: The Gospel of Saint Luke,
by Joseph Dillersberger Newman Press 1958

I am come to cast fire on the earth, and what will I that it be kindled? And I have a baptism, wherewith I am to be baptized: and how am I straitened (how great is my anguish – how distressed I am) until it be accomplished. (Luke 12: 49—59.)

Anyone who has carefully followed the train of thought of this chapter will expect that in conclusion it will speak once again of the Holy Ghost. The great discourse on the freedom of Christ's disciples has now reached its end. The first section, 12: 1 — 12, was itself threefold, that is, based on the three persons of God.

We have also clearly seen in the discourse from v. 22 onwards three distinct parts. From v. 22
to v. 34, freedom from the cares of the world is founded on the Father, on the right disposition of man, the child of God, in all of Nature around him, the birds of Heaven and the flowers.

In verses 34 to 49,the Christian's readiness for his new work in the Church is suggested by and founded on the relationship of servant to lord, as it exists between the disciple and his Master, the Son of Man, which really means Lord of all men. This position of servant, too, is to bring about true freedom and will stand in the way only of that false type of freedom which aims only at exercising power and using it for personal enjoyment, as we have seen.

And now the Lord is going to point out the third thing that Christ's disciple needs to be complete. He expresses it in the short and pregnant word, Fire. Every idea of the meaning of this fire falls short of the true meaning unless it be understood to include the reception of the Holy Ghost Himself Psychologically, too, this explains the situation. The Lord perceives by the silence that comes over the disciples, so that Peter is for once without a word, how they have been impressed by the solemnity of His words, partly because they do not understand all that He says, partly because they feel disheartened by the great difficulty of their task.

Then there comes over them the zeal of God. How much He would like to inflame the disciples' hearts with holy zeal when they hear such words, so that they are carried along by them and grasp what He wants from them. But that point has not yet been reached. The Spirit has not yet come. But this outburst from His heart is a cry and an appeal to the Spirit. He has come on earth for this purpose — to make the way clear for the Holy Ghost. But He at once corrects Himself and speaks of the baptism with which He must first be baptized. By this is meant the Passion, for He is well aware that only from the Cross will come the consummation and the sending of the Spirit. But in this hour He wants to say to His disciples that He feels Himself limited, hemmed in, because He can never make progress, but always runs against a wall, even with His disciples, who do not yet understand, who are still so narrow and limited and do not respond to the great things He says to them.

And so He wants to show them that He has no mind to allow them to go easily along the old comfortable tracks. He will not bring tranquillity, a lazy peace — " quieta non movere" — no, He wants everywhere to invite the last stake, the great heroic impulse of the human heart, and that will involve strife with their nearest relatives. This too, is an effect of the great Spirit of fire which will come upon the disciples; they will not let themselves be diverted from the great work in hand, even if their dearest ones become their opponents. The Holy Ghost will bring great disturbance among men: they will not be able any more because of Christ and the Kingdom of God to repose in the ordinary state of affairs. The disturbing thorn remains always in mankind, the flaming fire which cannot be extinguished.

There is still something else which the Holy Ghost controls of which our Lord also wants to speak to His disciples: discerning the signs of the times.

Notice carefully Our Lord's procedure. They know how to interpret weather omens, in the face of the heavens and of the earth. That comes about as if instinctively. They ought likewise to discern the signs of the times, "of themselves" (v. 57). They ought to perceive how serious is the actual state in which the Son of Man Himself stands before them, give it its proper value, and behave accordingly. But they do not.

Why they do not, Our Lord explains in a parable. And here He returns to the old theme, Freedom. They are in fact not free enough. On the contrary they are held to answer a charge before a judge. We follow St. Ambrose and other commentators in interpreting this parable quite differently from that in the Sermon on the Mount as recorded by St. Matthew 5: 25 – 26). Here the discussion is not about reconciliation with the adversary. "Whilst thou art in the way with him." Here we are told that we should endeavour to be delivered from him, that is, to become free. That can only indicate that there is question of subjection. in the end to Satan himself. He is man's perpetual accuser before God (cp. Job 1: 9f.: Apoc* 12: 10). He wants to deliver him up to eternal punishment, and every unexpiated sin gives him a right to demand that such a man should be delivered to him. That is the reason why men are so blind and cannot understand the signs of the times. Man must make himself free, be delivered from this subjection to the Evil Spirit — and so this great discourse returns to the occasion which led to all these instructions; Jesus driving out a devil, as He Himself explains, by the "Finger of God" (11 : 20) and thus by the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost therefore must set us free from this unworthy subjection, and from Him comes of course the light to discern the signs. For this discernment must come from our own selves; the Holy Ghost is this divine instinct in man, by the power of which man can of himself judge that which is just. For the spiritual man judgeth all things, as the Apostle explains (1 Cor. 2: 15 ).

Let us estimate once more the great force of this discourse on the freedom of the disciples. We see how much this freedom is demanded by the fact of being on the way. For as long as a man is on the way to a distant goal, he cannot allow himself to be bound. He would then be halted indeed. And so the triune God is that great and distant goal towards which we journey, ready in all His majesty to set us free and to preserve us free from every bond which could be dangerous to us. God the Father frees us from every vain care and anxiety about body and life. He has given us the Kingdom which is to be our only care; He Himself takes care of everything else. The Son, Our Lord, sets us free at the same time as He makes us utterly His own true servants.

For only when He alone is our Lord, for Whom we wait in the knowledge that He will come, will nothing else be able to rule over us. He has closely connected with this the responsibility for His Church, which He has imposed as the one great care, first of all of its Supreme Head, but also of everyone who believes in Him. For something is entrusted to everyone, and everyone thus bears responsibility. That should keep him free from the unworthy subjection to passion, to pleasure, or to his own pride. Lastly the Holy Ghost in particular, the divine fire, makes us free, because He prepares our heart for the "arduum", the difficult, for what involves strife and sacrifice. Without a heroic disposition of spirit there is no freedom. But in still another way the Spirit makes us capable of what is difficult. He also releases our spirits from their bondage to Satan, so that we recognize what is to be done; so that we are freed from guilt and judgment.

In the Father and in the Son and in the Holy Ghost, only with the clear purpose of serving the living Three-in-one and becoming just, can mankind be released from every bond and the disciple of the Lord be made free — in the royal freedom of children of God, in the responsibility of Christ's servant, in the burning fire of the Holy Ghost. How much in bondage the human spirit must be, when so much is needed for its freedom

*The Apocalypse is also called The Book of Revelation

(From "Matthew" Veritas Publications 1980)

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