This “Jesus Today” message is dedicated to Donald Lee Gitlitz.

In today’s gospel (Luke 12:49-53) Jesus talks about how he has come not to bring peace but rather to bring division.  This seems contrary to what we know about Jesus – The Prince of Peace – through whom we can attain the peace that only God can provide, a peace that for most of us is unimaginable.

When I contemplate this scripture I am inclined to apply what Jesus is saying not to our divided world but rather to our divided selves – to our individual lives, including my own.

We know that were created by God for God, to enter into a loving relationship with God.  It follows that to achieve anything less will result in a lack of true peace.   We also  know that life is a constant struggle between good and evil – that while we are drawn to God by God and invited to enter into his goodness, we many times fall short as we are allured by that which is contrary to God’s goodness – our own sin.  In many regards our life struggle can be defined as the pull of God’s goodness against the pull of our fallen nature – a struggle that leads to division within our self.  So maybe what Jesus was saying was that as he was inaugurating God’s Kingdom in our world, that event would not necessarily cause us peace but the division that results within ourself due to the opposing forces of God’s goodness and our fallen nature.

But there is some Good news here, because what Jesus also points out is that if we attach ourselves to him, if we allow God’s Spirit to take hold of us, if we strive to live our lives as Jesus did, we can attain the peace that only God through Christ can provide.

With Jesus by our side, even as the “battle” rages within us, we can allow ourselves to be drawn closer to God.  We do this by constant vigilance against selfishness, pride, ego, ambition, and insecurity.  We do this by altering our focus from self to neighbor.  And as we do this, as we do the hard work of adopting the values, attitudes, and actions that Jesus modelled for us, we are drawn closer to God, we become more and more intimate with God, and we can realize less division and greater peace within our self.

Of course, we will not achieve the ultimate peace that God can provide until we reach our ultimate destiny.

And today Donald Lee Gitlitz achieved his ultimate destiny as he was called by God from this world to God’s heavenly Kingdom.  Today Donald Lee Gitlitz rests in the fullness of the peace that only God can provide, a peace that awaits all of us.