When Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!”, He is not talking about a cozy campfire on a cool night. He’s talking about a blaze that changes everything it touches. It’s a fire so powerful that it purifies, refines, and transforms.

If we look at the entirety of Scripture, every time fire is described, it is never something that is neutral. It either consumes or purifies. It either destroys what is worthless or strengthens what is good. When we think of gold being refined, the heat of the fire burns away all of the impurities that are there and leaves behind the precious metal. That’s exactly what Jesus wants to do in our hearts. That’s exactly what He is speaking about today.

The problem is, and I think this is true for many of us, we prefer the idea of a small, manageable flame. We like the candlelight version of faith. That’s a fire that is enough to make us feel warm, make us experience the love of God in some way in our lives. But, it is a fire that is weaker, it’s not strong enough to burn us out of our comfort zones. The reality is that when Jesus truly sets our hearts on fire, it will inevitably cause division. When we are willing to be open to the Lord, when we deliberately choose to follow Him more closely, when we give Him access to our hearts, when we invite Him to set our hearts ablaze with His fire, it will change us. It has to! And that change will affect every part of us. We will leave that experience shaken from our content with the status quo and ready to set the world on fire around. Because the fact of the matter is, the Gospel always confronts the world’s priorities, it always challenges us to strive to see with eyes of faith.

Jeremiah understood this. In our first reading, he’s thrown into a muddy cistern because the king’s officials didn’t like his message from God. They didn’t like that He spoke truth, that He was offering words of challenge. That made people uncomfortable. That’s the cost of a prophet’s fire.

Then in the Letter to the Hebrews, we’re reminded that we are in a race, one that requires perseverance. There will be a time when following the Lord will be difficult. We’ll be faced with the temptation of falling back into old habits, to return to following the ways of the world. So we have to remember to stay close to the Lord, to lean more fully on our relationship with Him, to ask for His guidance and strength when the road gets tough. Running with perseverance means that we can’t carry the heavy baggage of fear, compromise, or spiritual laziness. It means we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus at all times, even when it puts us at odds with the crowd.

And here’s where this hits home: living your faith openly sometimes costs us relationships; it will sometimes mean that we bring ridicule onto ourselves, that people will stop respecting us; it may even cost us opportunities in the workplace or in society in general. We may be misunderstood by family, friends, or coworkers. We might be labeled as being “too religious” or “too extreme.” But we can’t let that stop us! If our hearts are on fire with Christ, we will discover a deeper joy and peace than anything the world can offer.

Saint Catherine of Siena once said, “Be who God meant you to be, and you will set the world on fire.” That’s the fire Jesus is talking about…it’s not destruction, but transformation.

Today, we are being invited to ask ourselves an important question: Where in my life am I trying to keep the flame of faith small and safe? Ask the Lord to reveal that. He wants that small fire to become a blazing inferno in the world. If we look at the way the world is going today, we can’t sit on the sidelines anymore. The Lord needs us to be His blaze that burns in the world.

So, we have a choice to make. Are we going to stay where we’re at, or are we going to invite the Lord in and allow Him to stretch us? I hope we all choose to invite the Holy Spirit in, asking Him to set our hearts fully ablaze, letting Him burn away fear, complacency, and compromise. And let’s beg Him to bring the fruits and gifts that He offers to life within us. Because once that fire is lit, it will prepare us for walking the narrow way to Heaven.

“A Fire That Divides” is the first homily in a 3-part series entitled “Faith on Fire.” The homilies for the 21st and 22nd Weeks in Ordinary Time will complete the series.

Image: Person Standing in Front of Fire, Adam Wilson. Used under Unsplash license.