We tend to think of peace as inherently good. Today’s gospel, however, teaches that Jesus came to establish “division” and “fire,” not “peace on earth.” Why would an all-loving God desire a world beset with division instead of peace?

Jesus understood that too often, we obtain a feeling of peace by cutting ourselves off from others and, ultimately, from God, pursuing the path of least resistance. We shut out the suffering and injustices others endure. We hear about the love of God and neighbor on Sunday but spend the rest of the week satisfying our own wants, convinced of our own piety.

In place of this narcissistic form of peace, Jesus seeks to enkindle in us the fire of his universal love and mercy. The necessary result, in this life, is to encounter division.

Jesus’ own life is instructive. He challenged everyone to “deny himself and take up his cross and follow [him].” Some accepted the challenge and became disciples, leaving divided families behind. Many others rejected Christ’s message and resumed their worldly lives, separating themselves from their true calling. Still others found Jesus’ message so shocking as to cast him out and nail him to a cross—the “baptism” Christ endured to “set the earth on fire.”

The gospel’s metaphor of fire is revealing. Fire divides darkness from light, making it possible for us to see. In metallurgy, fire is used to purify metal ore and to produce the finished metals from which useful items are made. Without fire, we stumble in darkness, and metal ore cannot serve the beneficial purposes for which metal is used.

Similarly, each of us has the potential to live in the light and to serve God’s purposes. To do so, we must shrug off our comfortable, peaceful existences and be consumed with the fire of Christ’s infinite love.