Our God is a consuming fire
By Br Albert Elias Robertson, O.P | In the first of our new series of reflections on the Thursday Gospel, Br Albert looks at the fire that Christ sends, not one that destroys all in its path, but one that “consumes vice, confirms virtue, and offers the world true peace”.
The chapters of Luke’s gospel which we’ve been hearing at Mass over the past weeks have all been set within the context of Jesus’ long journey to Jerusalem beginning back in Chapter 9. The question behind these accounts is, ‘What kind of a man is this?’ The main concern is whether this man, Jesus, is from the devil — whether he casts out demons by the prince of demons — or whether he is truly from God. And if he is from God, who is he — John the Baptist raised from the dead, or Elijah returned, or some other prophet? Jesus is in continuity with, and is understandable in the context of earlier prophets. But there is clearly something new here; even the seventy disciples report, with some apparent consternation on their return, that even the demons are subject to them by using the name of Jesus.
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