It’s almost two years since we had that horrible marriage-equality ‘plebiscite’.

Sadly, having lost––

and lost badly––

those who campaigned for the no-cause haven’t disappeared;

they have simply shifted focus.

The anti-marriage-equality group, “Marriage Alliance”…

has now changed its name to “Binary Australia”…

and claims to “carry on the fight for traditional values”.

Lyle Shelton––

the former spokesperson for the Australian Christian Lobby…

a failed senate candidate for Cory Bernardi’s “Australian Conservatives”…

and now the director of “The Coalition for Marriage”––

claimed, during the campaign, that adopting marriage equality would be a slippery slope…

leading to gender fluidity being forced upon children and vulnerable teens.

Indeed, Shelton has stated that gender issues are now his focus…

in particular, the “Safe Schools” program.

Meanwhile, a small group of health professionals––

with links to Fred Nile’s “Christian Democratic Party”—

have written to the federal health minister…

calling for an inquiry into the number of young people receiving sex-hormone therapy.

Their focus may have shifted but, sadly, the ideology hasn’t.

Social conservatism…

and so-called ‘family values’…

are at the heart, the core, of their brand of Christianity.

And, sadly, that’s also the popular perception of Christians––

as a bunch of prudes and wowsers…

social conservatives…

and warriors for so-called “family values”.

 

But then we come to today’s reading from Luke’s Gospel…

“Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!…Father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother”.

Hang on a minute!

Surely Jesus is supposed to make everything right?

Surely Jesus came to bring peace…

to reconcile us to God and to each other…

and to restore creation?

Surely Jesus is the answer to life’s most profound questions;

the solution for the world’s deepest needs?

Surely Christianity, if nothing else, is the champion of ‘family values’.

Well, not according to the author of Luke’s Gospel––

quite to the contrary.

If you think that Jesus came to promote family values, then think again.

If you think that the Christian faith is meant to prop up society…

to act as its moral watch-dog…

and to maintain our privileged way of life, 

then think again.

If you think that going to church is simply about making you feel good…

helping you to cope with life…

or meeting your emotional, spiritual, or social needs,

then think again.

What the author seems to be saying here is that God doesn’talways do what we want or expect;

putting our faith in God is no insurance policy against life;

and following Jesus isn’t an easy path––

nor is it the solution to all of our problems.

Indeed, following Jesus faithfully may…

and perhaps ought to…

create more problems than it solves.

 

And yet, in crafting these words, the author isn’t saying that he thinks Jesus wanted conflict or hostility.

It’s not that he thinks Jesus set out to make things difficult.

It’s not that he thinks Jesus tried to divide families. 

Rather, he’s suggesting that Jesus expected conflict and division…

because our world––

our society––

has a very different way of seeing…

a very different set of priorities…

and a very different set of values.

We live in a world that worships possessions, power, and privilege;

where wealth, status, and comfort are the goals to which we aspire;

and where the right to protect what’s mine is considered sacrosanct.

We live in a world where my security, my fulfilment, and my happiness are the greatest goals…

such that the structures of society…

and the purpose of government… 

ought to be directed towards those ends.

We live in a world where people are, ultimately, expendable;

where they’re only valued for what they’re able to contribute;

and where those who are different or who don’t fit in are pushed to the margins…

and deprived of the basic human rights that the rest of us take for granted.

God’s vision for the world threatens so much that our society takes for granted.

In a world that worships possessions, power, and privilege… 

God calls us to give––

to live simply so that others might simply live.

In a world where my security, fulfilment, and happiness are the greatest goals…

God calls us to put aside our pretensions…

to walk a path of vulnerability and risk…

to discover that it is in giving that we receive…

in sharing that we all have enough…

and through acts of love that we drive out the darkness of hate…

and discover true peace and security.

In a world where people are expendable…

God calls us to protect the weak, the powerless, and the defenceless;

to oppose those forces that promote hatred and encourage greed and self-interest;

to regard every person as valuable and worthwhile––

both in theory and in practice.

Jesus expected conflict and division…

because he espoused a vision of a very different world—

a world that doesn’t respect national boundaries…

a world that doesn’t care about colour, or gender, or race, or sexual identity…

a world that doesn’t erect walls and barriers…

calling other people names…

and declaring them illegal or unwanted or worthless or sinful.

Jesus expected conflict and division…

because he challenged all of our ideologies…

all of our absolute claims…

and all of our false gods––

whether those false gods happen to be possessions… 

security…

culture… 

nationality…

religion… 

or even the family.

Jesus expected conflict and division––

because his ways are so contrary to the ways of this world.

 

Jesus did come that we might have life––

life in all its fullness.

Jesus did come that we might be reconciled to God and to each other.

Jesus did come that we might know peace. 

But Jesus came that all might have fullness of life…

not just some––

and not just those who were lucky enough to be born in an affluent country.

Jesus came that all might have fullness of life––

including the exploited and the oppressed…

the marginalised, the excluded, and the dispossessed…

the weak and the vulnerable.

Jesus came that all might know peace and freedom and justice.

And that’s anything but “good news” to those with a vested interest;

that’s anything but good news to those who crave unbridled privilege and prosperity;

that’s anything but good news to those who want to use religion to prop up the status quo.

 

As followers of Jesus Christ, we’re called to read the signs.

We’re called to understand the way that our world works––

what its values and priorities are.

And we’re called to question what we have been enculturated to believe and expect…

to value and strive for.

We’re called to embody God’s vision for a world made new;

to embrace God’s topsy-turvy, world-up turning values…

and to strive to bring that new world to birth.

In the words of Martin Luther King jr:

“The hope of a secure and liveable world lies with disciplined nonconformists…through the creative maladjustment of a non-conforming minority”.

That is our calling.

That is how, as followers of Jesus Christ, we are called to live.

That is who, as children of God, we are called to be––

certainly not the champions of social conservatism.