What do the TV shows Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune have in common? This is a rhetorical question but still, you have to put your rhetorical answer in the form of a question. Who is Merv Griffin? That's one thing both shows have in common. Merv Griffin, a very talented man who passed away last Sunday, conceived both shows. Maybe he would have come up with the idea of a show called Family Feud ... but if he were familiar with the Gospel of St. Luke, he would have recognized the premise was already taken. How about that for a cheap way to get into the text?

At a time when the family is more-and-more seen to be a defense against the impersonal and fractured nature of society ... we would like to be reassured that even Jesus, especially Jesus, would speak kindly about the family. But not in our text for this morning. The words of Jesus are no syrupy thoughts for a Mother's Day sermon. They will not provide an inspirational message for a Father/Son banquet. "Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth?" asked Jesus, as those in the crowd listened expectantly, perhaps hoping that is precisely the reason Jesus came into the world. "No, I tell you, (not peace), but rather division!"

And then Jesus tells the crowd ... made up of friend and foe, disciples and dissidents, that because of him, there will be conflict between father and son; contention between mother and daughter; confrontation between a son's mother and a son's wife! This is about as bad as it gets. Most police blotters are littered with such tragedy ... domestic disputes, where people act barely civilized ... much less domesticated. I recall a funeral at which I officiated. The deceased was just fifty years of age. When he was twenty-eight, he had an argument with his father and left the house in a huff. He left in a huff and came home in a casket. For twenty-two years his parents and his brothers and his sister did not know if he was dead or alive. Now they know. And there are few facts of life sadder than this: sometimes the nuclear family is more like a nuclear war! How tragic to leave home in a huff, only to return in a casket.

There is little in life that can cause greater heartache ... than a family fight. With that in mind, is Jesus claiming he's going to be about the business of provoking fights? Causing people to lop branches off their own family tree? Of course not. He is simply saying, that to follow him (not so simple) and to take seriously what it means to follow him (even less simple), to do that could lead to a division in the house. He is saying that the commitment it takes to put God first is so radical, that others in your own family might turn against you.

Most clergy have heard things such as, "Pastor, I'd like to give a lot more to the church, but my husband claims we give far too much already!" "I'd like to serve on that committee, but my wife would kill me." "I want to go into the ministry, but my parents said they'd cut off my tuition." Amazing. Most of us would want, as the spiritual has it, "to shine with Jesus," but family members sometimes want to pull the plug.

In many of the readings for this season of Pentecost there is a sense of the young Christian church preparing its people for what may lie ahead and trying to instill in the people a sense of responsibility for their journey. There is a sense of adventure, too. There will be many risks and painful decisions along the way, but they will all be worth it!

I gained some nice insights into this text from a book by from Barbara Brown Taylor. Listen to her comments: "Jesus says, 'From now on five in one household will be divided' and he goes on to outline the feuds - a whole house full of slamming doors and meals swallowed in stony silence - all because of Jesus.... Let Jesus divide us from our enemies, by all means - from those who hit and hurt and lie and steal, from those who corrupt and destroy the creatures of God - but from our families? From our own parents and our own children, the very people who have taught us what little we know about the love and forgiveness of God? Now some people never learned those things at home, and they may be in the best position to understand what Jesus is talking about here. They know that blood relation is no guarantee of love or forgiveness, and that sometimes the only way to save your life is to lose your family, closing the door on them and never looking back."

If you know anything about the disciples of Jesus, you know they certainly understood what Jesus was saying about choices and priorities. The Bible is rather sketchy about the disciples and their lives BC, Before Christ. But even a bush-league Sherlock Holmes can piece together a couple of clues and deduce that when Jesus enters the picture, a lot of families that once prayed together, no longer stayed together. When their sons and daughters left to follow Jesus ... surely it did not create peace in the family - but rather, created a piecemeal family. And probably robbed some family members of their peace of mind. And yet, perhaps it was that the families of these first followers were so in tune with God's Will, that when Jesus summoned them ... they went with the blessings of the loved ones they left behind.

As you and I struggle with a difficult text, it is important to understand that when Jesus speaks of division, he has in mind, decision. Jesus calls on each one of us to take stock of our priorities in life. While Moms and Dads ought to rank pretty high on the list, as well as sons and daughters and in-laws and "out-laws" and all who make up what it is that we call "family," FIRST on the list is God our Father. And whenever we try to place any person or any thing "FIRSTER," before God ... well, Jesus then calls for a division in the house.

As Taylor reminds us, "Jesus did not despise the family, but he did redefine it. For him, family was not a matter of whose chromosomes you carry around inside of you but in whose image you are created. It was not a matter of who has the same last name or who lives at the same address - but who serves the same God. That means the family of Jesus became huge beyond counting, with lepers and tax collectors and Roman centurions in it, with scruffy looking men who smelled of fish and ladies in robes made of gold brocade, and hordes of squealing children."

We could talk in similar terms about the make up of this congregation - this church family. There were times when, for instance, Marge Chaffee would kneel for Communion and hold out her hand for the Bread of Heaven, and beneath her nails was printer's ink. Scrub as she did, she could not quite get the ink from beneath her nails. Marge was a diligent worker at Higham Press. Kneeling next to Marge would be Fred Higham, with the well-manicured nails of the well-to-do. Fred's Dad owned Higham Press. Side-by-side these two people, divided by gender, education, and economic status ... side-by-side they humbly received their Lord. Marge and Fred, sister and brother in Christ.

Those who follow Jesus discover another family, a new family: the Church. In addition to our family tree ... being a Child of God in Baptism means we have a family forest ... with a common Father, our heavenly Father. The Church of Jesus Christ is our extended family. For some people, the only family they have. But even when it is not always sweetness and light, peaches and cream; even in the midst of squabbles in the church and hurt feelings, with Jesus as our Brother, we remain a family. He is the vine, we are the branches. Together, we make up the family forest.

Perhaps we will never have to choose between God and our nuclear family. BUT - and this is the radical call for discipleship that Jesus lays out before us - if it be a choice between God and family, or God and money, or God and prestige, or power, or any other alternative we find so often tempting, when it comes to a vote between God and anything else, Jesus does not mince words on how we should cast our ballot! He's dying to have us choose God first!