Family Communion for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity: celebrant the Revd Tola Badejo.

First reading: Isaiah 5. 1-7
Gospel: Luke 12. 49-56

The readings this week are as challenging as those we heard last Sunday. Isaiah's 'song of the vineyard' likens God to a careful landowner and Israel to his unproductive vineyard, with which he is both disappointed and angry. Just as in our previous passage from Isaiah, the 'last straw' is the Israelite's lack of concern for justice; God 'expected justice but saw bloodshed; righteousness but heard a cry'.

There is far more to this passage, however, than a straightforward description of God's wrath against the sinful. The text's presentation as a 'song', and its reference to the Song of Solomon, show that God's anger is not that of a disappointed investor but something much more personal, a feeling of betrayal by those he loves. Isaiah's immediate audience were obviously the Israelites of his own time, but his message speaks to and challenges us all; he also reminds us that chastisement is a necessary part of loving care, and that to turn against God, ignore him, or reconstruct him in our own image is to invite punishment.

In the Gospel, Jesus again presents himself as a disruptor; last week he used a disturbing comparison with a burglar, and now he has 'come to cast fire upon the earth'. Following him will be life-changing, and we cannot expect it to be straightforward; our faith may bring us into conflict with our dearest friends and relatives. Of course we hope that won't happen, and we must always do our best to disagree gently and constructively, but in the end there are beliefs upon which we cannot compromise. 'Walking with Jesus' will not necessarily be easy.

The idea of walking a walk that is simultaneously challenging and joyful is vividly expressed in van Gogh's 'The Painter of the Road to Tarascon', in which he depicts himself burdened with his canvases and painting equipment as he makes his way to paint a landscape that has inspired him. The original work is believed to have been destroyed in the Second World War, but by great good fortune a very early (and remarkably good) colour photograph had already been taken; subsequently, the painting has come to be seen as a symbol of persistence in the face of rejection and of mental and physical challenges. Few of van Gogh's paintings are explicitly religious, but many, like this one, can be seen as having a religious dimension (the whole image is in the attachment below).

View attachment