{"id":4644,"date":"2025-08-16T13:01:37","date_gmt":"2025-08-16T13:01:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/?p=4644"},"modified":"2025-08-16T13:08:28","modified_gmt":"2025-08-16T13:08:28","slug":"4644","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/?p=4644","title":{"rendered":"The Metaphor of Fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

This passage occurs during Jesus\u2019 journey to Jerusalem, a pivotal moment in Luke\u2019s Gospel where his teachings intensify in urgency and challenge.\u00a0Jesus is preparing his followers for the cost of discipleship, knowing that his death is imminent and that his message will provoke strong reactions.<\/p>\n

The early Christian community was already experiencing division and persecution, making Jesus\u2019 words express their lived reality. Luke 12:49\u201356 presents a striking and sobering message from Jesus, emphasizing the urgency and divisive nature of his mission. He declares that he has come to bring fire to the earth, a metaphor for judgment, purification, and the radical transformation.\u00a0 Rather than peace, Jesus foretells division, even within families, as people respond differently to his call. This passage challenges the assumption that faith always brings harmony, highlighting instead the cost of discipleship and the inevitable conflict between truth and resistance.<\/p>\n

Join with us on Sunday, August 17 as we walk with Jesus and reflect on his teachings.\u00a0 <\/strong>We invite you to Come and See! Worship begins at 10 am. You can participate in worship via Facebook and YouTube as well as Zoom Meeting ID 898 5135 3057
\nPasscode: 197261<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This passage occurs during Jesus\u2019 journey to Jerusalem, a pivotal moment in Luke\u2019s Gospel where his teachings intensify in urgency and challenge.\u00a0Jesus is preparing his followers for the cost of discipleship, knowing that his death is imminent and that his … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4655,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-save-the-date"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4644"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4644\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4657,"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4644\/revisions\/4657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stbartshhk.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}