The Same Words Weigh More When You Have the Title

I worked as an engineer for many years at a large electronics company, where I eventually did decide to become a manager. Honestly, being a manager did not look all that challenging to me, but I did quickly figure out that I could make big mistakes as a manager. One of the very first lessons I learned as a new manager was that my words carried a tremendous amount of weight, and that anything I said might be remembered for many years.

As an engineer, we would frequently use this phrase that would refer to taking someone behind the woodshed. Somehow, in my childhood I think, there was this language that people would use when someone was going to get a spanking. The dad would take the kid behind the woodshed and then give them a spanking. Now, as an engineer, it didn’t mean that at all. It just meant that someone was going to get some negative feedback. We’d say, “Oh, did you hear about Dale? He got taken behind the woodshed because he didn’t follow the coding guidelines.”

Now, when I was a manager, I said something about taking people behind the woodshed if my employees violated coding guidelines. Apparently, someone got pretty upset and then talked to my boss, and then I got taken behind the woodshed myself.

I was very surprised that I could say the exact same things I was saying as an engineer, but when I said those same things as a manager, then it suddenly meant something very different.

It’s unfortunate, but it is a reality for people that have positions of authority. For example, if a pastor asks someone what they think about painting everything inside the sanctuary pink, just like Pepto-Bismol pink, that is going to mean something different than if a kid were to ask that same person the same question. When the kid asks the question, then it’s funny and cute. But when the pastor asks the question, it would be alarming.

What if this Gospel reading were to show up in a Batman movie. I don’t mean the ’70s-style Batman where it was all goofy. I mean the current style of Batman where it is played very serious. What if the Joker were to say, “I desire that the world be set on fire. Do you think I came for peace? No! I came for division.” If the Joker didn’t already say those things in one of the Batman movies, he certainly showed that he wanted to set the world on fire and to cause division. The Joker shows us through his actions that he is a very bad person and desires to hurt and harm rather than heal and support.

It can be very confusing when Jesus says the words that the Joker might say in a Batman movie. If we didn’t take these words of Jesus into the context of the rest of the Gospel, then one might draw the wrong conclusion about what Jesus is telling us.

Just like it was with me being a manager instead of an engineer, the same words that Jesus speaks mean something very different than if the Joker were to use those same words. The words have a different meaning because he’s God.

In Luke chapter 12, in the saying about fire and division, Jesus is warning people about the Pharisees and the Pharisees’ hypocrisy. They should know better, but they have made some bad choices and are leading people astray. Now Jesus has come and is telling people the truth. The context is all about truth and adhering to God. There are going to be those that prefer to reject what is true, and there are going to be those that prefer to adhere to what is true. Jesus is the Truth.

One of the ways to know that you’re choosing Jesus and the truth over your own desire is that it will cause you some discomfort to let go of your interest and embrace the truth that Jesus offers. If you never experience any kind of struggle to choose the way Jesus offers versus your own desire, then you might have an opportunity to turn something over to Jesus in your life.

The Pharisees that are referenced in this part of Luke have decided to reject the teachings that were given to them by God in favor of making their own lives earthly and comfortable at the expense of others. We know that within the Pharisee community, some of the Pharisees followed Jesus and some did not. Even within that group, Jesus created these divisions.

I don’t think it’s fair to say that Jesus was the creator of the division, however. Rather, it is a person’s choice to reject the truth that causes the division. So this Gospel invites each of us to ask ourselves, is there division in my life right now? Is that division caused by my rejection of some truth? Is that division caused by my rejection of Jesus?

If you are new in the role, and a sentence you used to say has landed badly, start with the woodshed. As an engineer, “behind the woodshed” meant someone was going to get negative feedback about the coding guidelines. I said the same thing as a manager. I had not become a different person. The people hearing it had a different perception of the source. A peer’s joke was feedback. A manager’s joke was a threat. Someone got upset, talked to my boss, and I was the one taken behind the woodshed. The adjustment is yours. Before you say the old line, write who is hearing it and what they are likely to think you can do. If they would have to treat it as a decision, say the correction in plain words, to the person it is for.

The other side of that same story is the person who heard it. The sentence was scary because of who said it. A kid asking about painting the sanctuary Pepto-Bismol pink is funny. A pastor asking is a plan. If a manager’s words are causing the distress, ask a clarifying question. Ask the manager what they meant. Or ask a buffer, someone in a position to find out without you having to guess. In my case, that person was my boss. The employee who was upset did not sit with the sentence. They talked to him, and the meaning got checked. A scary sentence from a person with authority is not yet a decision. Ask before you treat it as one.

Luke chapter 12 is the reason the check matters. The same words from Jesus and from the Joker are not the same words, because the source is not the same. Division comes from rejecting what is true, not from the sentence alone. At work, find out which one you have. The old joke, heard from the new chair. Or a true thing, refused. The first one gets clarified. The second one does not get softened into a lie.

This is a pastoral reflection, not clinical care and not a substitute for it. If you or someone you love is in immediate danger, call 988 or local emergency services.

Drawn from a homily first preached in 2018.