49 'Fire I came to cast to the earth, and what will I if already it was kindled? 50 but I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I pressed till it may be completed! 51 'Think ye that peace I came to give in the earth? no, I say to you, but rather division; 52 for there shall be henceforth five in one house divided—three against two, and two against three; 53 a father shall be divided against a son, and a son against a father, a mother against a daughter, and a daughter against a mother, a mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.'
54 And he said also to the multitudes, 'When ye may see the cloud rising from the west, immediately ye say, A shower doth come, and it is so; 55 and when—a south wind blowing, ye say, that there will be heat, and it is; 56 hypocrites! the face of the earth and of the heaven ye have known to make proof of, but this time—how do ye not make proof of 'it'?
57 'And why, also, of yourselves, judge ye not what is righteous?
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Luke 12:49-57
Commentary on Luke 12:41-53
(Read Luke 12:41-53)
All are to take to themselves what Christ says in his word, and to inquire concerning it. No one is left so ignorant as not to know many things to be wrong which he does, and many things to be right which he neglects; therefore all are without excuse in their sin. The bringing in the gospel dispensation would occasion desolations. Not that this would be the tendency of Christ's religion, which is pure, peaceable, and loving; but the effect of its being contrary to men's pride and lusts. There was to be a wide publication of the gospel. But before that took place, Christ had a baptism to be baptized with, far different from that of water and the Holy Spirit. He must endure sufferings and death. It agreed not with his plan to preach the gospel more widely, till this baptism was completed. We should be zealous in making known the truth, for though divisions will be stirred up, and a man's own household may be his foes, yet sinners will be converted, and God will be glorified.
Commentary on Luke 12:54-59
(Read Luke 12:54-59)
Christ would have the people to be as wise in the concerns of their souls as they are in outward affairs. Let them hasten to obtain peace with God before it is too late. If any man has found that God has set himself against him concerning his sins, let him apply to him as God in Christ reconciling the world to himself. While we are alive, we are in the way, and now is our time.