12:49 “I have come 1 to bring 2 fire on the earth – and how I wish it were already kindled! 12:50 I have a baptism 3 to undergo, 4 and how distressed I am until it is finished!
1 sn This mission statement, “I have come to bring fire on the earth,” looks to the purging and division Jesus causes: See Luke 3:9, 17; 9:54; 17:29 for fire, 5:32; 7:34; 9:58; 12:51 for the topic of mission.
2 tn Grk “cast.” For βάλλω (ballw) in the sense of causing a state or condition, see L&N 13.14.
3 sn The figure of the baptism is variously interpreted, as some see a reference (1) to martyrdom or (2) to inundation with God’s judgment. The OT background, however, suggests the latter sense: Jesus is about to be uniquely inundated with God’s judgment as he is rejected, persecuted, and killed (Ps 18:4, 16; 42:7; 69:1-2; Isa 8:7-8; 30:27-28; Jonah 2:3-6).
4 tn Grk “to be baptized with.”