12:49 “I have come 2 to bring 3 fire on the earth – and how I wish it were already kindled!
1 sn The tax collectors would bid to collect taxes for the Roman government and then add a surcharge, which they kept. Since tax collectors worked for Rome, they were viewed as traitors to their own people and were not well liked. Yet even they were moved by John’s call.
2 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.
3 tn Grk “cast.” For βάλλω (ballw) in the sense of causing a state or condition, see L&N 13.14.