12:49 “I have come 3 to bring 4 fire on the earth – and how I wish it were already kindled!
1 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of Jesus’ pronouncement.
2 sn The expression left everything and followed him pictures discipleship, which means that to learn from Jesus is to follow him as the guiding priority of one’s life.
3 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.
4 tn Grk “cast.” For βάλλω (ballw) in the sense of causing a state or condition, see L&N 13.14.