Luke 12:50

“But I have a baptism (‘an overwhelming') to be baptised with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!”

However, if that fire is to be effective redeemingly something extraordinary will be required, the baptism of suffering of Jesus, that is, the experience for Jesus of being ‘overwhelmed' by suffering (the word baptizo is known to signify ‘overwhelm' in secular Greek). For alongside the suffering of the world Jesus Himself must be overwhelmed by suffering, in order that He might redeem out from a suffering world those who are His, those who have been given to Him by His Father (John 6:37). And paradoxically the suffering of Jesus will also be for many like the casting down of fire on them, for by their rejection of it they will bring judgment on themselves (John 3:17).

So Jesus is only too aware that before His fire cast on the earth can be fully effective, it will be necessary for Him to suffer, to die and to rise again (Luke 9:22). In the end it is only through the cross that ‘refining' by means of His word can be offered to men and women. And the result of His fire being cast down and ignited, and of His suffering, will be that the world will be divided between those who respond to Him, and those who reject Him and even hate Him. Note the wonder of what is said. The One Who casts down the fire also came to bear that fire on Himself so that He might deliver His own from eternal fire.

“And how am I straitened till it be accomplished!” Once again the intensity of His feeling comes out. Compare the previous final comment in the last verse. It is not just that He is conscious of stress at what He must face, He is also filled with a burning desire for it to come about, a desire that ‘afflicts' Him (straitens Him) by its intensity. He yearns for the salvation of His people, and it is through His suffering that it will be ‘accomplished' or ‘fulfilled'. Thus His suffering is seen as His present destiny, the accomplishment that He must bring about, as He treads the path laid down in Isaiah 53 (Luke 22:27; Luke 22:37; Luke 24:25; compare Mark 10:45; Acts 2:22; Acts 3:18; Acts 4:27; Acts 7:52; Acts 8:32 etc). And through it He will accomplish salvation for ‘the many' (Isaiah 53:11; Mark 10:45; Mark 14:24, compare Acts 13:39; Acts 26:18), and judgment on the remainder. By it He will make men ‘straight' and free them from Satan's power (Luke 13:10).