{I came to cast fire} (Pur (886c)thon balein). Suddenly Jesus
lets the volcano in his own heart burst forth. The fire was
already burning. "Christ came to set the world on fire, and the
conflagration had already begun" (Plummer). The very passion in
Christ's heart would set his friends on fire and his foes in
opposition as we have just seen ( Lu 11:53f. ). It is like the
saying of Jesus that he came to bring not peace, but a sword, to
bring cleavage among men ( Mt 10:34-36 ). {And what will I, if it
is already kindled?} (kai ti thel(9320)ei (8864)(8820)an(8870)hth(883b)). It is not
clear what this passage means. Probably 	i is be taken in the
sense of "how" (p(9373)). How I wish. Then ei can be taken as
equal to hoti. How I wish that it were already kindled.
An(8870)hth(885c) is first aorist passive of anapt(935c), to set fire to,
to kindle, to make blaze. Probably Luke means the conflagration
to come by his death on the Cross for he changes the figure and
refers to that more plainly.