When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem; and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him. But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" But He turned and rebuked them, [and said, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them."] And they went on to another village.
My thoughts -
I'm a twin. My twin brother and I were always thought of, growing up, as a pair. That was frustrating to us. We were always grouped together. We were not individuals. We were the twins.
We were, and still are, passionate people. We fought each other viciously to establish our own identities. We resented each other. No one who isn't a twin or who doesn't have twins can really understand this complicated relationship. We loved each other and hated each other simultaneously and with fiery intensity. Our fights were legendary. It was not uncommon to go by our house and see us rolling around the front yard biting, scratching, kicking, punching, and screaming at each other while Mom manned the hose hoping to extinguish our rage.
God be with you if you ever drew our wrath away from each other and toward yourself. It was well known not to mess with the twins. Look what they do to each other. They like each other. They don't like you. You want no part of that.
You never really see James and John mentioned as individuals in the gospels. They are a package. They are the brothers. They are the sons of Zebedee. They are the Sons of Thunder. Here you see the Sons of Thunder act a bit like the Baker twins.
Jesus and his disciples are traveling. Jesus wants to go to Jerusalem. They pass through a Samaritan village. Maybe these Samaritans had never heard Jesus's message. Maybe they didn't know his parable of the Good Samaritan that we know so well. Maybe they didn't know of his encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. If they had known who this man was, what he believed, what he taught, they probably wouldn't have denied him lodging. If they had known that he was God's own Son sent for all, Jews and gentiles, maybe they would have acted differently.
But they didn't know these things. They just knew he was going to Jerusalem. They knew of their long history with the Jews. They knew of their cultural and religious differences. They knew the Jews looked down on them. And they decided if this dude was going to Jerusalem they sure as heck weren't going to make it easy. No lodging for you, buddy.
This decision drew the ire of the brothers. The Sons of Thunder were about to show why Jesus gave them that collective nickname.
Lord, you're not going to let them treat us this way, are you? Lord, we don't have to take this from them. Lord, let's show them. Why don't you let us call down fire from heaven and consume them?
I'd like to think that Jesus just shook his head wearily like my mother would do at the thought of the violence her twin sons could accomplish. Maybe, as he was shaking his head he put his hand on his forehead. Maybe there was some kind of Divine facepalm action. Then he turned and rebuked them.
Boys, stop it. You have no idea what I'm about, do you? You do not know what kind of spirit you are of. I did not come to destroy. I came to save.
We get wronged. It happens. People say and do mean things. Sometimes it's about us. Sometimes, like in this case, the reasons are historical and complicated. Worldly thinking demands retribution. Worldly thinking desires revenge. When we've been wronged we want justice. When we've been wronged we are the twins that turn from beating the snot out of each other to beating the snot out of those that did us wrong. When we've been wronged we want to call down fire from heaven to consume those that have done us wrong. We want to be Clint Eastwood or Charles Bronson. We want justice. We want vengeance.
But Jesus says no. Jesus says I didn't come to destroy, I came to save. Jesus says love your enemies. Jesus says if someone hits your cheek don't hit them back, give them the other one to hit. Jesus says you are blessed when you are persecuted. Jesus says to pray for those who do you wrong.
These things do not come naturally to us. It's not easy. We want to call down fire from heaven. But instead we should call down blessings. Jesus, thank God, doesn't desire destruction. Jesus desires salvation and reconciliation. And we should, too.
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