Luke 9:51-56 King James Version (KJV)
51 And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,52 And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.53 And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?55 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.
James and John. Jews and Samaritans. Elijah and fire. God and sin. Jesus and us. Many images come to mind when considering the meaning of this passage, both from the new and old testament.
The prophet Elijah, referred to here by James and John, had called for fire to come down and consume army officers who had come to request his presence for King Ahaziah (2 Kings 1). He didn’t do this just once to a captain and his fifty men, but twice, asking for God to send fire down from heaven to consume the second army of fifty men along with the captain whom Ahaziah had sent. Earlier in the chapter King Ahaziah had sought an idol of Ekron to get an answer on whether he will recover from his disease, rather than asking the Lord God Himself. The Lord, who had made Israel a nation from the loins of Abraham, sent Elijah to let King Ahaziah’s messengers know that because King Ahaziah had sought a false god rather than the Lord, King Ahaziah is to die. In an effort to save his own life, King Ahaziah sent not just one captain and fifty men, but three captains and one hundred and fifty men, to reverse what the Lord had declared through Elijah. Even after the first and second set of men (102 men) had been consumed by fire from the Lord, King Ahaziah sent a third captain and his fifty soldiers to get Elijah. The cost of poor leadership on a people are surely high, especially when the leader (a) seeks anything or anyone but the Lord, and (b) only thinks of him or herself rather than the interests of the people.
Only when the third captain whom Ahaziah sent fell on his knees in fear – caught between a mad king insisting on a meeting with Elijiah, and a fearful prophet relying solely on God’s protection for his life- that the angel of the Lord assured Elijah not to fear the captain and go with him to meet with King Ahaziah. Perhaps the Lord waited for the third captain of fifty men to demonstrate the needed humility in leadership, which Ahaziah should have done in the first place, to demonstrate that if a leader of a people, no matter if it is an army of fifty of a King of Israel, humbles him or herself in front of God and seeks God, He will show mercy and save them (2 Chronicles 7:14). The Lord spared the captain’s life, as well as the lives of his fifty soldiers because he had kneeled in fear of the Lord and asked for help. However, not so for King Ahaziah, who in his arrogance sacrificed his own soldiers to spare his life. Elijah doesn’t call fire from heaven down to consume Ahaziah, but does repeat God’s decision that because King Ahaziah did not seek the Lord, he is to die. And King Ahaziah of Israel indeed does.
In Luke 9:51-56, it could be that Jesus is telling his disciples that unlike the Lord’s response through Elijah to King Ahaziah, the Samaritan people have not made such a grave error as to seek the help of a God other than the one true God, and therefore do not deserve to be consumed by fire, due to the sins of their poor leader or the infidelity of the people themselves with another God.
It is apparent, however, that when Jesus, who in accordance to the Father’s plan for Him to go to Jerusalem and be crucified (verse 51), set His face, or plans towards Jerusalem, the Samaritans were offended. James and John assumed the Samaritans were offended by Jesus, and wanted to see them dead, but Jesus saw that the offense was not at the person of Jesus, but at the plans of God to send Him to Jerusalem. The Samaritans had a history of conflict with the people of Jerusalem, with both sides contributing, and were thinking more about their past grudges and prejudice rather than putting them aside so that they could be part of God’s plans and will.
Jesus forgave the Samaritans for not welcoming Him into their village, but because of their inability to look past their past, they missed out on the actual fellowship of the One True King- Jesus Himself. In the same way, God, through the blood of Jesus, forgives our sins as we repent and ask for forgiveness through His Son and God incarnate Jesus Christ, and we are saved from the consuming, fiery, wrath of God that began in Genesis 3. Yet – are we, due to our past prejudice of church, religion, people groups, pushing Jesus Christ, God Himself, away from our villages, homes, hearts? After receiving forgiveness through Christ, are we open and vulnerable enough to open up our hearts and fellowship with Him (John 15:4, Revelation 3:20)? Or are we, like King Ahaziah, refusing to kneel in fear of the Lord, and perhaps even when we kneel, not allowing Jesus and His plans, no matter how offensive and contrary to our prejudices, to be the Lord of our lives? May Jesus Christ help all of us learn the fear of God and surrender our will, our prejudice, our hesitations, as we learn to follow His plans more than our own. Amen.
