52And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; 53but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. 54When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’ 55But he turned and rebuked them. 56Then they went on to another village. (Luke 9:52-56 NIV)
I realize that an Andy Griffith Show reference is dicey 50-plus years removed from its initial run. But, for the purposes of this post, my hope is that cable TV is making it fresh for subsequent generations. Having said that, I couldn't help but think of Barney and his bullet as I considered the two disciples and their request to napalm a Samaritan village because the residents reacted to Jesus out of hundreds of years of tradition. It's unfortunate that hatred becomes institutionalized in religious and cultural traditions, but it is sadly so. Blood is still being spilled and lives are lived in oppressive fear and limitation because people operate out of a centuries-old sense of authorization to hate certain groups because, doggone it, that's what we do, it's what we've always done.
What's interesting is that Jesus' disciples were responding out of the same sense of religious and cultural authorization, only they were coming from the other side of the barbed wire. Jews and Samaritans hated each other, mostly because each group continued to drag suitcases and steamer trunks full of musty ill-will through each successive generation. The problem is that Jesus had come to pry this destructive baggage out of clinched fists and suggest that hatred doesn't have to be the motivating factor in relationships, either personal or communal. But the disciples apparently had been sleeping the day he preached about loving our enemies and not judging others (Luke 6:27-42). Perhaps they did hear the part about "authority" and shaking the dust off their sandals in unwelcoming villages when Jesus sent them on their first mission trip. But you can't separate the two teachings. Love is the primary principle, the first identifying mark of Jesus follower.
What is really telling about this is the fact that just before they came to the village some disciples had been arguing about who would be the greatest among them. All the attention Jesus was receiving was infecting them with a case of swollen sense of self. John is mentioned explicitly, but Peter and James are placed at the scene only a few verses earlier. I'm thinking that James and John, who are identified in the passage, may have been thinking about their "bullet" and feeling pretty full of themselves. I can just see Barney patting his gun as he goes off on one of his patented rants about how law violators would not be tolerated in Mayberry. James and John may have been thinking about the story in 1 Kings 18 when Elijah intimidated Ahab by calling down fire during a duel with Ahab's prophets. I can also see James and John sticking out their chests and saying, "Hey Jesus, do you want us to go Elijah on them? heheheh."
Now, here's the part we don't want to hear. How many times have we done the same thing? We see people who come from different religious or cultural traditions, feel threatened, start judging, we menacingly pat the Jesus we keep in our pocket, and call for air support from heaven. We take out our bullet and take aim for anyone or anything that threatens our sense of authority. To be sure it's not that we have to simply go along with everyone we meet and overlook things we don't agree with. I don't think Jesus rebuked the disciples because they were hurt that the Samaritan village had rejected them. Jesus was upset that they wanted to retaliate.
We bump into people every day who scare us, confuse us, infuriate us. I think Jesus would like for us to be sure we don't have the same effect on them. We are not authorized to pull a hate bullet out of our pocket and load up with fiery speech and actions. We are authorized to pull a love arrow out of our quivering heart and aim for theirs.
That's what I'm thinking. What about you?
Blessings,
Larry
Thank you for this Larry! I think you have hit the target of a lot of the problems we have in the world today. In our own country, our own political parties have drawn thier guns and are ready for a shootout at a moments notice, so now we face crisis after crisis with our government. And it becomes more difficult when people or groups become so accustomed to being hated that they feel their only response has to be violent. It will take a lot of love to turn that around any time soon, but we have to start somewhere. "Love thy neighbor" what a basic message, but we all have to be reminded every day.
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