Command Fire Upon Them?

And 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, just as Elijah did?”

But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner 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 to another village. – Luke 9:54-56

Leading up to this event, Jesus has fed five thousand, been transfigured, healed a boy, and now He has started towards Jerusalem for what He knows is His own crucifixion.  As He approaches this Samaritan village they “do not receive Him”.  In other words, He wasn’t welcomed. 

I’m amazed at the response of James and John at first, but then I see how common their response is for us.  I am truly amazed however, that they fully believed they’d be able to command fire to come down and consume the village.  I mean, that is incredible to me that they believed that they could do that.  But, regarding this as their response, we do this too often and the church has done this so much it’s a real reason why the church doesn’t grow.

When someone rejects our Christ as Lord or our position to stand on the Scriptures, what are our first thoughts?  Many times we think as James and John, “Well, enjoy the fires of the hell you’re gonna live in then!”  If we are honest, sometimes we want that for them, because we want some relief from the pain.  Maybe this person has intentionally hurt us, ridiculed us, and scorned us and we want some revenge.  We wonder why we have to experience such loss and pain for standing with our Savior.  It is our nature to want those who reject Him (or too often us as we put the emphasis too much on us and not Him) to pay for it.  Unfortunately, the truth is, if they reject Him long enough, there will be a terrible price to pay.  It will either be in dire consequences here in this physical life or forever apart from Him in the next.

Jesus makes it clear that He is here to save men’s lives and this message is very clear to Him at this moment in time as He faces what He is set to do for God the Father.  We need to hear that message today and see how far away we are from His mission when we want revenge upon and pain for others.  Yes we can be opposed to sin, but we need to be mindful of how desperate we need to be for that one whom Jesus loves to be convicted of that sin and to repent from it so they can enjoy the peace and satisfaction of being fulfilled by Christ.

Lastly though, we need to do what Jesus did and go to another village.  When someone refuses continually there is no need to stand outside of them and continue asking.  They will seek you out when they are ready, if they ever get ready.  God has a specific purpose for you at this moment, march on to that purpose.  Do not let someone's rejection cause you to miss a greater purpose.  If Jesus would have waited at that village, He would have missed Jerusalem and He would not have died on the cross and risen again.  The whole world would have missed God's Message.  Don't let someone take away the message He has to deliver with your life.