Scripture Daily

Context No. 1934 of 4322 · Luke

Context · Reflection

Luke 9:51-56: in context

51It came to pass, when the days were near that he should be taken up, he intently set his face to go to Jerusalem 52and sent messengers before his face. They went and entered into a village of the Samaritans, so as to prepare for him. 53They didn’t receive him, because he was traveling with his face set toward Jerusalem. 54When his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from the sky and destroy them, just as Elijah did?” 55But he turned and rebuked them, “You don’t know of what kind of spirit you are. 56For the Son of Man didn’t come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” They went to another village.

As Jesus sets his face resolutely toward Jerusalem, he sends messengers ahead into a Samaritan village to prepare for him; but the village will not receive him, because he is heading for Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John see this, they are indignant: Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to destroy them, as Elijah did? But Jesus turns and rebukes them: 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 go on to another village.

The disciples' reaction, and Jesus' rebuke, expose a wrong kind of zeal. James and John were zealous for their Lord, offended that a village had rejected him; and their zeal took the form of wanting to destroy the offenders, to call down fire on those who had spurned Jesus. It felt like righteous indignation, like standing up for God. And Jesus rebuked it: you do not know what spirit you are of; I came not to destroy but to save. Their zeal, however sincere, was of the wrong spirit, a destructive spirit that wanted to annihilate opponents rather than the saving spirit of Christ, who came to seek and save even those who reject him. There is a searching warning here, for this wrong kind of zeal is common among religious people. It is possible to be zealous for God and yet to have a spirit that wants to destroy those who oppose or reject him, to call down fire, to condemn, to see the opponents of our faith crushed rather than won. It feels like devotion; it is often the opposite of Christ's spirit. Jesus came not to destroy the lives of those who rejected him but to save them; he wept over the city that would not receive him; he prayed for those who crucified him. The zeal that would call down fire on the village that spurned him is not his spirit but its opposite. This calls us to examine the spirit of our own zeal. When people reject or oppose our faith, or Christ himself, do we, like James and John, want to see them destroyed, condemned, crushed; or do we share the spirit of Christ, who came to save even his rejecters? A zeal that wants to destroy opponents, however righteous it feels, does not know what spirit it is of. The spirit of Christ toward those who reject him is not fire from heaven but the desire to save; and the zeal that reflects him is not the zeal to destroy but the longing to win. You do not know what spirit you are of, Jesus said to his fire-calling disciples; and the same rebuke searches every zeal of ours that would destroy rather than save.

When people reject or oppose my faith, or Christ himself, does my zeal take the form of wanting them destroyed, condemned, or crushed, like James and John wanting to call down fire, or can I share the spirit of Christ, who came not to destroy but to save even those who reject him, and let his saving spirit, rather than a destructive one, mark my zeal?

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