Luke 9:54-55 54And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” 55But turning, he rebuked them. 56And they went on to another village.
James and John responded in frustration to the report about the Samaritan village not welcoming Jesus. Both were present on the mountain of transfiguration and saw and experienced the glory of Jesus. Perhaps they felt empowered and emboldened by this experience because they believed they could call fire down from heaven and burn up the villagers. They had just been up on the mountain with Jesus and had seen Elijah and could call down fire like Elijah did in 2 Kings 1:10-12.
What kind of thinking would lead to this conclusion? Several possibilities quickly surface. From a personal perspective, they thought they had power to do that. Were they thinking they were prophets of some type like Elijah? Or, because they had actually seen Elijah, they now knew him well enough to ack like him or even ask him for help? They also could not see past their own nationalism. They had missed the most essential part of Jesus’ teaching about loving others, especially one’s enemies. James and John, the Sons of Thunder (Mark 3:17), were showing their true colors at this point in their lives. Significantly, John later became known as the disciple of love with his Gospel and Epistles. At this point, however, they were struggling to be like their Master. Their problem was near-sighted revenge. They reacted out of emotion and anger and not love and compassion.
Jesus gave two negative responses to the situation. To James and John, Jesus turned and rebuked (epetimēsen) them. The word for rebuke expresses a strong warning, correction, or censure. James and John should have known better than to react with such strong emotion. They had not yet fully committed to the way of the cross. To the villagers, Jesus responded like his directions in 9:5 and passed them by. They missed out on the miracles and teaching they could have received. They chose to continue to live in the darkness of their ignorance. The big problem that kept both groups from receiving all Jesus offered was the blindness of culture, with all of its prejudices and hatred. They missed out on the full impact of the message of freedom and transformation that Jesus brought (4:19).
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