Pentecost 3 C: Fire from Heaven
Dear Partner in Preaching,
I find this such a particularly hard passage to preach because I am so incredibly disappointed, shocked, and confused by the violent instinct of James and John. It’s easy to skip over the first half of this passage in a hurry to get to the easier moralism of “stop letting things get in the way of following Jesus.” But the details are worth tarrying over: Jesus has set his face for Jerusalem and so will let nothing deter him from embracing the cross that awaits him there. He travels through a portion of Samaria and the residents of a Samaritan village don’t receive him because “his face was set toward Jerusalem.” I don’t, quite frankly, understand exactly why they wouldn’t receive him or how his urgency played into that. And maybe James and John don’t either. But they don’t really care. They immediately suggest calling down fire from heaven to consume this unreceptive community.
Calling down fire. To consume an entire community. Burning them all – women, men, children, animals… everyone and everything. You know – spoiler alert if you haven’t watched the end of Game of Thrones yet! – the thing Jon Snow killed Dany for.
Yeah, I have a hard time with this passage because I’m so incredibly disappointed, shocked, and confused by this violent reaction.
Or, truthfully, maybe just disappointed and not all that shocked or confused. I mean, this feels like nearly regular fare, whether in a show like Game of Thrones or, for that matter, in the daily media – a relentless demonizing and dehumanizing of those who are different from us or disagree with us. It’s not always as outrageous as this scene, but whether it’s the belittling of political opponents, the stereo-typing of those of a different faith, or the subtle but persistent signaling of our own virtue over and against those who disagree with us, it feels like we are increasingly quick to draw a line between who’s in and who’s out.
But still, James and John are disciples and have been with Jesus for some time by now. Shouldn’t they know better? Yes, they should. But, it turns out, even disciples can be affected by triumphalistic tribalism. Even disciples can see those who thwart their plans or disagree with their convictions as the enemy. Even disciples can decide that to be different is to be less than human.
Which is why, even though I find the first couple of verses disturbing, I still think they’re important to hear and to heed. I was surprised recently to learn that empathy – the ability to see another person’s perspective and imagine and sympathize with their feelings – has dropped 40% amongst college students in school since 2000 than an earlier generation of students. As one author writes,
While [the survey] so obviously measures empathy that you could easily game it to make yourself look kinder and nicer, the fact that today’s college students don’t even feel compelled to do that suggests that the study is measuring something real. If young people don’t even care about seeming uncaring, something is seriously wrong.
But is a moralistic sermon announcing that we should “be empathetic” any better than the one prodding us to “follow Jesus now”? I’m doubtful. But maybe what holds both halves of this story together is Jesus’ profound urgency, something that both puts off those living in the Samaritan village and probably seems rather impatient to the would-be follows of Jesus who have (what seem to most of us legitimate) things they want to do first. I mean, here’s the thing: Jesus is in a hurry to get to Jerusalem to die for sinners like James and John… and us. He’s set his face for the cross in order to redeem those who can always think of just one more thing they should do before heeding Jesus’ call to love each other… including us.
To jump Gospels for a moment – I’m always struck that the dominant – as in 100% of the time – connotation for “world” (kosmos) in John is incredibly negative: “If the world hates you, remember it hated me before it hated you” (15:18), and “I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world” (17:16-17) are pretty representative. All of which gives far greater import to Jesus’ confession, “For God so loved the world” – as in, the God-despising world – “that he gave his only Son….” (3:16).
That’s right. Empathetic or not, self-righteous or not, too busy or cool for God or not, Jesus comes for us. All of us. And if that doesn’t pierce our insecurity or fear or need to be in control or numbness or privilege or whatever it might that causes us to overlook the needs of others, I don’t know what will. And even if it doesn’t pierce through our defenses to touch, even transform, us, it’s still true.
Which doesn’t mean there is nothing we can do in the meantime. Redeemed and beloved, after all, doesn’t have to mean complacent. It can also mean active. Maybe, then, we can remember that there is another scene Luke penned that mentions fire coming down from heaven. This time in Acts, the second chapter, when the Holy Spirit descends upon the disciples as tongues of flame. The true fire from heaven, it turns out, is intended to embolden us in our confession of God’s love, to make us understandable to each other, to reconnect us with one another, to help us to hear each other, see each other, care for each other better. Which might mean, Dear Partner, that our task this week is to tell the truth about our penchant to draw lines and decide who’s in and who’s out, then to announce the second truth that, even knowing that about us, Jesus nevertheless comes for us, and finally to pray for the Holy Spirit to come again and with power that we might see in each other the face of God.
It’s a challenging passage for sure, Dear Partner, but perhaps one strangely suited to the moment in which we live. Thanks for your hard work in opening it up that we might feel God’s holy fire warm our hearts and transform our lives. Blessing on your proclamation.
Yours in Christ,
David
Note: A few resources I’ve found helpful in teaching and talking about these issues include Sam Keen’s ground-breaking Faces of the Enemy (turned into a PBS documentary that is a little hard to find), PBS Frontline’s remarkable “A Class Divided”, and Born for Love: Why Empathy is Essential, and Endangered.
Hi David and welcome back! We missed your thoughts. Your comments are right on. All of us are becoming more impatient with those who don’t do what we want when we want it or who disagree with us. This would be a good passage to study in Lent but here is good too. Not comfortable though.
The connection/distinction between the two kinds of fire is brilliant. I also enjoyed the reference to the fire of GOT. How about the fire imagery of Elisha burning his past career – yokes and oxen for the sake of celebration and following Elijah. There’s some good imagery here that I hadn’t thought of until you mentioned Pentecost. Thank you!
Your reflections share the same truths and concerns we’ve been discussing at a gathering of The Initiative at Green Lake Conference Center in Wisconsin, a gathering of a diversity of Christians from numerous denominational backgrounds—Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Anglican, non-denominational—seeking and called to live in a deep and transforming relationship with God and others, so that the love of Jesus might exceed all divisions. May the Holy Spirit continue to draw God’s people together in unity for His glory!
To learn more about this action of the Holy Spirit, visit http://www.theinitiative.org.
A rabbi, as part of an interfaith study group, pointed out that in Jesus’ time, people from Samaria and people from Judah were enemies, dating back to competing places of worship at the time of the destruction of Israel and Judah’s exile. This explains the radical nature of the possibility of a “good” Samaritan to the ears of those used to worshiping in Jerusalem. It’s like convincing a Red Sox fan that there are “good” Yankees, or an Ohio State supporter of “good” Michiganders, but on a much more intense, often violent, scale. That grace might include even Samaritans would possibly be a very new concept for Jesus’ followers, and another threat to the teaching of religious authorities.
Powerful and very relevant to our and all time. Truth is, apart from Christ living in us, we are all James and John. It is only in Him that we can begin to live into the dream of God (second lesson: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, fidelity, gentleness, and self-control. We are set free by Christ and in Christ as in Word and Sacramen we, as Alexander Schmemann says: “make present the One in whom all things are at their end–and all things are at their beginning.” We nourish ourselves in Christ, knowing that we will not on our own get there–but in confidence and trust that in Him all things will be made need–through us, and with us, and often despite us. Let us walk in the freedom–and be set free to walk, even, like James and John, in our stumbling efforts, in this freedom knowing that in Him all things are being made new.
Thanks David for your insights. While I look forward to reading your insights each week, you have such a wealth of writing over the years that I can tap into when you are over-whelmed by your schedule and cannot send us something new. I am thankful for that. Some times a past post speaks more to my context than the current one does, so I use them when I need.
One thought that occurred to me as I read and meditated on calling down fire from above, was that maybe Jesus kept Peter, John, and James as an inner circle not as a privliage but because he had to keep a closer eye on them and their penchant to lash out?