This sermon was preached at Glenwood and Canoe Ridge Lutheran Churches, Decorah, Iowa on June 30, 2019. It’s based on Galatians 5:1, 13-25 and Luke 9:51-62. If you’d prefer to listen to it, find it at https://soundcloud.com/stacey-nalean-carlson/.
Galatians 5:1, 13-25
1For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. 13For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. 14For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
16Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. 18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. 19Now the works of the flesh are obvious: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, 20idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, 21envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.
Luke 9:51-62
51When the days drew near for [Jesus] to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. 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 toward 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.
57As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 59To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61Another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” 62Jesus said to him, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
Believe it or not, this is actually James and John making progress!
These brothers, before Jesus called them to catch people, were fishermen—partners of Simon Peter. All three left everything to follow Jesus. And it was these three that Jesus took with him when he went up the mountain to pray and was transfigured before them. Peter, James, and John saw the glory of Jesus on that mountain; they saw Moses and Elijah standing with Jesus; they heard the voice of God: This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!
Down from the mountain, though, none of the disciples—including these three—understand that Jesus is now on his way to betrayal, suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection. Jesus has tried to tell them, but they aren’t able to understand.
Instead of asking Jesus to clarify, they begin arguing among themselves about who is the greatest. John, perhaps hoping to earn some favor, tells Jesus, Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us. Jesus, however, doesn’t approve. Do not stop him; for whoever is not against you is for you.
It’s this earlier interaction that makes me think James and John are actually making progress. In this situation they acted without consulting Jesus. They saw something they thought was wrong and they acted immediately.
In our reading for today, however, the brothers ask Jesus before acting. Instead of a knee-jerk reaction—commanding fire to come down from heaven and consume the Samaritans who refuse to receive Jesus—they seek the will of their Master. Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?
Now, before we follow this learning curve any farther, can we just ponder this reaction for a moment? Do these guys really think that this is what Jesus would want? Were they somehow absent—or daydreaming—when Jesus talked about loving your enemies, doing good to those who hate you, being merciful just as your Father is merciful? Or did they hear it—just as they heard Jesus speak about his suffering and death—and refuse to accept it? Refuse to really absorb it because it’s just too hard?
Or maybe, somehow, that experience on the mountain influenced them. They would have recognized Moses and Elijah from their religious tradition. They would have known that Elijah himself had done the very thing they were proposing. To prove he was a man of God to the king of Samaria, Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume a captain of fifty and his fifty men…not once but twice!
Do James and John think that if they can do the same, in the name of Jesus, they’ll prove to the Samaritans that Jesus is a man of God? Are they determined that these Samaritans will respect Jesus as they do? Do they think a little fire and brimstone will lead those left standing to repentance? To worship of Jesus? To right thinking? To right acting? Are they just trying to defend their Lord?
Are we?
Amy Oden writes, It is a subtle and short step from rejoicing in the good news of Jesus Christ to attacking those who will not share in it.1
In my life, I see this playing out most often not in those who don’t share in the good news of Jesus, but in those who claim to know Jesus and yet hold beliefs and attitudes that I find so wrong. I haven’t asked Jesus if I ought to call down fire from heaven on these enemies of the gospel (my opinion), but if I’m honest with myself I have no love for them, no desire to do good to them, no willingness to be merciful.
I want Jesus to judge the heck out of them, shut them up until they figure it out, keep them from continuing to harm others with their messed up understanding of what it means to follow Jesus. And undoubtedly there are people out there who think the very same thing of me…and can’t wait for Jesus to correct my wayward thinking.
I’m trying to defend the Jesus I know and love. And they’re trying to do the same.
But this Jesus we’re all trying to defend doesn’t need defending.
When James and John ask about calling down fire, Jesus turns and rebukes them. He turns his face from Jerusalem—from his mission to save and to bless the whole world—just long enough to bring James and John along with him on the way…on his way….of love and good and mercy.
Later, after Jesus has done exactly what he said he would—suffered, died, rose again—and after the Spirit given at Pentecost has filled the disciples with life and love and all that Jesus taught them…Philip went to Samaria proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus. And the people there believed and were baptized.
When the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, it was John who went there with Peter and prayed for the Samaritans that they might receive the Holy Spirit. He called down fire from heaven, not fire to annihilate (as he once wanted to do) but fire to inspire, fire to empower, the fire of the Holy Spirit—fire of freedom to love without consuming one another.
It is this same Spirit that empowers and inspires us, freeing us to love our neighbors as ourselves. It is this same Spirit that equips us, not to defend Jesus, but to witness to his abiding love and mercy for all the world. May this fire from heaven consume our self-righteousness and judgment, leaving only wholehearted love. Amen.
1 http://www.workingpreacher.org/
I always find something enlightening and interesting in your sermons, Stacey!
Thank you, Mary!