Here’s the final story in our series on Jesus rebuking the disciples in Luke 9, and it’s very fitting for our day and age. The disciples wanted to exercise outrage…

Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. 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 9.51 – 56, NKJV)

Wow. These disciples, the same ones who couldn’t cast out a demon just a little earlier, want to exercise real power by calling down fire to consume the people of a Samaritan village. What could be more fun than taking out people you don’t like anyway but in the name of defending Jesus’ honor?

Outrage. The great American pastime these days. Someone posted an insightful comment on one of my blogs about this:

Recreational outrage is America’s most popular indoor sport. I think it also ties to what the Bible says about revenge. A lot of this stuff is people satisfying their desire to see other people “get theirs”. That’s real tempting, so long as I don’t ever have to get mine, right? Who was his neighbor? The one who showed mercy on him. Go and do likewise. – Mark E, commenting on a February 3, 2019, blog

I love the simple ending to this story. “And they went to another village.” It wasn’t the end of the world that one village wouldn’t let Jesus in. He just went to another one. Most issues are not let’s draw a line in the sand, life or death issues. Jesus came not to destroy but to save.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3.16, 17, NKJV)