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Shall We Pray The Fire Down?
Shall We Pray The Fire Down?
by Pastor Alan Harris
Luke 9:53-56 And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.
A Samaritan village did not receive Jesus and it offended the disciples. Of course the Samaritans were a despised people so it would seem natural that the Lord would want to punish them. Since fire came down from heaven to destroy God’s enemies in the time of Elijah surely the Lord would want to destroy these people with fire too.
On the surface it would be natural to assume that a small community would be close knit, friendly, and supportive of each other. After all were in this together and we don’t have the luxury of vast resources to fall back on if we mess it up. Unfortunately close examination reveals this isn’t always the case.
Have you noticed how we in a small community are so much like James and John? Just let our neighbor not be what we want them to be and we too are ready to pray the fire down. It doesn’t matter that their different way may not be hurting us or anyone else. What matters is that they don’t conform to our standard and that is not acceptable to us.
We don’t often stop to think that our standard may not be the only way to live or maybe isn’t even the “right” way. Most of us have probably never paused to consider that our neighbor might think our way is strange and their way that is so foreign to us seems perfectly natural to them. We are unable to even consider it because were so sure we are right that we have tunnel vision that only lets us see our neighbors “faults”.
I’m convinced that our greatest problem is not our neighbors failings but how we treat our neighbor. The bad in our community is not found in our neighbors “junk” nor is the good found in our mowed lawns and flower beds. The true reflection of what we are as a community is found in our attitudes and words. These two things reflect a whole lot more about our community than anything else.
The scripture calls us to “love our neighbor” the same as we love our self. Do you think it’s even remotely possible that our conversations and our actions reflect a genuine love for our neighbor. Would a visitor or prospective client leave thinking that we as a community genuinely cared for and supported one another?
Two brothers wanted to pray the fire down from heaven on an entire community. Jesus rebuked them sharply and told them they didn’t have any idea what type of spirit they had. The apostle Paul also teaches in the book of Galatians to love our neighbors and issues a somber warning that those who bite and chew on each other will be “consumed one of another”. Do we know the same spirit as James and John and worse yet are we too often busy consuming one another?
Instead of attacking our neighbors what if we extended them a hand of fellowship? What if our words were welcoming and affirming and we had a rule of inclusion instead of exclusion? Let us not work against each other or try to destroy one another instead let us work to build each other up! Brethren in the end we might just have the reality of “community”once again.
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