As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they went to another village.
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“In wrath remember mercy.” So prayed the prophet Habakkuk (3:2) in the midst of foretelling the judgement that would soon fall on God’s people at the hand of the Babylonians. The Sovereign Lord is the righteous Judge. Yet he is also “the Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7). In wrath he remembers mercy.
Which, of course, is the reason for the cross, the very reason Jesus came. The wages of sin – death itself – is real and deserved; it is judgement justly awarded. Yet the Lord so loved us that he sent his Son to be our substitute, bearing our punishment by his own death. The cross is the graphic intersection of God’s wrath and his mercy.
As Luke begins this chapter, he deliberately alludes to Jesus’ crucifixion. “As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” Amid the judgement we deserved, Jesus decidedly headed toward the cross, in mercy providing forgiveness for our rebellion and sin.
That rebellion is graphically illustrated by the hostile rejection extended to Jesus by this Samaritan village. They had their own specific reasons. There was such built-in animosity toward Jews that Samaritans would have nothing to do with supporting their religious endeavours. It was therefore typical for them to refuse hospitality to any Jew heading to Jerusalem.
But their rejection of Jesus – Son of God – is, of course, heinous. In many ways the reaction of James and John is wholly justified. Yes, they were rightly named “sons of Thunder” by Jesus himself for this type of fiery disposition. But on this occasion they were drawing on true Old Testament precedent. When the King of Israel sent soldiers to arrest Elijah the prophet, twice over, Elijah called down fire from heaven to consume them in judgement (2 Kings 1:10-12). If opposition to God’s prophet could earn such consequence, how much more hostility toward God’s Son.
Yet the very reason Jesus had come was to extend mercy to sinners such as these – to sinners such as us. “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us … When we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son” (Romans 5:8, 10).
So, James and John needed to learn that in wrath God remembers mercy. Jesus soundly rebukes them, that they – and we – would understand he truly came to seek and save those who were lost. He came, as Lamb of God, to take away sin. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him” (John 3:17).
Were some of those who lived in that rebellious village later impacted by the testimony of other Samaritans who had discovered that Jesus was truly “the Saviour of the world” (John 4:42)? Did some of them later receive salvation in Jesus’ name through the ripple effects of Philip’s preaching of the Good News (Acts 8:5)? We don’t know – only eternity will tell.
But clearly, in this moment, they had already tasted mercy instead of wrath.
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Lord Jesus, your mercy has embraced me. Instead of judgement – which I deserved – you have extended forgiveness. It cost you dearly, but you laid down your life that I might be saved. Wrath has been turned aside. Mercy extended. Grace received. Praise your name.
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Reflect:
Place yourself in the story. Do you identify more with James and John or with the Samaritan villagers? Why? How do mercy and wrath factor into your response?
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Photo by Michaela Murphy on Unsplash
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