Calling Down Fire (part 1)

We’re going to make a brief departure from the “Rescued From Foreign Subjugation” series, but it will be resumed.

Now when the days drew near for Him to be taken up, Jesus set out resolutely to go to Jerusalem. He sent messengers on ahead of Him. As they went along, they entered a Samaritan village to make things ready in advance for Him” – Luke 9:51-52 (NET)

This action of sending messengers ahead of Himself, so as to make things ready in advance for Him, as we read about in relation to the Samaritan village, is a Caesar-like action. Undoubtedly, as we bear in mind the recipient of Luke’s writing (who was likely a Roman government official), this was meant to draw a contrast between Caesar (the man that was then honored as the world’s savior and son of god) and Jesus. It is also possible that Luke’s use of “taken up” in reference to Jesus is a subtle allusion to the “apotheosis” of the Caesar, which is his deification as a god.

Sending a messenger ahead of himself was common practice for the Caesar. Those messengers, who could be referred to as “evangelists,” went out proclaiming the “good news” (evangelion) concerning Caesar, going ahead of him so as to prepare the town or city to welcome the Caesar with all appropriate honor, and preparing the people to bow the knee to Caesar as their lord and master. This is the likely interpretive framework in which we are to understand Jesus’ sending of messengers on ahead of Himself, as the world’s true Savior, Son of God, King, Lord, and Master. In the case of the particular instance recorded here by Luke, though Jesus had sent these messengers to make ready things in advance for Him, and to prepare the people, “the villagers refused to welcome Him” (9:53a). Luke adds the explanatory statement that the refusal to welcome Jesus stemmed from the fact that “He was determined to go to Jerusalem” (9:53b). The Samaritans, of course, were looked down upon by the Jews (though clearly not by Jesus), and in turn, the Samaritans refused to honor One that had determined, within His messianic mission, to simply use their city as a stopping point on the way to Jerusalem. Regardless of the reason, the significant fact to observe is that Jesus was not welcomed.

Because of this, we read “Now when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to call fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’” (9:54) Why would they say such a thing? Clearly, Luke is pointing out the fact that James and John were well aware of the Caesar-like nature of what was Jesus had done in sending messengers ahead of Him to prepare various places to welcome Him as King. To go along with this, they have already heard Him repeatedly use royal titles for Himself, such as Son of Man. They have also seen him cast out demons, heal the sick, raise a man from the dead, still a storm, and feed a multitude. They rightly interpret these things within the messianic, kingly context in which they are performed, and which Jesus had given them by the words of His mouth, so the sending of messengers, in the mold of Caesar, is not at all surprising to them. We can also be quite sure that they enjoyed being a part of the chosen entourage of the King that was now traveling the path to Jerusalem.

They also know that if Caesar had sent messengers ahead of himself, to prepare a village for his arrival there, and that village rejected him for any reason whatsoever, that Caesar’s response would be to make an example of that village. Caesar would kill those who did not bow the knee, and probably do so in a fairly dramatic and attention-getting way, so that it would not be necessary to repeat such a thing upon reaching the next village during the course of his travels. So James and John desire to follow the same pattern. Truly, if this King is greater than Caesar, than all should be made to bow the knee. Calling down fire from heaven to consume those that refused to show honor would be the way of insuring that such would happen. We know Jesus’ response. He “turned and rebuked them” (9:55). He did not turn and rebuke the villagers that rejected Him. He rebuked His disciples that wanted to go about commanding allegiance in the way that Caesar and all other kings had commanded allegiance, which was ultimately the threat of death. Of course, one cannot help but think of the regular “calling down of fire,” that of death and the eternal fire of hell, that is employed to convince people to bow the knee to Jesus. Rather than stay in that village, attempting to defy the rejection, “they went on to another village” (9:56). Jesus was not going to be side-tracked in His mission to preach the Gospel of His kingdom, which is what truly carries power.