Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? (Luke 9:54)

“Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” (Luke 9:54)

As the pressure mounts in Jesus’ ministry, both from people’s expectations and the religious leaders’ opposition, the disciples are trying to discern how to posture themselves. They struggled to provide right answers, but often they got it wrong. They tried to express great faith, but often wrongheaded. And that’s what we have here.

A group of Samaritans did not properly honor Jesus. Never mind that Peter, just previously, had put Jesus on the same plane as Moses and Elijah at the Transfiguration. But Jesus is no mere man, and Peter is rebuked from heaven. Or, the disciples approach Jesus and ask for special honors in the coming kingdom. This pays little regard to the price that Jesus will pay to redeem their sorry souls (and ours) from the penalty of sins, theirs and ours. You see, we are much more keen to point out the sins of others rather than our own, and when we notice the Samaritans failing to show honor, we seem completely blind to the ways in which we have done the very same thing.

And so the disciples, in the voice of the young “sons of thunder,” James and John, ask the question in our title: “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” And Jesus answers, “No.” He said “No.” It is not our job to command fire from heaven to consume Jesus’ adversaries, or ours.

The truth is, “fire from heaven” is what we all deserve. Every single one of us. The distinctions that we make between our sins the the sins of others are indistinguishable when we stand in the light of God’s holiness and at the bar of His justice. Condemnation is what we deserve. All of us. And so for us to even think that we might call God’s fire down on someone else is to completely miss the point of who God is as holy, and who we are as sinners.

Being saved by grace through faith does not change the equation. Saved sinners are not all of a sudden qualified to mete out God’s justice on those not-yet-saved. Rather, we are to be those who smell like the Gospel, and not reek of self-righteousness. We are to be those who love, not specialize in showing disdain. Yes, there are people with whom we disagree. And we, like Jesus, love them anyway.

Of all the questions recorded in the Bible, I think this is one of the critical questions. Should we call down fire from heaven? The answer is “No.” It comes not from the Spirit of God, but from some other spirit.

Planting with Hope

Planting with Hope

On our re-visit to the Pacific Northwest, Jane and I circled down and around to the Olympic rain forest and the hiking trail by the Quinault Lodge. We read the story of its construction back in 1926. The whole structure was framed from June to August of that year. They put a rush on it.

But not everything was rushed. There was a picture of the original structure, brand new, with a bare front yard. The three trees in the picture above were planted four years later, in 1930, or 93 years ago. They now tower above me, and I can only guess how deep and high they go.

What catches my interest is that the people who planted them had no hope of ever seeing them reach this height. They planted in hope, but a hope that they would not personally experience. They did it for others. They did it for the future. It was not for themselves.

There is an interesting story told in Isaiah about the end of Hezekiah’s life. God had delivered him from the horde of Assyrians that were knocking on the door of Jerusalem, and then a terminal disease, from which he was given another fifteen years of life. God answered prayer in both those cases. But when the Babylonians came knocking, Hezekiah opened the storehouse doors and showed them everything. Isaiah then told King Hezekiah that these Babylonians would carry these treasures away to Babylon, along with several of Hezekiah’s sons. Hezekiah’s answer? “Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “For there will be peace and truth in my days” (Isaiah 39:8).

Unlike those who planted the trees, Hezekiah was only concerned with “peace and truth” in his days, during his lifetime. He wasn’t concerned for the future of his sons, nor for the future of the nation over which he reigned.

We plant seeds for the future. We don’t know what is going to grow, or how big, or how tall. Maybe a good number of the seeds will come to nothing at all. But we can be assured that unplanted seeds will certainly produce nothing at all.

We are not growers of trees or birthers of new Christians. We are not builders of Christ’s church. Jesus said, “I will build my church” (Mt 16:18); and as Paul said, some of us plant and some of us water, but it is God who gives the growth (1 Cor 3:6-7). May God be pleased to bless our efforts with new believers who are towers/trophies of grace.

Once in a Blue Moon

 Once in a Blue Moon

Do you ever sit and stare at the moon? It is much better than staring at the sun, and who has that much time during the day? But in the evenings, or late at night, just to behold it - well, it’s beautiful.

Last Wednesday, a week ago from now as I write, we had what they now call a “supermoon.” Super moons are larger than others, but they are all the same moon. And, that same moon is always the same size, except it looks bigger when it is closer. It was closer last week, big, pregnant, and beautiful with its golden glow. I do not know if there is a scientific standard for designating “super moons.” When I was growing up, I never heard of such a thing, so I think they invented the category more recently. The next super moon, according to some standard, will be September 29.

This particular full moon was also a “blue moon,” that is, the second blue moon of the month (though there are other theories). That doesn’t happen often, because the lunar cycle takes ~29 days. The first full moon must occur very early in the month to catch the second. The next blue moon is May 31, 2026.

Living in Michigan, we may not see a particular super moon or blue moon. It doesn’t mean it’s not there, but it is obscured due tocloud cover. Here is our first pastoral application: just because you can’t see it, or understand it, doesn’t mean it is not true.

Another interesting feature is that the moon produces no light. It should really be a dark spot in a dark sky, and thus invisible. But God so designed the moon with its powdery surface that it reflects the light of the sun. The reflection can be quite bright at times, bright enough to even read the words on the page of a book. It means that either the moon is very reflective, or that the sun, which has slipped below the horizon and cannot be seen, is very bright. Or both.

And, the moon waxes and wanes, depending on how much of it is catching the sun’s rays. No, the whole moon is always there, but only a part of it reflects light, depending how much is peeking at the sun around the dark side of the earth.

So how much to you reflect the Son’s light? Are you highly reflective? Is your “glow” inhibited by cloud cover, and how would you describe that cloud cover? Is it the fault of others, or your own? We are not sources of light, as Jesus is, but we are to be reflectors, unless we are just a black spot in a dark sky, invisible, which would rob the world of a beautiful sight.