The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
June 27, 2010
Vol. 13 no. 25
Lots of fire in today’s Biblical readings, real and imagined. No more famous episode than Elijah’s chariot of fire ascending into heaven - a precursor of Jesus’ ascension into heaven (without fire) - is the first, but I wish to place that story aside for the moment to hear how Jesus dealt with a different kind of fire.
Actually, it wasn’t Jesus, but his disciples, James and John specifically, who felt fire from heaven would be a just punishment for the villagers in Samaria who were hostile to hosting Jesus. James and John had recently accompanied Jesus to the mountain for the transfiguration, that glorious and inexplicable event that confirmed Jesus’ status. And now to have a bunch of country bumpkins refuse to have Jesus even pass through infuriated them. Everybody thought Jesus was the new Elijah, so why not have him summon fire from heaven to consume the guilty parties just as the prophet had done to two companies of 50 hostile soldiers? A little Sodom here and a little Gomorrah there, but Jesus said that’s the wrong idea.
Is there any one of us who has not wanted on occasion to utilize a little bolt of lightning for a favourite target? That was not one of our higher-minded moments, justified as we may have been. Fortunately, God has not been handing out fire from heaven for a very long time.
On the way to the next village, Jesus is bombarded with lots of requests and promises. One claims he’ll follow Jesus wherever he goes - isn’t that what we are supposed to say and do? Jesus knows he expects to be going someplace comfortable and predictable. Animals can retreat to specific holes and nests, but Jesus has no permanent place to rest; he is a stranger. Is that a romantic or frightening prospect for we church people?
Preached by Robert Kitchen
Knox-Metropolitan United Church
Regina, Saskatchewan