Call Down Fire

By Melanie Rigney

Memorial of Saint Vincent de Paul, Priest

Why is light given to the toilers, and life to the bitter in spirit? They wait for death and it comes not; they search for it rather than for hidden treasures, Rejoice in it exultingly, and are glad when they reach the grave: Those whose path is hidden from them, and whom God has hemmed in! (Job 3:20-23)

Let my prayer come before you, Lord. (Psalm 88:3)

When the days for Jesus to be taken up were fulfilled, he resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem, and he sent messengers ahead of him. On the way they entered a Samaritan village to prepare for his reception there, but they would not welcome him because the destination of his journey was Jerusalem. When the disciples James and John saw this they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?” Jesus turned and rebuked them, and they journeyed to another village. (Luke 9:51-56)

Piety

Jesus, give me the faith to do as You ask, not as I think best.

Study

You know they were trying to be helpful, James and John. Really, they were.

Marco Basaiti [Public domain],
via Wikimedia Commons.

Their friend had been disrespected. But they still didn’t get that things happened for a reason, that Jesus’s rejection by the Samaritan village and others was part of the prophecy and that later, they too would find themselves unwelcome and persecuted in ways perhaps beyond their imaginations.

They were boastful too, boastful and egotistical and full of themselves, those sons of Zebedee who were not only jockeying for position with Jesus but also sure that they could personally give a shout and have God destroy an entire village.

Small wonder, then, that Jesus rebuked them.

We try to be helpful too. Really, we do. We give the Lord all kinds of ideas on how He can do His work in a way a bit more pleasing and timely from our viewpoint. We’re boastful too, boastful and egotistical and full of ourselves, telling God He’ll have some explaining to do when—when—we get to heaven about the way He answered or didn’t answer our prayers.

Small wonder, then, that from time to time, we are rebuked.

Action

Attempt not to tell God even once today how He could do His job better.