JESUS RESOLUTELY SET OUT FOR JERUSALEM: DETERMINED, WITH FIXED PURPOSE: HE SENT MESSENGERS AHEAD TO A SAMARITAN VILLAGE TO PREPARE FOR HIS ARRIVAL. BUT THEY WERE TURNED AWAY. THE PEOPLE OF THE VILLAGE REFUSED TO HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH JESUS BECAUSE HE HAD RESOLVED TO GO TO JERUSALEM.
WHEN JAMES AND JOHN HEARD ABOUT IT, THEY SAID TO JESUS, “LORD, SHOULD WE ORDER DOWN FIRE FROM HEAVEN TO BURN THEM UP?” BUT JESUS TURNED AND REBUKED THEM. SO THEY WENT ON TO ANOTHER VILLAGE.
JESUS SAID HE CAME TO SAVE MEN, NOT TO DESTROY THEM. LUKE 19:10 10 FOR THE SON OF MAN IS COME TO SEEK AND TO SAVE THAT WHICH WAS LOST. LORD, DO YOU WANT US TO COMMAND FIRE TO COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN AND CONSUME THEM, JUST AS ELIJAH DID?
JAMES AND JOHN OUTRAGED BY THE POOR RECEPTION JESUS RECEIVED AMONG THE SAMARITANS, OFFERED TO DESTROY THE CITY IN SPECTACULAR JUDGMENT FOR JESUS SAKE. IT’S INTERESTING AND PERHAPS AMUSING THAT JAMES AND JOHN WERE SO CONFIDENT THAT THEY COULD DO THIS, ESPECIALLY AFTER THEIR RECENT FAILURE WITH THE DEMON POSSESSED BOY. THEIR ANGRY REACTION SHOWS WHY JESUS SOMETIMES CALLED THEM SONS OF THUNDER.
IT IS BEST OFTEN TO CONSULT THE LORD BEFORE WE MAKE DECISIONS OR ACT ON SOMETHING.
JESUS TURNED AND REBUKED THEM: THEIR OFFENCE – EVEN ON BEHALF OF HIMSELF – WAS NOT APPRECIATED. THE DETERMINATION OF JESUS MENTIONED IN THE PREVIOUS VERSES DID NOT MEAN THAT HE WAS TOUGH OR ANGRY. THEY SAW THE FLINT-FACE OF JESUS AND SEEMED TO MISUNDERSTAND WHY HE LOOKED AS HE DID. THEY DID NOT UNDERSTAND THAT IT MEANT HE WAS BEING MORE FOCUSED ON LOVE THAN EVER BEFORE.
THAT FLINT-LIKE FACE WILL END UP ON THE CROSS IN THE ULTIMATE DEMONSTRATION OF LOVE, NOT THE ULTIMATE DEMONSTRATION OF ANGER.
YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT MANNER OF SPIRIT YOU ARE OF. FOR THE SON OF MAN DID NOT COME TO DESTROY MENS LIVES BUT TO SAVE THEM: JESUS EXPLAINED THEIR FAILING, WHICH CAME IN TWO WAYS.
THEY DIDNT KNOW THEMSELVES. PERHAPS THEY THOUGHT THEY WERE BEING LIKE JESUS, OR SHOWING THE CHARACTER OF GOD. THEY WERE MISTAKEN, AND DID NOT REPRESENT GOD AND HIS HEART. JESUS LOVED THE SAMARITANS AND WANTED THEM TO REPENT AND BE SAVED. THEY DIDNT KNOW JESUS AND HIS MISSION. HE CAME TO SAVE THE LOST, NOT TO BURN THEM UP WITH FIRE FROM HEAVEN.
FOLLOWING JESUS MEANS BEING MERCIFUL TO OTHERS, INSTEAD OF HARSH WITH THEM. ESPECIALLY, WE SHOULD REMEMBER THAT GOD SAYS VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY, SAYS THE LORD, ROMANS 12:19. JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR HIS ENEMIES, WE SHOULD NEVER THINK OF AVENGING ON OUR PERSECUTORS.
VERSE 51 AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN THE TIME WAS COME THAT HE SHOULD BE RECEIVED UP, HE STEDFASTLY SET HIS FACE TO GO TO JERUSALEM, WHEN THE TIME HAD COME FOR HIM TO BE RECEIVED UP: THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF A NEW SECTION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE. JESUS WAS ON HIS WAY TO JERUSALEM TO BE RECEIVED UP. HE WOULD BE RECEIVED UP TO THE HIGHER-ELEVATION CITY OF JERUSALEM. HE WOULD BE RECEIVED UP ON A CROSS HE WOULD BE RECEIVED UP TO HEAVEN IN A GLORIOUS ASCENSION. HE STEADFASTLY SET HIS FACE TO GO TO JERUSALEM: JESUS UNDERTOOK THIS FINAL JOURNEY TOWARDS JERUSALEM WITH STEADFASTNESS FITTING THE DIFFICULTY OF THE TASK AHEAD OF HIM.
ISAIAH 50:7 SPEAKS PROPHETICALLY OF THE MESSIAH, FOR THE LORD GOD WILL HELP ME; THEREFORE I WILL NOT BE DISGRACED; THEREFORE I HAVE SET MY FACE LIKE A FLINT, AND I KNOW THAT I WILL NOT BE ASHAMED. THIS IS JESUS, WHO STEADFASTLY SET HIS FACE – LIKE A FLINT, AS ISAIAH WROTE – GOING TO JERUSALEM TO SUFFER AND DIE. JESUS HARDENED HIS FACE; NOT IN THE SENSE OF BECOMING A HARD OR ANGRY MAN, BUT IN THE SENSE OF HAVING FOCUS THROUGH A DIFFICULT TIME.
THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF COURAGE – THE COURAGE OF MOMENT, WHICH REQUIRES NO PREVIOUS THOUGHT, AND A PLANNED COURAGE, WHICH SEES THE DIFFICULTY AHEAD AND STEADFASTLY MARCHES TOWARDS IT. JESUS HAD THIS KIND OF COURAGE; HE SAW THE CROSS ON THE HORIZON, BUT STILL STEADFASTLY SET HIS FACE TO GO TO JERUSALEM.
SPURGEON HAD A MESSAGE ON ISAIAH 50:7 TITLED, THE REDEEMERS FACE SET LIKE A FLINT. IN IT, HE CONSIDERED HOW SEVERELY THE STEADFAST RESOLVE OF JESUS WAS TESTED.
- BY OFFERS FROM THE WORLD.
- BY THE PERSUASIONS OF HIS FRIENDS.
- BY THE UNWORTHINESS OF HIS CLIENTS.
- BY THE EASE AT WHICH HE COULD HAVE BACKED OUT IF HE HAD WISHED TO.
- BY THE TAUNTS OF THOSE WHO MOCKED HIM.
- BY THE FULL STRESS AND AGONY OF THE CROSS.
VERSE 52-53 AND SENT MESSENGERS BEFORE HIS FACE: AND THEY WENT, AND ENTERED INTO A VILLAGE OF THE SAMARITANS, TO MAKE READY FOR HIM. AND THEY DID NOT RECEIVE HIM, BECAUSE HIS FACE WAS AS THOUGH HE WOULD GO TO JERUSALEM. THEY ENTERED A VILLAGE OF THE SAMARITANS, BUT THEY DID NOT RECEIVE HIM: BECAUSE JESUS WENT TO JERUSALEM THESE PARTICULAR SAMARITANS DID NOT WELCOME JESUS. THEY DID NOT HAVE GOOD RELATIONS WITH THE JEWS, AND WERE PREJUDICED AGAINST THEM.
WE MAY ALSO SEE SUCH OPPOSITION IN OUR LIVES. THE MORE STEADFASTLY WE SERVE OUR LORD, TO DO HIS WILL THE MORE LIKELY IT WILL THAT WE WILL BE REJECTED BY OTHERS. THIS SEEMS TO HAPPEN TO ALL WHO SET THEIR FACE STEADFASTLY TO DO GODS WILL.
SAMARITAN PEOPLE SEEM TO HAVE BEEN THE INTERMARRYING OF JEWS FROM THE NORTHERN KINGDOM WITH IMPORTED NON-JEWISH COLONISTS. 2 KINGS 17: 37-41
37 BE CAREFUL TO OBEY ALL THE LAWS, REGULATIONS, INSTRUCTIONS, AND COMMANDS THAT HE WROTE FOR YOU. YOU MUST NOT WORSHIP ANY OTHER GODS. 38 DO NOT FORGET THE COVENANT I MADE WITH YOU, AND DO NOT WORSHIP OTHER 39 YOU MUST WORSHIP ONLY THE LORD YOUR GOD. HE IS THE ONE WHO WILL RESCUE YOU FROM ALL YOUR ENEMIES.” BUT THE PEOPLE WOULD NOT LISTEN AND CONTINUED TO FOLLOW THEIR OLD WAYS. 41 SO WHILE THESE NEW RESIDENTS WORSHIPED THE LORD, THEY ALSO WORSHIPED THEIR IDOLS. AND TO THIS DAY THEIR DESCENDANTS DO THE SAME. THESE MIXED JEWS-GENTILES DEVELOPED THEIR OWN TRANSLATION OF THE PENTATEUCH (SAMARITAN PENTATEUCH), BUILT THEIR OWN TEMPLE OF WORSHIP ON MT. GERAZIM.
WE READ IN JOHN CHAPTER 4, ABOUT JESUS AND THE WOMAN AT THE WELL IN SAMARIA. A WOMAN WHO HAD 4 HUSBANDS, AND THE MAN SHE NOW LIVED WITH SHE WAS NOT MARRIED TO.
JOHN 4:19-26: 19 THE WOMAN SAITH UNTO HIM, SIR, I PERCEIVE THAT THOU ART A PROPHET. 20 OUR FATHERS WORSHIPPED IN THIS MOUNTAIN; AND YE SAY, THAT IN JERUSALEM IS THE PLACE WHERE MEN OUGHT TO WORSHIP. 21 JESUS SAITH UNTO HER, WOMAN, BELIEVE ME, THE HOUR COMETH, WHEN YE SHALL NEITHER IN THIS MOUNTAIN, NOR YET AT JERUSALEM, WORSHIP THE FATHER 22 YE WORSHIP YE KNOW NOT WHAT: WE KNOW WHAT WE WORSHIP: FOR SALVATION IS OF THE JEWS. 23 BUT THE HOUR COMETH, AND NOW IS, WHEN THE TRUE WORSHIPPERS SHALL WORSHIP THE FATHER IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH: FOR THE FATHER SEEKETH SUCH TO WORSHIP HIM 24 GOD IS A SPIRIT: AND THEY THAT WORSHIP HIM MUST WORSHIP HIM IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH. 25 THE WOMAN SAITH UNTO HIM, I KNOW THAT MESSIAS COMETH, WHICH IS CALLED CHRIST: WHEN HE IS COME, HE WILL TELL US ALL THINGS 26 JESUS SAITH UNTO HER, I THAT SPEAK UNTO THEE AM HE. THIS TEMPLE WAS LATER DESTROYED.
THE SAMARITANS ALSO CELEBRATED THEIR OWN PASSOVER. VERSE 54 AND WHEN HIS DISCIPLES JAMES AND JOHN SAW THIS, THEY SAID, LORD, WILT THOU THAT WE COMMAND FIRE TO COME DOWN FROM HEAVEN, AND CONSUME THEM, EVEN AS ELIJA DID? VERSES 55-56 BUT HE TURNED, AND REBUKED THEM, AND SAID, YE KNOW NOT WHAT MANNER OF SPIRIT YE ARE OF. 56 FOR THE SON OF MAN IS NOT COME TO DESTROY MEN’S LIVES, BUT TO SAVE THEM. AND THEY WENT TO ANOTHER VILLAGE. LIKE JESUS WE SHOULD BE WILLING TO FOLLOW OUR FATHER’S LEAD, NO MATTER WHERE IT LEADS. WE SHOULD NEVER TRY TO GO AHEAD OF WHAT THE LORD WANTS OF US, AS JOHN AND JAMES SEEMED TO DO WHEN THEY WERE REBUFFED IN A VILLAGE IN SAMARIA. WE SHOULD NEVER FEEL BAD OR ANGRY, WHEN AS A CHRISTIAN, WE ARE DISCRIMATED AGAINST OR EVEN PERSECUTED.
NOW FOR ALL WHO KNOW THE LOVE OF GOD, THROUGH HIS SON JESUS CHRIST “GRACE TO YOU AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER, AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST” ROMANS 1:7