Disciples James and John, angry when a certain Samaritan village denied Jesus access, sought His permission to “call fire down from heaven to destroy them” (Luke 9:54). Jesus rebuked them for their thoughts and moved on “to another village” (vs. 55).

Sadly, James and John represent too many Christians who can’t seem to bring themselves to love their enemies and who seek, instead, to call fire down from heaven to destroy them. When are we going to learn to let God be God and knock off the nonsense of treating like dirt those who don’t think the way we think or believe the way we believe? This is a serious question and one to which we do well to pay attention.

When will we learn that our business here is to live Christ-formed lives, extending to others the very life of God? Ours isn’t to disenfranchise those who want nothing to do with Jesus; ours is to love them. Fred Pratt Green has this line in his hymn, When the Church of Jesus: “May our prayers, Lord, make us ten times more aware that the world we banish is our Christian care.” In another verse he writes, “Lord, reprove, inspire us by the way you give; teach us risen Savior, how true Christians live.”

Sure, there might be villages that don’t “welcome” Jesus and when it happens maybe we’ll have to move on “to another village.” Calling down fire on the place, however, seems a little extreme don’t you think? In fact, isn’t this one of our complaints about so called radial Muslims who maim, destroy and kill in the name of their understanding of God?

Before we call down fire from heaven maybe we ought to call down the Holy Spirit to baptize our own hearts with fire. Now, that would be a sight to behold.