Luke 9:51-62
Proper 8 / Year C
“Do you want us to call down fire?”
The people of a Samaritan village will not welcome
Jesus because “he has his face set toward Jerusalem” – in other words, he is in
a somber, serious, and perhaps surly mood as he begins the grim task of
journeying toward his crucifixion. James
and John, brothers with the nickname “the Sons of Thunder”, are indignant and want
to smoke the entire region. “Let’s just
keep walking,” Jesus says to them. “There
is no time to waste being sore.”
Righteous indignation is what we suppose to be God’s
anger manifested in and through us. And
there is plenty in our world that makes God angry, to be sure. Simon Longstaff, the Executive Director of
The Ethics Centre, observes how people who act out of righteous indignation
often begin with a virtuous response to an injustice, but drift into excessive
behavior. He states it can lead good
people with good motives in the service of a good cause to abominable
things.
C.S. Lewis was even more skeptical of those who rail
from an ethical high ground:
“It
would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral
busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty
may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who
torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the
approval of their own conscience. They
may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell
of earth.”
There have been a handful of times in my life when I
have called down fire. Some of you
witnessed one of them several years ago right in very this room. Two
of our Food Pantry clients, waiting at a table, erupted in a loud,
profanity-laced verbal argument. Without
even thinking, I moved toward them. “What
is going on here! You,” I thundered at
one person, “Sit down and be quiet.” My
voice boomed throughout the Parish Hall.
“You,” I said to the other, “Grab your things and come with me. We are going to get you your food and then
you are going to leave.” Everyone in the
room was stunned by my display, especially our volunteers. But it worked. Order was restored and from that point
forward people knew not to act out for fear of eliciting what became known as
the “The Godman Voice.”
The other times I called down fire did not go as
well. Two times I lost it over how a
person was treating my daughters. Once,
when I lived in a community of townhouses, the person in the unit next to mine
lit into my girls for having their play spill over into what he deemed to be
his yard, but was in fact common property.
I told him in no uncertain terms he was not to speak to my daughters again
and if he had a problem with something they were doing he should knock on my
front door, talk to me, and I would handle it.
A heated exchange ensued and our relationship was irrevocably
damaged. This, in my experience at
least, is the most likely outcome of calling down fire, even if your
indignation is justified.
In today’s New Testament reading, St. Paul offers a
different approach. Rather than calling
down fire, he suggests we manifest fruit; the byproduct of allowing God’s
Spirit to dwell within us. Love, joy,
peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These virtues, these qualities are to reign in
us rather than what we think to be God’s wrath.
Fire or fruit?
I sometimes ponder the instances when I called down fire and wonder what
might have happened if I had allowed God’s fruit to reign in me rather than
reacted out of what I thought to be God’s wrath. One thing I know for sure, God’s fruit will
never take us by force. Always we must cultivate
it in order for it to grow and flourish.
Fire or fruit?
Certainly, one of the most consequential things to happen this past week
(and for some time) is the Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe vs. Wade. Even though we have had some time to prepare
ourselves for it, the decision handed down was joyous for some and jarring for
others. I image some of you are unhappy enough
with it to call down fire. If so, I
invite you to pray over what it might look like to respond with the fruit of
God’s presence in your life instead.
You may have noticed when Paul lists the fruits of the
Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control – there is not an “and” between gentleness and
self-control; something you typically find at the end of a list such at
this. I once heard sermon where the
preacher explained the reason is because each the fruits of the Spirit are to
be present in each of us. When Paul
describes the gifts of the Spirit – things like teaching, evangelism, healing, and
speaking in tongues, he includes an “and” before the last gift. Here, he expects each of us will manifest
only one or two or perhaps three of the gifts, but not all. But with the fruit it is different.
This being said, I think for those of us unhappy with
the Supreme Court’s decision, as well as how it has signaled an intention to
revisit other rights we have come to expect, I think it is critical for us to
cultivate the Spirit’s fruit in our lives, especially patience, gentleness, and
self-control. As I understand it, the
rights communicated through Roe vs. Wade are not banished from our
land. They now fall to individual states
to impart or to deny. Those who have
worked to overturn Roe have exhibited incredible faithfulness to their
convictions. I never thought we would
see this day, but they have worked for it for five decades.
If you are unhappy with the result of their effort you
have two choices. Either you can rant
and rave and essentially call down fire.
Or, you can a nurture the Spirit’s presence and thus it’s fruit in your
life. I invite you to mull this over
because conversations with family members, with friends, and with associates
are going to happen. I would hate for
them to create irrevocable damage when God’s Spirit within us attempts to
provide a way forward into mutual understanding, respect, and unity in the
midst of diversity.
As I said, I have spent a great deal of time
considering how I might have reacted differently when I acted out of what I
thought to be righteous indignation and, as a result, ruptured forever a precious
relationship. What will it be for
you? Fire or fruit?
