“Jesus Delays His Wrath”
Luke 9:51-62
6/27/10
In today’s Gospel text
James and John act like a couple of Muslim terrorists, who feel they
must defend the honor of their god with violence, when he is spurned and
rejected. Like the disciples of Allah, Jesus’ own disciples believe
that there is only one alternative for those who will not repent of
their sins and believe the Gospel, and that is immediate death, executed
of course by the disciples themselves, in the name of their god and by
his authority. How many times do we hear of this same kind of vengeance
being poured out on people by the follows of Islam whenever their god
or their prophet is besmirched and blasphemed? Publicly ridicule their
prophet Mohammed and you’ll soon be in danger of losing your head.
Attempt to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them in their own
country and you’ll be guilty of capital punishment. And yet, make fun
of Christ, besmirch and blaspheme Him, and you don’t see Christians
taking up arms and making threats on people’s lives. How many times is
Christ’s name taken in vain in movies or television programs, yet nobody
bombs the studios that produced them! That’s because the world knows
that Christians aren’t going to take up arms to defend their God. They
may have at one time during the Crusades, but here we see in today’s
Gospel text that Jesus rebukes His disciples for wanting to do such a
thing. Jesus doesn’t need defending. He can take care of Himself.
With a word He could have destroyed those Samaritans for their rejection
of Him. When He was arrested and Peter tried to defend Him with a
sword, Jesus said, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and
He will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” Allah may
need men to fight for him, but Jesus does not.
But even He did
not come to pour out God’s wrath on the earth. James and John, with
their desire to take vengeance upon the Samaritans for rejecting Jesus,
had misunderstood their Lord’s purpose for being there. Now was not the
time for pouring out God’s vengeance, but for pouring out His grace and
mercy. It is what Jesus read from the book of Isaiah in the synagogue
one day concerning His ministry: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has
sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the
blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year
of the Lord’s favor.” In His conversation with Nicodemus one night,
Jesus said, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the
world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” Whereas
James and John’s agenda was to pour out God’s wrath on the infidels,
Jesus’ agenda was and still is to save the infidels.
What He
saves us from is that very wrath of God. It is something that we
certainly deserve from Him on account of our sin. James and John were
right in concluding that the unbelieving Samaritans deserved to have
fire come down from heaven and consume them for their rejection of
Jesus. It’s even what God did a number of times to various peoples in
the O.T., Sodom and Gomorrah being prime examples. It’s not that God
doesn’t get angry when He is spurned and rejected or that His threats of
punishment can’t be taken seriously. David writes that God is
“merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
God is very long-suffering towards His sinful creatures. But when His
mercy and grace are spurned long enough, He will punish. If people
insist on rejecting His love, they will receive His wrath.
But
that day had not come in James and John’s day, and it has not come yet
in our day either. That is because, as the Apostle Paul puts it, today
is the day of salvation. Today is the day of God’s grace and mercy, not
the day of His wrath and vengeance. And that is because Jesus, far
from coming to pour out that wrath and vengeance, came instead to take
that upon Himself at Calvary, so that through faith in Him we might be
spared. This is why, as Luke puts it here, Jesus “set His face to go to
Jerusalem.” Usually, when God set His face against a city in the O.T.
it meant that He was going to destroy it. Jesus, however, was not going
to Jerusalem to destroy it, but to save them from God’s wrath by
suffering that wrath Himself.
Unlike the Muslims who want to
destroy those who are against them, Jesus does not wish to destroy those
who are against Him. Neither does He give His Church the right or
authority to convert the world with force or to wipe out those who
oppose Him. We are engaged in warfare; however, the weapons we are
given to use are not the weapons of this world. As Paul writes, “We do
not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness,
against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Against
such enemies the weapons of this world are useless. Instead, the Church
fights with the Word of God. But it doesn’t use this Word to call down
fire from heaven on those who reject Jesus. Instead, it continues to
warn them of the wrath to come, offering salvation from this wrath to
those who repent of their sins and trust in Jesus their Savior.
Thanks be to God that for Christ’s He had mercy on us and did not pour
out His wrath upon us! Often times we act like James and John, praying
God’s wrath be poured out on those who sin against us, persecute us, and
reject Christ. But we have to realize that we used to be those
Samaritans who once did reject Jesus ourselves. We deserve to have fire
from heaven fall down upon us and consume us. But instead that fire
fell down upon Jesus and consumed Him on the cross. There, as He
Himself said, He underwent a baptism of fire, so that we might receive a
different kind of Baptism, a Baptism that doesn’t destroy but saves, a
Baptism which crucifies us with Christ, to be sure, but which also
raises us with Him to newness of life. Just as Noah and his family were
saved from the flood of God’s wrath in the ark, so we are now saved
through Baptism from the flood of God’s wrath to come in the ark of the
Church. But we do not rejoice that those outside will be swept away.
Instead, we pray for their salvation and when the opportunity arises
speak God’s words of forgiveness and peace to them for Christ’s sake, so
that they too might be saved.
Jesus teaches His disciples to
love their enemies and pray for them. It’s what Christ did for us, who
were once enemies of God. Paul writes that at one time we were by
nature children of wrath. But “God, being rich in mercy, because of the
great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our
trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been
saved - and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the
immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ
Jesus.” Speaking of the Last Day when God will pour out His wrath on
those who reject Christ, the Apostle Peter makes it clear that God
doesn’t intend to rush the arrival of this day, but He delays it so that
more people might come to repentance. He writes that God is patient
towards us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
reach repentance. In the book of Ezekiel God says, “As I live, declares
the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that
the wicked turn from his way and live.” So we too are not to act like
James and John and pray that the fires of hell be poured out on the
wicked, whether they’re Germans, Muslims, Jews, or atheists. God is
Judge, and He will pour out His wrath in His own good time; He doesn’t
need our help. Rather, He uses us now to proclaim His grace and mercy
to all for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ, our crucified and risen
Savior.
And this message is not just something for the
unbelievers to hear. You baptized believers in Christ also need to hear
this same message, especially when the devil or your own conscience
convicts you of sin. Sometimes when the guilt of some sin plagues us,
it feels like fire from heaven is raining down upon us, like God’s wrath
is consuming us. David felt this way on occasion, on account of his
sin. He prayed, “O LORD, rebuke me not in your anger, nor discipline me
in your wrath.” But David did not despair. Instead, he prayed, “Be
gracious to me, O LORD, for I am languishing; heal me, O LORD, for my
bones are troubled.” He ends his prayer with words of faith, saying,
“The LORD has heard the sound of my weeping. The LORD has heard my
plea; the LORD accepts my prayer.” In another place he writes, “If you O
LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you
there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.” So you too, when the
devil tries to use the Law to call down the fire of God’s wrath upon
your head, remember how Jesus rebuked His disciples for wishing to do
such a thing and how Jesus took that fire upon Himself on the cross, so
that you who have been clothed with Him in your Baptism might live under
God’s grace and favor now and forever.
Through the prophet
Isaiah God says, “In a time of favor I have answered you; in a day of
salvation I have helped you.” And the Apostle Paul writes, “Behold, now
is the time of favor; behold, now is the day of salvation.” Jesus is
delaying the wrath He will pour out on the Last Day, so that all might
come to a knowledge of His salvation, repent of their sins, and trust in
God’s mercy. That wrath which rightfully should have been poured out
on you and me has already been poured out on Him, so that we might not
ever have to suffer it ourselves, either today or on the Last Day.
Jesus has quenched the fire of God’s wrath, so that there’s no more left
for you. Instead, you who repent of your sins and trust in Jesus now
live under God’s grace and mercy. For Christ’s sake the Lord blesses
you and keeps you, He makes His face shine upon you and is gracious
towards you, He lifts up His countenance upon you and gives you His
peace. Amen.