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.
It appeared that the endgame of Jesus' mission was at hand. The days were fulfilled and there was a new attitude and emphasis in the direction set by Jesus himself, who set his face toward Jerusalem.
But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame (see Isaiah 50:7).
The intensity on the part of Jesus might have indicated to the disciples that the time of judgment for Jerusalem was at hand. One thing it might have brought to mind was a time when God instructed Ezekiel to make a similar turn:
Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel (see Ezekiel 21:2)
Or it may have reminded them of something the Lord said to the prophet Jeremiah:
For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire (see Jeremiah 21:2).
Thus when Jesus sent messengers ahead of his face to prepare his way before him they were in no mood to countenance rejection. They were likely getting exciting about the culmination and climax that was approaching, the hints of the possibility of the Lord Jesus being taken up and enthroned in heaven as king. The disciples seemed to think that Jesus would no longer want to be patient and merciful, but would want the disciples themselves to exercise immediate judgment on those who would not welcome Jesus. After all, if Elijah had called down fire on his Samaritan opponents (see Second Kings 1:12), why should not the one who was greater even than Elijah do at least as much?
Jesus turned and rebuked them,
and they journeyed to another village.
It seemed that the resolute determination on the face of Jesus was not preparation for violence like that which the disciples were so eager to initiate. It was an instead an internal resolve that he himself would persist in spite of rejection, in spite of all of the suffering he knew awaited him at the destination of his journey. His rebuke of the disciples seemed so understated as to suggest that they really ought to have known better by then. It seemed like he was saying, 'Really? Come on, guys. Let's keep moving'.
Somehow we Christians still seem surprised when God doesn't call down fire, or more specifically, allow us to call down fire, on those we perceive to be his adversaries. But if we consider the case of the Samaritans we will quickly realize that their rejection of Jesus was only temporary and that after Pentecost they formed a significant part of the early conversions described in Scriptures. Things probably aren't so dire or urgent as we imagine. We made need to resolve within ourselves to set our faces toward the goal, so that we can wait with patience as God's timing proves quite different from our own, and much better.
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