3 R’s (Rejection, Rage, Rebuke)
Luke 9: 51 – 54
Do you remember your high school days? For some of you there is a giddy nostalgia as you remember your amazing catch at the big game, your prom night with the person who is now your spouse, knowing that every weekend was a dream date waiting to occur. For the other 99% of us, it has taken years of intense psycho-therapy, antidepressants, and all the redemptive and repressing powers of the Holy Spirit to recover. No one likes being rejected. Certainly Jesus didn’t and apparently neither did His disciples. But like or not rejection is universal, and in fact Jesus promises Christians more than their fair share of rejection for following him. Just ask any Christian in Rome, only ask them quickly because the lions are starting to pick up speed.
We can see how James and John responded, with rage with a capital R, they were out for blood. Anyone who remembers Columbine knows the result of unchecked rage. 2 people willing to destroy an entire village for not being liked, just like Columbine. If we shudder with disgust at those teens, shouldn’t we have the same feelings for James and John at this moment? Apparently Jesus did.
Luke doesn’t tell us what Jesus said, perhaps he showed them the difference between them and Elijah (2 Kings 1:10), maybe he reminded them, that he didn’t come into the world to condemn it, maybe he just said “I love you guys, but you are talking a bunch of BS, shut up!” Whatever Jesus said, it was enough to get the point across and in the next verse, they simply move on.
