Bible Study for Today

How should we respond to all forms of religious persecution?

Luke 9:51–56 show us Jesus’ response to persecution. The Samaritans were descendants of Jewish mixed marriages from the days of captivity. They were rivals of the Jewish nation and had devised their own worship, a hybrid of Judaism and paganism, with a temple of their own on Mt. Gerizim. They were considered unclean by the Jews and were so hated that most Jewish travelers from Galilee to Judah took the longer route east of the Jordan to avoid traveling through Samaria.
The fact that Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem for worship implied rejection of the temple on Mt. Gerizim and a contempt for Samaritan worship. This was a strong point of contention between Jews and Samaritans (see John 4:20–22), and the Samaritan village would not take Him in (v. 53). James and John, whom Jesus nicknamed the “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17), then suggested they call down fire from heaven as Elijah once did (v. 54). To which Christ “rebuked them” (v. 55).
Christ’s response to the Samaritans exemplifies the attitude the church ought to have with regard to all forms of religious persecution. The Samaritans’ worship was pagan at heart, plainly wrong. Compounding that was their intolerance. Yet, the Lord would not retaliate with force against them. Nor did He even revile them verbally. He had come to save, not to destroy, and so His response was grace rather than destructive fury (v. 56). Nonetheless, Christ’s words of disapproval here must not be taken as condemnation of Elijah’s actions in 1 Kings 18:38–40 or 2 Kings 1:10–12. Elijah was commissioned to a special ministry as prophet in a theocracy, and it was his God-ordained task to confront an evil monarch (Ahab) who was attempting to usurp God’s authority. Elijah acted with an authority comparable to that of modern civil authorities (see Rom. 13:4)—not in a capacity that parallels that of ministers of the gospel.

Reading for Today:

Joshua 7:1–8:35

Psalm 43:1-5

Proverbs 13:22-23

Luke 9:37-62

Notes:
Joshua 7:9 what will You do for Your great name? The main issue is the glory and honor of God (see Daniel’s prayer in Dan. 9:16–19).
Psalm 43:3 Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; let them bring me. These are bold personifications for divine guidance. The psalmist desired that these “messenger-attributes” divinely direct (see such “leading” and “guiding” in Gen. 24:48; Pss. 78:14, 53, 72; 107:30; Is. 57:18) so as to bring him successfully to his destination, i.e., Israel’s designated place for worship.
Luke 9:51 steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem. This begins a major section of Luke’s Gospel. From here to 19:27, Christ’s face was set toward Jerusalem, and Luke’s narrative is a travelogue of that long journey to the Cross. This was a dramatic turning point in Christ’s ministry. After this, Galilee was no longer His base of operation. Although 17:11–37 describes a return visit to Galilee, Luke included everything between this point and that short Galilean sojourn as part of the journey to Jerusalem. We know from a comparison of the Gospels that, during this period of Christ’s ministry, He made short visits to Jerusalem to celebrate feasts. Nonetheless, those brief visits were only interludes in this period of ministry that would culminate in a final journey to Jerusalem for the purpose of dying there. Thus Luke underscored this turning point in Christ’s ministry more dramatically than any of the other Gospels, by showing Christ’s determination to complete His mission of going to the Cross.