LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
From Thunder to Gentle Whistles
The figure and genius of the apostles John and James is very much in evidence in the passage in Luke 9. The Samaritans did not want to receive the Lord; so John and James suggest doing what Elijah did with the envoys of King Ahaziah - raining down fire from heaven to consume them.
These disciples, like every Jew, knew very well the story of the prophet Elijah, who had rained fire on the sacrifices that memorable evening before the prophets of Baal. They must have been impressed by Elijah's exploits, and now they want to realize their dream of emulating them. Who better than their Master to do so?
This is not surprising in John and James. The Lord Himself, knowing them better than anyone else, had baptized them as Boanerges - the sons of thunder. Both possessed the wrathful and vehement character of Elijah, and they now considered it an unforgivable offense that the Samaritans had thus snubbed the Master.
They did not understand the moment their Master was living. A few verses above, the Bible says: "When the time came for him to be received up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem". What interest could the Lord have in vindicating Himself if His heart was set on going to death?
That is why the Lord uses a very different language, the language of love. Some time before, the same disciples, allied with their mother, had approached the Lord for a future privilege in his kingdom, and that day, the Lord had spoken to them the language of humility. The 'sons of thunder' need to hear these kinds of words.
Pretending to imitate Elijah, they disregard the lesson God gave the prophet in the cave of Horeb. God's presence was not manifested neither in the wind, nor in the earthquake, nor in the fire, but in a soft and gentle hissing. Now it is necessary for them to be transformed from thunder into soft and gentle whistles.
When we see John reclining on the Lord's breast at the last supper, and later, when we read the writings of the aged John, especially his epistles, we see the beginning and the consummation, respectively, of this attainment of love. On the other hand, when we read in the book of Acts of the early and heroic death of James, we see that he was able to renounce those pretended privileges of greatness and drank from the cup of his Lord.
So too we, how we need to hear the language of love and humility, and embody them, so that the beatitude of John and James, these two thunders transformed into soft and gentle whistles, may be fulfilled in us. A little today, a little tomorrow, the Holy Spirit of God is touching us, tearing us down, breaking us until he achieves his precious goal. Will he achieve it with us as he did with them? What shall we say? Nothing is impossible for God!