Memorial of St. Vincent de Paul, priest
In today’s Gospel, Jesus and his disciples are traveling toward Jerusalem, and they want to pass through a Samaritan village on the way. However, the Samaritan village refuses to welcome Jesus because his destination is Jerusalem. So, Jesus and the disciples have to go around the village. However, James and John want to call down fire from Heaven on the village in order to burn it up for not welcoming Jesus. Jesus’ response to this suggestion is to rebuke James and John and to lead the disciples by another route.
We can understand in general why Jesus would not want to drop fire on the offending village. Burning down a village is not a good thing to do, and today would even be considered a war crime. However, we should look more deeply into Jesus’ motive for not dropping fire on the village that rejected him. Part of it is that Jesus came into this world in order to save us, not to condemn or destroy us. The other part of it is that Jesus wants all of us to come to know him, and to accept him and be converted, and so find salvation in him. Jesus always wants to give us plenty of time to come to recognize him and accept him as our God and our Savior. He undoubtedly hoped that in the future the persons who live in this village would come to recognize and accept him.
Reflection by Fr. Aquinas Keusenkothen, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections