Do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them? (Luke 9:54)
Have you ever tried to pick a name for a baby? If you have you might have noticed how strong a reaction—even a prejudice—people have to something as simple as a name.
Most prejudices like this one are sewn deeply into the fabric of people’s lives and cultures. Sometimes, we don’t even know we have them until something or someone makes us confront our assumptions. That’s what happened in today’s Gospel. James and John wanted to bring fire down upon an entire town of Samaritans just because they didn’t show Jesus the hospitality that they thought he deserved. But Jesus’ rebuke brought them to their senses.
So why did they hate the Samaritans so much?
For centuries, the people of Samaria were of the same stock as the people of Jerusalem. But then in 721 b.c., the Assyrian army overran Samaria and exiled most of its inhabitants. The Assyrians then forced people from different lands to emigrate to Samaria and intermingle with the Jews who had been left behind. As a result, the Samaritans of Jesus’ day were considered foreigners whose mixture of pagan religion and Judaism was a great offense.
You can imagine how uncomfortable the disciples must have felt when Jesus made Samaritans heroes in his parables—and even more so when the deacon Philip began baptizing Samaritans and welcoming them into the Church (Acts 8:4-8).
But the apostles did let go of their prejudices—and so should we. They saw in the Samaritans’ conversion a fulfillment of today’s first reading: that people from every nation will be drawn to them and say, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you” (Zechariah 8:23).
God wants to make us just as magnetic as the apostles. He wants to draw to us all kinds of people who are hungry for the word of God. May we all be ready to welcome them!
“Lord, help me open my heart to the ‘Samaritans’ in my life. Help me to overcome my prejudices so that I can shine your light wherever I go.”
Zechariah 8:20-23; Psalm 87:1-7
Father Ed Bakker
Anglican Catholic Church / Original Province
Mission of Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne
Bendigo
Australia
