Sixth Midweek Lenten Service

SERMON - Lord, Have Mercy on Me When I Struggle with Pride

INI

Text: Luke 9:51-56

Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?” But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.

In Christ Jesus, whose merciful patience we need when tempted by sinful pride, dear fellow redeemed:

“The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them!” That powerful assertion, as we have just heard, was part of Jesus’ rebuke of two of His disciples, James and John. In self-righteous pride they wanted to call down fire upon and so destroy the citizens of a certain Samaritan town after those citizens refused to welcome Jesus and His weary followers as they traveled towards Jerusalem. Their suggestion no doubt sounds very strange and quite extreme to us, even if we are familiar with the story of Elijah to which the two refer. In fact, we may well be tempted to react a bit smugly and suggest that we would never make such a horrible suggestion. Yet, each one of us is no doubt guilty of possessing a self-righteous attitude at times, and pride is a common human failing!

This evening let us examine the text before us and see what led James and John to make their suggestion, and why Jesus’ rebuke was so necessary for them and for us! Yes, let us pray: LORD HAVE MERCY ON ME WHEN I STRUGGLE WITH PRIDE! Please, preserve me from loveless self-righteousness! Please, move me to embrace Your loving purpose!

I.

Our text begins with a reference to Jesus’ return to heaven. The time of His earthly ministry was quickly drawing to a close. The month was probably October, the year 28 A.D. Jesus had approximately six months to go before His death, resurrection, and subsequent ascension. He had been preaching in Galilee, but now it was time for Him “steadfastly” to “set His face to go to Jerusalem.” As one Bible scholar has put it, “Jesus was under the compulsion of love to die the sacrificial death for sinners at Jerusalem” [Werner Franzmann, Bible History Commentary—New Testament, Volume 1, page 373]. Quite a crowd accompanied Him (cf. Luke 8:1-3). The vast majority of them had no idea of what was soon to happen. In fact, there were, no doubt, only a few who had any inkling of what lay ahead. Jesus had made references to an upcoming passion (cf. Matthew 17:22-23), but almost everyone including the twelve apostles had dismissed such talk and rather concentrated upon what they assumed would be the advent of Jesus’ earthly kingdom!

There was a growing confidence among Jesus followers that He was indeed the Christ, and there was a certain amount of pride lurking within the hearts of the chosen twelve. Who would sit at Jesus’ right and left side in His coming kingdom—was a topic of some discussion and debate among them! When Jesus, therefore, sent messengers ahead to a certain Samaritan village in order to make arrangement for Himself and all of the others to stay overnight and they returned with news of their rejection, James and John found themselves deeply offended. In their pride, they no doubt muttered to each other, “Who were these people—these Samaritans—to refuse hospitality to Jesus and His followers. He is, after all, the Messiah…the Son of David…the King of the Jews?!” With self-righteous indignation, they made their ill-conceived suggestion: “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”

Now, we are not told exactly why these particular Samaritans refused Jesus their hospitality. We only know that it was “because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem.” Perhaps, they resented the fact that Jesus was not going to spend any time or perform any miracles in their area; perhaps they were upset that Jesus was going to preach in the temple in Jerusalem and not at their place of worship—Mount Gerizim; perhaps they assumed Jesus held to the same racial and religious prejudices that the vast majority of Jews had over against them. Still, their refusal offended the zealous pride of James and John for Jesus!

Jesus, however, would have none of that sentiment: “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.” James’ and John’s pride led them to react to these people with loveless self-righteousness, which in turn contradicted and compromised the very reason Jesus was planning to go to Jerusalem! Jesus would die for the Samaritans sin of inhospitality and resentment, even as He would die for James’ and John’s sin of lovelessness, even as He did die for all of our sins—including those times when we sin in loveless self-righteousness!

Do you ever sin in loveless self-righteousness? Do you ever find yourself righteously indignant? Do you become angry when people say or do things that denigrate your Savior? Twenty years ago a photographer by the name of Andres Serrano caused quite a controversy when he produced a picture of a crucifix in a bottle of his urine and entitled it, “Piss Christ.” It won a contest sponsored in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and was featured in a rather prestigious museum as an example of modern art. Does that make you mad? Would you want something bad to happen to that artist or the museum curator? What is a proper response over against such people? Jesus’ response to James and John would suggest that we pray for them—for their spiritual welfare and ultimate conversion.

Has someone, perhaps even a family member or fellow believer, ever misjudged you or failed you in some important way? Have you found yourself angry with that person, bearing resentment towards that person, and even wishing that person ill? If so, then you are letting self-righteous pride control your thinking. When we have a complaint again someone, especially when that someone is a fellow believer, Jesus wants us to work hard to “bear with one another, and forgive one another” (cf. Colossians 3:13). That is the “spirit” Jesus desires for our hearts, rather than a “spirit” of pride-filled judgment. He did not save us all, so that we might wish each other ill, but rather so that we might encourage one another in our faith, and if we are dealing with an unbeliever to strive to lead that individual to faith. LORD, HAVE MERCY ON ME WHEN I STRUGGLE WITH PRIDE! Please, preserve me from loveless self-righteousness!

II.

Please, move me to embrace Your loving purpose! Jesus reminded James and John, “The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them!” Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem—not to receive a crown of gold, but rather a crown of thorns. Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem not to amaze the festival crowd with miracles, but rather to bear the sins of many in order that God might have mercy upon our souls.

Consequently, as we view the Samaritans in our lives, Jesus would have us remove any thoughts prompted by sinful, self-righteous pride—even when motivated by a zeal for the Lord as James and John no doubt were. Rather, He would have us follow His own example of humility. The apostle Paul urges us: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who…made Himself of no reputation…. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:5-8). Jesus is to be the pattern for our responses to one another—for our thinking and our acting.

How did Jesus respond during His passion to those who did Him wrong? When Judas led the mob of soldiers and servants up to the Garden of Gethsemane to betray his good Master, how did Jesus respond? He did not revile Judas, but rather He gently questioned Him, seeking to awaken within him his conscience in a last attempt to lead him to repentance: “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:48) When Peter denied Jesus for a third time in the High Priest’s courtyard, adding to that denial verbal oaths and expletives, how did Jesus respond? He did not pour out His contempt upon Peter for the obvious cowardice telling him, “I told you so!” Rather, He simply “turned and looked at” Peter, as He was being led away. Peter then remembered Jesus’ warning of the previous evening with the result that he “went out and wept bitterly” (cf. Luke 22:61-62). How did Jesus respond to the soldiers who nailed Him to the cross and to the passers by who mocked and ridiculed Him? He did not curse them. He did not seek revenge, which as the Son of God who possessed all power He could easily have done. No, when our Savior hung on the cross in agony for us…because of us, He rather prayed: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).

This is the “spirit” of Jesus—the One who came down from heaven not “to destroy men’s lives but to save them!” This is the “spirit” that James and John came to embody as they and the other apostles proclaimed the gospel after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension. This is the “spirit” which fills the New Testament Scriptures, and which our Savior Jesus would have fill our hearts and overflow into our lives. There is no room for self-righteous pride in such a “spirit,” for that “spirit” is dominated by a deep humility and profound joy in the knowledge that Jesus died for sinners like you and me. LORD HAVE MERCY UPON ME WHEN I AM TEMPTED BY PRIDE! Please, preserve me from loveless self-righteousness! Please, move me to embrace Your loving purpose! Amen.

—Pastor Paul D. Nolting
To God alone be the glory!