Fire from Heaven

In Luke 9, 51-56, we read of the Samaritan town that refused entry to the Lord Jesus because he was traveling to Jerusalem.  His disciples James and John asked him if he wanted them to call down fire from heaven on that city.  In his commentary on the Gospel of Luke, St. Albert the Great explains their eagerness to punish these unbelievers:

“ ‘When his disciples James and John had seen this, they said: Lord, do you wish us to call out, that fire descend from heaven and destroy them?‘  Here, Christ instructs his disciples how to execute power.  There are two subjects for consideration: the zeal of the indignation of the disciples, and their instruction in regards to restraining and ordering their zeal.  In connection with their zeal, there are three considerations: the arousal of their zeal, the naming of their zeal, and the ordering of their zeal under the will of the Lord.  

First, it is written: ‘When his disciples had seen this.’  The sight of the city’s wickedness, ingratitude, and envy excited their zeal.  As Bede says, zeal is the virtue which, seeing wickedness, corrects it, if it can, but if it cannot, it suffers and groans.  They their example of zeal from Phineas: ‘Phineas the son of Eliezar, the son of aaron the priest, has turned my wrath from the sons of Israel, for his zeal has moved me’ (Numbers  25, 11).  ‘When our father Phineas burned with the zeal of God, he received testimony of an eternal priesthood’ (1. Maccabees 2, 54).  This was the cause of their burning with zeal.

“ ‘James and John’.  These were called, ‘the sons of thunder’, because they wished to blaze with fire and thunder with threats.  the name ‘James’ means a ‘fighter’, which signifies perfection in the active life; the name ‘John’ means ‘in whom there is grace’, which signifies perfection in the contemplative life.  The active and contemplative life ought to be our preparation for the Lord Jesus.  ‘A certain woman, Martha by name, received Jesus into her house, and her sister Mary was there’ (Luke 10, 38-39).

“ ‘They said.’  Behold how they restrain their zeal under the will of their Lord!  We see three factors here: their profession of the Lord’s authority; the conformation of their wills with the Lord’s; the punishment of iniquity belongs to the Lord. 

“ They said to him, ‘Lord’.  ‘You are the Lord of all’ (Esther 13, 11).  They called him ‘Lord’, for it is forbidden to neglect his law, and every word of the law has power through him.

“ ‘Do you wish’.  Behold how they conform their wills to the Lord!  ‘Not my will, but yours, be done’ (Luke 22, 42).  ‘Not as I will, but as you will’ (Matthew 26, 39).  ‘May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matthew 6, 10).  

“ ‘To call out, that fire descend from heaven and consume them’.  They took up the punishment of iniquity on behalf of the Lord.  ‘I am ablaze with zeal for the Lord God of hosts, for they have abandoned their covenant’ (3 Kings 19, 14).

“ ‘That fire descend from heaven’, in the way of Elisha (cf. 2 Kings 1, 10).  They said this because of the power that they had received, and because they were now well-proved in the working of signs. They thought that they should particularly exercise this power on behalf of the Lord, just as Elisha had made the fire of God consume his adversaries, saying: ‘If I am a man of God, may fire descend from heaven and consume you and your fifty.’ 

It was from the Lord himself that they received the name ‘Boanerges’ -- the ‘sons of thunder’.  For this reason they considered that they ought to blaze with the fire of Christ’s vengeance before the others.  ‘His fire will go before him, and shall consume his enemies round about’ (Psalm 96, 3).  ‘Terrible is the certain expectation of judgment, and the raging of the fire which will consume his enemies’ (Hebrews 10, 27).  ‘My anger is a burning fire, and it shall rage to the utmost depths; it will devour the earth with its seed, and burn up the foundations of the mountains’ (Deuteronomy 32, 22).   

“All these considerations influenced the Apostles to wish to punish with fire.  First and foremost, the Lord had said: ‘I came to set fore to the earth, and what do I wish, that it may rise up’ (Luke 12, 49).  Perhaps the disciples yet understood this ‘fire’ as a physical fire.”