OPEN: I love basketball. I watch it whenever I can. I’ll watch it on TV, and once in a while I’ll even get a chance to watch a live game. Going to basketball game is different than watching the game on TV. When you go to a game, you’re going because you like one of the teams. You’re there to root for the players and encourage them on to victory. You’re there to experience their struggles and rejoice in their successes.
When you pay for your ticket, you go up into the bleachers, and if you’re smart you don’t go and sit in the wrong section - you sit with your team’s fans.
Each team has its own group of fans. Everybody on that basketball floor has people who are there to root for them. Everybody has someone there to shout out words of encouragement and support for everybody... everybody, that is, except one group of people. One group of people on the floor has no one rooting for them in the bleachers. Who might that be? The Referees.
Nobody ever says to them: "Great call, ref!"
Nobody ever approaches them after the game for their autograph.
Nobody ever takes them aside and invites them out for coke after game.
And even if the refs do an even handed job and call the game the way we would have, the best we do is tolerate them.
But more often we abuse them because they are obviously idiots (otherwise they’d have called it the way WE saw it).
My 1st church was in a small town of about 600 people. They had a High school there (combined with an elementary and middle school under the same roof). Most of the kids from my youth group went to that school, so I’d often go to the school’s basketball games as a way to meet people and show community support.
One night, the refs weren’t calling them the way I saw them. The crowd was raucous and you could hear things like this:
„« What, are you blind?
„« How could you miss that foul?
„« Hey, ref - who paid you to throw this game?
„« You got relatives playing for that other team?
(pause) ... that was me.
I’d done it many times before at other games, but that night, I had something of a religious experience. It was almost as if I stepped back a couple of rows and heard myself shouting out those insults. THEN, a voice seemed to echo in my ear:
"Jeff, what do you think you’re doing? Do you realize who you are? Don’t you realize that you’re a preacher in a very small town and just about everybody knows you? And here you are, harassing these men - can’t possibly be paid enough to endure the abuse you are heaping on them."
"Don’t you realize who you are???"
I. Sometimes, we forget who we are. OR sometimes we’ve not given it much thought. In fact, we might even just assume:
"That’s just the way I am!"
"This is how I behave at Basketball games, or how I act when I’m under pressure, or when things aren’t going my way."
James and John had that excuse. In Mark 3:17 we’re told that Jesus game them the names "Sons of Thunder." Their nicknames declared: these are men referees and umpires dread. These are men who were quick to judge and harsh in their words. These were men who called them the way the saw them and they called them loudly.
II. Generally, we don’t think of James and John as firebrands with sharp tongues.
After all they are disciples of Jesus. And while the Bible doesn’t tell us much more about James, John is often known as "the disciple of love." John wrote things like:
"We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him." (1 John 3:14-15)
And again he wrote: "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love." (1John 4:7-8)
And yet again: "We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother." (1Jo 4:19-21)
Those are decent words & important attitudes. Those are Godly attitudes. BUT those weren’t the attitudes John was displaying that day in Samaria
III. Reread Luke 9:51ff
Call down fire??? Were these men suffering from delusions of grandeur? Why would they think they could call down fire? Well, probably because they could have. If you turn back to the beginning of Luke 9 (vss 1-6) you find that Jesus had turned his disciples loose to preach on their own. And they’d healed people, and they’d cast out demons. They’d tasted real power from on high. And they thought to themselves - we can take these boys out.
IV. Here they were on their way to Jerusalem - probably for the last time - but they don’t know that. All they know is that Jesus is more serious than usual (vs 51 = "resolutely"). There’s something about the look in His eye. Something about the set of his jaw that tells them this trip is different than the others. AND I suspect they were a little ill at ease, sensing that something was wrong, but they weren’t sure what. Then, on their journey through Samaria on their way to Jerusalem, they come to this petty, insignificant, out of the way Samaritan village that has the supreme bad manners to turn their master away.
James and John literally come up out of their seats. Are you blind? Do you need to borrow my glasses? Don’t you know who this is? This is Jesus, the man who’s fed 1000’s with a few loaves and fishes. The man who’s raised the dead, healed the sick, cast out demons. AND you have the unmitigated gall to turn Him away?
"Jesus, let us call down fire and wipe these slimy excuses for human beings off face of earth. They don’t deserve to breath the same air that you do."
ILLUS: Back when I was in Bible College, one of our professors was especially liked. He was a humble, gentle, grandfatherly man that more than once would openly cry when something touched his heart. One night, I went to a Basketball game where our boys were playing another Bible College team. In the middle of the game, the refs missed an obvious, flagrant foul. The crowd was stunned into silence (this being a Bible college, it seemed improper to shout insults at the referees). We just sat there in silence. And in the midst of that silence, one voice rang out: "Are you blind? Can’t you see anything. Here, take my glasses, maybe you’ll see better!"
AND we all knew who that voice belonged to - our beloved Professor.
I’m not sure which shocked us more - the bad call, or this dear man¡¦s response. Many of us smiled, but we were all a little startled. It was totally out of character for him. For a moment, in the intensity of that game - our gentle, humble, grandfatherly Professor forgot who he was.
V. And that’s what happened to James and John - they forgot who they were.
They let their anger take over. And when Jesus turned to look at them - I don’t think He was smiling. In fact, He treated them to a religious experience - He rebuked them. And I suspect that when Jesus rebuked you - you knew you’d been rebuked.
I can picture Jesus saying to them: "How could be with me so long and get this so wrong"
These were disciples of Jesus - this wasn’t how they were supposed to act. They were being true to their nicknames - but not to their Lord.
VI. I suspect, there’s a little of James & John in each of us. And, if we weren’t for the fact that we were Christians, most people wouldn’t think much of it. They wouldn’t think much of it when we behaved badly at a basketball game, or behaved badly behind the wheel of our car, or behaved badly with people we don’t much like.
If people didn’t know we were Christians, it probably wouldn’t much matter. I suspect, that this is why a lot of people don’t put Christian bumper stickers on their cars. They know down deep in the their heart of hearts - "if I belong to Jesus, I can’t behave like I would really like to."
In addition, when we find ourselves behaving like James & John did here in Samaria, it’s often because we don’t know the people we’re insulting. It’s somehow "ok" if they’re anonymous and we aren’t known to them.
OR, we can behave like that if we do know them AND they deserve everything we can say or do to them.
It’s interesting, but after this confrontation by Jesus, James and John are never shown to act like this again. I suspect that this may be because they suddenly realized from this rebuke what they were doing to Jesus. They suddenly understood what Jesus stood for and why their words would offend Him.
CLOSE: AND, the only reason you and I will control how we act is when we understand the same thing:
A young lady named Sally relates an experience she had in class, given by her Sunday School teacher, Mr. Smith. She says Brother Smith was known for his elaborate object lessons. One particular day, Sally walked into class and knew they were in for another fun day. On the wall was a big target and on a nearby table were many darts. The teacher told the students to draw a picture of someone that they disliked or someone who had made them angry . . . and he would allow them to throw darts at the person’s picture.
Sally’s girlfriend (on her right), drew a picture of a girl who had stolen her boyfriend. Another friend (on her left), drew a picture of his little brother. Sally drew a picture of Mr. Smith - putting a great deal of detail into her drawing. Sally was pleased at the overall effect she had achieved.
The class lined up and began throwing darts. Everybody had fun and laughed as each dart found its mark. Some of the students threw their darts with such force that their targets were ripping apart. Sally looked forward to her turn, and was filled with disappointment when Brother Smith, because of time limits, asked the students to return to their seats.
As Sally sat thinking about how angry she was because she didn¡¦t have a chance to throw any darts at her target, the teacher began removing the target from the wall. Underneath the target was a picture of Jesus....
A complete hush fell over the room as each student viewed the mangled picture of Jesus; holes and jagged marks covered His face and His eyes were pierced out.
Mr. Smith said only these few words before he dismissed the class, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto Me." (Matthew 25:40)
SERMONS IN THIS SERIES
Are you a Son of Thunder? - Luke 9:51-9:56
Extreme Faith - Mark 2:1-2:12
Dealing With Personal Demons - Mark 5:1-5:20
The Wee Little Man - Luke 19:1-19:10
Jesus & The Party Crasher - Luke 7:36-7:50
