Luke 9:53-54

Luke 9:53-54

[53] And  not  receive  him,  because  his  face  as though he would go  to  Jerusalem.  [54] And  when his  disciples  James  and  John  this, they said,  Lord,  wilt thou  that we command  fire  to come down  from  heaven,  and  consume  them,  even 

What does Luke 9:53-54 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

The Samaritans whom the messengers contacted refused to accept Jesus and His followers because they were on their way to Jerusalem, evidently to worship there. The Samaritans rejected Jerusalem as a legitimate site of worship (cf. John 4:20). Evidently they did not reject Jesus because He claimed to be the Messiah but simply because He was a Jew. The attitude of James and John was typically hostile. They may have been thinking that Jesus would react to the Samaritans as Elijah had to his opponents ( 2 Kings 1:9-12). Their question suggests that Jesus" disciples saw strong similarities between Jesus" ministry and Elijah"s (cf. Luke 9:19). However, they were willing to play Elijah"s part by calling down judgment; they were not asking Jesus to do so.
It seems unlikely that Jesus gave James and John their nickname Boanerges, "sons of thunder," because of this incident ( Mark 3:17). All the other disciples" nicknames were positive rather than derogatory, and this one probably was too.