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. [source][source][source]
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. [source][source][source]