Today I read Luke 9 which contain several stories including Jesus being transfigured on the mountain, the feeding of the 5,000, the casting out of the devil that His Apostles could not cast out and the setting apart of the Apostles. There are also a couple of stories that are not found in other parts of the scriptures.
There is a story in this chapter that the Savior and His Apostles were walking towards Jerusalem and they entered and passed through Samaria. The scriptures state that Jesus sent a messenger ahead of Him so that the village would be ready to receive Him. However, they did not receive Him because, as the scriptures put it, He was just passing through on His way to Jerusalem. This made James and John very, very upset and actually asked Jesus for permission to call down fire from heaven to consume the village, like Elijah of old did. This is hardly comprehensible to me. I mean, they were a group of Jews traveling through Samaria, which we all know that the Jews and the Samaritans did not like each other, so it is hardly strange to think that when Jesus arrived the village was of the attitude of "So what?".
But it is just crazy to me that two of the Savior's Apostles would want to destroy an entire village for nothing more than a slight insult. Perhaps refusing a traveler aid in those days was worse than it seems to be today, but I still think it hardly warrants the destruction of the entire village. I mean for one thing there were innocent children in the village surely. James and John were nothing if not zealous. Jesus rebukes them for their desires though and reminds them that He is there to save lives, not take them. It must be a cultural difference because I cannot even imagine destroying a village just because they refused to show you the courtesy you expected. That is something that the bad guys in movies always do, not the good guys.
This chapter also makes me wonder about the things the Savior sometimes says in the scriptures. Again I wonder if it is a cultural difference that I am missing or perhaps a translation issue, but the scriptures have Jesus saying some really strange, and even harsh statements. I mean for one thing, it always seems to make Jesus seem like He is muttering to Himself. For example, in this chapter, there is the story of the devil that the Apostles could not cast out. And when the man told the Savior that His Apostles were not able to cast the devil out, Jesus' response was "Oh faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you, and suffer you?" And then He casts out the devil.
This just seems strange to me and it almost seems like something that someone with a bad or sour disposition would say. It strikes me as being an awful lot like muttering and the more I think about it, the more I wonder if it is a cultural difference of the time or perhaps a mistranslation or if there is more to the story than we have recorded, because that just does not seem like the kind of thing the Savior would say to me. It seems very lacking in compassion and as I compare it to my life it would seem to be the equivalent of say if one of my employees asked me a question and I give them the answer or perhaps even teach them the answer and then the next day they ask me the same question and instead of being patient and remind them that we went over this the day before and what did we say the answer was then, snapping at them and asking, "Are you just incapable of retaining information or what?" Now, there are definitely times when I feel like saying that with some of my employees, but it would be incredibly rude and quite petulant and so of course that is not what I say during such situations. That is why it seems kind of strange to me that some of the things it has Jesus recorded as saying seem so harsh and almost like complaining. Again perhaps it is nothing more than a cultural difference.
The same thing strikes me as being a bit strange when the Savior replies to what seem to be genuine statements. Now, the Savior obviously knows what is in our hearts and so He sees better than we do and understands better than we do what the people are truly saying, but His answers just seem strange at times. For example a man tells the Lord that He wants to follow Him and I presume be one of His disciples but needs to first return and bury his dead father. The Savior replies that the man needs to let the dead bury the dead and he needs to go preach the Kingdom of God. Now, that just seems like a really strange thing to say to me. As I was saying though, the Lord sees into the hearts of men and so perhaps there was more than just a desire to go bury his father in the man's request. And again, it could also be a cultural difference in how they talked back then.
Now the one statement that I can agree with and makes perfect sense to me is the last one. The man wants to go say goodbye to his family at his house and then will follow Jesus. Jesus replies that no man who has put his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the Kingdom of God. This one I can understand. We need to give it our all if we are going to serve the Lord. We can't have doubts and we need to make sure that we are fully committed to the Gospel. I am re-listening to this past April's General Conference as I drive to and from work and recently listened to Elder Dallin H. Oak's talk on desires. It is a great talk and I highly recommend it to everyone to re-read it, but in it Elder Oak talks about having the right kind of desires and to make sure that we are working towards those desires. Now that of course is a summary and does not begin to do the talk justice, but it is the same idea. If we are to desire something, we must do so with our whole hearts, including desiring the Kingdom of God. As we do so, we will find God helps us in ways we never dreamed of. We just need to make sure it is our real desire and that we are asking for God's help. Until tomorrow.
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