Gentling the Sons of Thunder...and Me
“Why doesn't God send fire from heaven and strike them down?”
I'm ashamed of my outburst. It was an impulsive response to the nationwide vitriol over the Roe vs. Wade reversal. When even some Christians indignantly protested the reversal, I was sick, confused, and admittedly angry. It wasn't the wisest time to open my mouth, but that, once again, did not stop me.
You'll be glad to know I don't generally ask God to annihilate large portions of the population, and when I do, I am justly humbled in the end, praise God for his mercies.
That same evening, we went to church where Pastor shared a story from Luke 9 about the Sons of Thunder, the Boanerges. You know them as James and John, the sons of Zebedee. How I love those boys! Except for the muscles and the beards and the fact that they're men and Jewish, they're completely relatable—emotional, impassioned, and a little over-the-top sometimes in their desire to right the world's wrongs.
Do you remember the story of Jesus and his disciples heading to Jerusalem through Samaria? The Samaritans shot a few unpleasant words at our Jewish friends. What did the Sons of Thunder do? What would you do if people disparaged your Savior? What do you do when people have a thing or two to say against your pet Christian cause? What is your response when someone disagrees with your religious, political, societal, relational, or even medical views or values?
James and John asked Jesus, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”
Really? Call down fire? Not share some facts or pray for them or, I don't know, leave it to Jesus who was standing right there? No. Call down fire. Who would even say that?
Uh, besides me.
We all have a bit of the Thunder in us, don't we? And we justify it.
When the Samaritans attacked Jesus, the Sons of Thunder jumped into the fray to stick up for their Jesus. When we get into a heated debate on social media over abortion or the meaning of marriage, we're sticking up for our Jesus, right? When we doggedly preach respect and submission, forgetting humility and love, because a spouse or child disagrees with our opinion, we're upholding Biblical tenets, right? When we argue with just-trying-to-feed-my-family, minimum-wage employees about mask policies in front of our children, we're teaching them to stand for our God-given freedom, right? When we throw fighting words around over vaccinations, school issues, or the second amendment, we're protecting God's precious little ones, right? Right?
Let's see how Jesus responded to his boys.
Did the omniscient Son of God, the One who loves justice, the One who defines truth, pat James and John on the back and humbly thank them for their support? Did he set them up as an example of bravery and righteousness? Did he condone their zeal? No. No! Quite the opposite! He condemned their actions! He rebuked them in front of their enemies. Over and over in his life, Jesus quietly let the enemy spit on him, but he did not let his children retaliate in kind—not once.
Jesus said to the brothers in the King James, “Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of,” and in the Evangelical Heritage Version, “You don’t know what kind of spirit is influencing you.”
Wow.
Here we are throwing ourselves into the fray like James and John; we completely justify it as being in defense of Jesus, of his people, of a proper understanding of God, of justice. We're Christian warriors! The enemy must be destroyed. And Jesus is saying, “No. Stand down. Be still. In your fight against sin, you are allowing yourself to be controlled by sin.”
In our Christian zeal to fight for Jesus, we are in reality distracted from Jesus. “The manner of spirit ye are of” is vengeance, control, offense, anger, confusion, self-righteousness, mistrust, a faulty world view, a misguided Biblical view, hurt, despair, impatience, fear… .
Is that the spirit God calls us to? Of course not.
I need to hear from Jesus, right about now, don't you? “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10 (KJV)
Timothy says it this way in the NIV: “This is a trustworthy saying, worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.” I Timothy 1:15
Jesus came to save the abortion-defending people I want to call fire down upon just as much as he came to save me with my own set of equally sickening faults.
But...but...but...the people are sinning! God hates sin! We have to do something.
True. The issue isn't that the Sons of Thunder were zealous, that they were on Jesus' side, that they wanted what was right—none of those things. The issue was in their hearts. They did not radiate the fruit of the spirit. They failed to feed souls or plant seeds with gentleness, patience, or kindness. Love was crowded out by anger and retribution.
Does this mean we should never address sin? Of course it doesn't. Galatians 6 and Matthew 18 give clear instructions on calling out our brothers and sisters in faith when they sin. But calling believers out on their sin and calling down fire on unbelievers are two different “callings.” One is commanded by God and the other is condemned by God.
What can we do to be sure our spirits are guided by God rather than by our sinful nature? Here are some thoughts to consider before we act or speak:
Have we prayed for guidance and quietly sought an answer? Often our hearts will be settled when we bring the issue before the Lord or seek guidance from a wise, calm, prayerful Christian.
Is our passion moved by love? James, John, and I wanted to strike the dissenters down. That's more like a Crusaders moment than a “love thy neighbor moment.”
Are we answering a fool in his folly? Fools, trolls, swine, whatever you want to call them--joining in their folly is entirely useless and repeatedly warned against in Scripture.
Is our response sinful? In our anger, passion, grief, or worldliness, are we sinning, as I did, against the same Lord we are trying to defend?
Does it matter? Considering eternity, does your issue matter?
Which Jesus are you showing? Just as we don't want to reflect the winking, sin-accepting Jesus, we don't want to be those Christians who drive others away from salvation. Do we address sin? Yes, absolutely speak truth! But we must do so without sinning ourselves. It's a difficult balance for mere mortals, so keep the prayer lines and the Bibles open.
Too often we think that being loyal to Jesus means throwing punches for him, when instead it means suffering with him, sometimes in silence, sometimes with gentle words. We know this in our heads, but we still leap in with thunder fists clenched. Will we never learn?
Take heart. We can grow in gentleness of spirit and proper support of our Savior as the Sons of Thunder grew. James eventually became such a powerful evangelist and threat to the enemy that he was the first of the apostles to be martyred—killed by the sword under Herod's command. (If that wrenching apart of brothers doesn't move you to tears....) And John—good old two-fisted John—became the apostle of love. There's hope for all of us, my friends, even me.
I leave you with this fragment of the song “A Gentle Word” from my husband, Stephen Bautista:
speak to them in love
let compassion run
through their walls of hurt
as you try to make it through
their hardened point of view
nothing else can break the barriers down
like a gentle word
God bless us all on our journey.