Homily 700 – 11APE
Holy Transfiguration Orthodox Church, Ames, Iowa
August 16, 2026
Epistle:  (141) 1 Corinthians 9:2-12 and (250) Colossians 1:12-18
Gospel:  (77) Matthew 18:23-35 and (48-ctr) Luke 9:51-56; 10:22-24

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, One God.

James and John probably didn’t realize they were making a horrible confession to Christ.

Christ was heading through Samaria, and the people there refused to receive Christ.  So James and John, sons of Thunder that they were, asked Christ if they should call down fire from heaven to destroy them.  That’s what Elijah did, after all.

James and John are referring to Elijah’s experience found in 2 Kings 1, which in the Septuagint is the book of 4 Kingdoms 1.  It is a strange passage.  After the death of King Ahab, his son Ahaziah became king over Israel.  Now, Ahaziah it is said in the last verses of 3 Kingdoms, “did evil before the Lord.  He walked in the way of his father Ahab and in the way of Jezebel his mother and in the sins of the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin.  He served the Ba’als and worshiped them.  He provoked the Lord God of Israel just as all those who were before him.”

King Ahaziah ended up falling through the lattice in his upper room in Samaria, and became injured, apparently severely.  He commanded that the Ba’al-zebub, god of Ekron, should be consulted to learn if he would live or die.

The story is fairly lengthy, so I’ll try to condense it a bit.  Basically, God tells Elijah to go and confront the messengers.  His message was pretty simple – why are you consulting with Ba’al-zebub?  Is it because there is no God in Israel?  Do you not have access to your God?

In this process, two groups of messengers – both commanders of 50 soldiers – heard Elijah say, “If I am a man of God, let fire descend from heaven and devour you and your fifty men.”  And so it happened.  Twice.

This is what John and James were asking about – should they be Elijah to the evil Samaritans, and call down fire to destroy them.  What Jesus does is a lesson to us all.  He rebuked James and John.  The word there is more powerful than rebuke, actually.  Latterly, the word is “he gave reproach to them.”  It is the same word that is used when Christ rebukes Peter saying “Get behind me, Satan.”  It is the same word used to describe the command given to demons when they are being cast out.

In other words, the Apostles kinda stepped in it this time.

Christ goes on to say, “You do not know of what kind of spirit you are.”  We do know – demonic!  Christ continues, “The Son of Man did not come to destroy people’s lives, but to save them.”

And here brothers and sisters is the lesson for us, right now, today.

How many of us want to fight the heresy in the world?  How many of us want to be good soldiers in the spiritual warfare we encounter?  How many of us would love to be the ones to call down fire from Heaven and destroy the enemies of God?

Or, in a more realistic world, how many of us want to tell others how to be followers of Christ?  How many of us want to be elevated to the point of being identified as God’s messengers and prophets?  To be lauded and congratulated in the Churches for our holiness and for our efforts on behalf of the Gospel of Christ?

On some level, we all do.  Me especially, may God forgive me.  I like being right.  I like being a know-it-all.  But what I’m realizing now, and have been for the past few years, is that like James and John in this passage, I’m all thunder.  All bluster.  I don’t know anything.

Far be it from me to criticize anyone other than myself for anything.  I realize that while I’ve had a proper education and proper formation in the Orthodox Church, I am no more an authority on being a Christian than the evil one himself.

So what am I to do?  What are we to do?

First of all, and this is very relevant for those who pay attention to the news I think, we have to recognize that no matter how it appears to us, Christ loves every single human being.  Period.

The Lieutenant Governor of Indiana spoke from a pulpit this past week and went moderately viral for preaching a Gospel of Hate – his words, not mine.  He placed himself squarely with James and John.

What the Lord – our Lord, our Master, to whom we are enslaved and are bound to obey – what the Lord tells us is that He didn’t come to destroy, but to save.  To heal.  To give life, not take it.

He says this about all life, not just the Samaritans – but it is very important the context here.  Of all the peoples, the ones most hated by the Jews were probably the Samaritans.  They were fallen Jews – heretics – ones who betrayed the God-given faith.  And yet, Christ protects them.

How much more must we protect the heretics and schismatics of our day?

We do this not through engaging nor correcting them.  We do this by working inside.  They are not our enemy – we are.  Like the old comic goes, we have met the enemy and he is us.  Never is that more true than in the Christian life.

We can and should be prepared to give a reason for ourselves.  Why do we love others so radically?  Why do we give so radically?  Why do we live so radically?

But the correction of others is not our job.  Our job is to be radically obsessed with Christ, and no other.  Christ doesn’t care what anyone else has done or what they believe – and neither should we.  We accept everyone as a person that God loves.

A fallen person, to be sure.  As am I.  As are you.  We are all fallen.  Who is righteous?  No, not one.  So God welcomes all – Christ dies for all.  The publican, the Pharisee, the prostitute, the exploiter, the greedy, the gluttonous.  We all have our fallen manifestations.

But in the Church, we find the way of life:  Deny your pride, pick up the cross which crucifies your ego, and behave like Christ.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, One God. Glory to Jesus Christ!