Daily Reflection

They say that scripture is the best interpreter of scripture. That could, in the case of this especially harsh Johannine passage with its characteristically sharp divisions, bring to mind the rejection Jesus and his disciples were shown as they sojourned through a particularly stubborn Samaritan village and the suggestion offered by the brothers, James and John (perhaps the same John who authored the Gospel and Epistles that bear his name?), to command fire from heaven to burn up the village (Luke 9:53-54). So what was Christ’s response? “You do not know what spirit you are of, for the Son of Man has not come to destroy the lives of humans but to save them” (Luke 9:55-56). Glory be!