Is Jesus Prejudice?

Luke 9:51-56

I often have thought of the story where Jesus and the disciples entered into a Samaritan city. When they asked for lodging, they were refused. Jesus knew the answer, but still James and John (aptly named the Sons of Thunder) proposed the calling of fire from Heaven to consume the villagers.

Just as Jesus knew the heart condition of the people in the village; so He knew the hearts of these two men...

This was another strange proposal for the disciples of Jesus after years of following Him. In fact John would have been witness to the woman at the well's meeting with Jesus when He told her of the new era to come. How it shows the best are to learn so slow!

"How startling, again to think of this same John, a year or two after the date of this suggestion, going down from Jerusalem and preaching the gospel of Jesus the crucified in 'many of the villages of the Samaritans,' possibly in this very village which he desired to see destroyed!" The Training of the Twelve, A. B. Bruce, pg. 242.

But Jesus was not prejudice against the disciples as a result of their tempered responses at the time. He knew what they would come to be. Jesus loved the heart of the men whom they would become.

"The zeal of the son of thunder did not disappear from John's nature after he became an apostle; it only became tempered by the light of wisdom, and softened by the heat of love....in his later years he knew better what to hate-- the objects of his abhorrence being hypocrisy, apostasy, and Laodicean insincerity; not as of old, mere ignorant rudeness and clownish incivility." pg. 242

All of us have something from our past which is lurking within. It's called our old nature. It wrestles for its attention and demands its place in our new life. It calls for retribution when hurt, getting the last word in during a conversation, pushing the limits of the legal boundaries. It is the worst of us... We are prejudice to only the things that matter to us.

Some how do we change and become the person that Christ can use and glorify His Kingdom? Here is the key. Submit your life to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! This means taking our time to diligently study the Scriptures and ask ourselves the hard questions. How do I respond to this situation which will honor God instead of doing it the same way I have before? Praying and asking God to reveal our hearts; showing us what they really look like in that area. Asking godly friends and family to help us with our struggles as we seek to follow Christ in a real and personal way.

These are attainable goals for each us which can be started now. Don't wait until the new year. You can begin now! Remember, Jesus sees the goodness in you and what you will become as a child of God, but it only because of what He has done in you. Now, give way to that change and let it happen!