NOTES for Luk 9:51-56

We do not know what spirit we are of. Today the possibility of judgment does not surprise us; we readily judge not only in our own name but also in the name of Christians, in the name of the whole Church. We often hear: “the holy fathers say...,” or “the Pope said,” and so on. In the name of the Church, we accuse people of sins without seeing the log in our own eye. Every denomination has had periods when people were killed in the name of the Church: the Inquisition, the struggle against the Old Believers, religious wars...

In this text we see that, even while Jesus was with them, the apostles wanted to destroy in His name those who had not received Him. This was a manifestation of love for Him, but not of true love. After all, love for God is impossible without love for one’s neighbor. We do not know what spirit we are of, but we know for certain that Machiavelli was wrong when he wrote, “The end justifies the means.” Love for one’s Teacher and God cannot be imposed through violence. Violence can achieve nothing, least of all love. God and violence are incompatible. God died for every inhabitant of that Samaritan village who did not receive Him; He also died for each of the apostles, He died for Judas, He died for each of us, and no one but Him can judge.