When I watch the news these days, I sometimes feel a real kinship with Jesus’ disciples, James and John. Given the awful scenes we’ve been subjected to lately, you might suspect that my connection to them has to do with the nickname Jesus gave the two brothers early in their relationship with Him. He called them “Boanerges,” a transliterated Aramaic term which Mark interpreted for us as “Sons of Thunder.” Jesus didn’t elaborate on why He chose that appellation, and although the name could have indicated something positive and powerful, for many, when the “Sons of Thunder” are mentioned, their minds go immediately to an event that took place on Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem.
An Offensive Encounter ~
Luke records the event and tells us that as Jesus and His followers traveled, representatives were sent ahead to secure the hospitality and lodging that were customarily offered to travelers in that day. In the course of that process, they encountered an unidentified Samaritan village that flatly refused to receive Jesus or to provide the
hospitality and refreshments that would normally have been offered (Luke 9:51-56). Even though religious discrimination and a sense of general disdain existed between Jews and Samaritans in that day, blatant refusal to extend those basic considerations was shocking. Such a thing would have been insultingly offensive to the travelers and shameful for the entire village. To say that it would have been socially and culturally unacceptable would be a major understatement.
To describe the brothers’ reaction in the vernacular of our day, we might say that the Sons of Thunder were “triggered”. For the Samaritans to deny the cultural mandate to extend hospitality was bad enough, but their rejection expressed something much worse. The disciples’ Master, the most powerful and authoritative Rabbi Israel would ever see, was being treated as someone socially unclean and unworthy of the most basic respect. As the implications of the offensive behavior sank in, the stormy brothers recalled another incident in Israel’s history when God’s personal representative didn’t get the deference and respect He deserved.
Calling for More Fire ~
In that episode, instead of summoning the prophet Elijah with the dignity and respect his position warranted, Israel’s ungodly King Ahaziah sent a squad of soldiers to fetch him by force (II Kings 1:1-15). What seemed like a simple mission took a nasty turn as Elijah 
called on God to validate his anointed position and the divine authority that went with it by sending down fire from heaven. That fire consumed the squad of soldiers and their captain – and Elijah did it not once, but twice. Perhaps Jesus’ deeply offended disciples thought that if disrespecting a prophet deserved a fiery response like that, surely subjecting the Son of God to public shame would be enough to warrant doing it again!
When I said earlier that watching the news tends to kick in that sense of kinship with the Sons of Thunder, I was, of course, referring to their response in that incident with the Samaritans. Witnessing the endless parade of lies, deceit, and violent anarchy, my reactions range from outrage, to deep grief, to inexpressible exasperation. When everything God ordained is mocked and cast aside as worthless and repulsive, it’s hard not to join in with the Sons of Thunder and think that some fiery judgment would be appropriate. But the problem for them, and for us, is that Jesus doesn’t see it that way. Luke records His response like this:
But He [Jesus] turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of.” (Luke 9:55 NKJV)
An Unexpected Reaction ~
The language in our English Bibles doesn’t convey the tone of Jesus’ response. He was very likely angry but at the least, His comment was very intense. The word, “rebuked,” that Luke used, for instance, is the same word often used in describing Jesus’ engagement with
unclean spirits that He was casting out. But more important than the intense tone of Jesus’ response to the disciples is what He actually said, which had to do with who they were and the nature of the Spirit they would be working with.
When the Sons of Thunder presented their suggestion, Jesus didn’t give them a lecture on mastering the nuances of cultural diplomacy. Instead, He immediately zeroed in on the core issue, which was their relationship with the Spirit of God. When Jesus said that they didn’t know what manner of Spirit they were of, that word, manner indicates something both extraordinarily significant – and extraordinarily powerful. If we were to put the scene in the context of our world, we might see Jesus wheeling around, facing James and John and with furrowed brow and clenched teeth, saying something like: “You guys have no idea who you are and how incredible the Spirit is that you’re associated with.”
Getting to the Root of the Problem ~
Jesus was basically saying that the nature of the conflict underlying the Samaritan situation and all the others that would confront His followers is spiritual, not physical. That demands that if resolution to the conflict is to be achieved, the response must be 
spiritual, as well. But the question is, how does that work, and what does that really mean in practice? When confronted with the kinds of evil we see every day on the streets of our cities and that lurk like predators in our digital devices, does a “spiritual” response mean that we just pray and wait for things to get better? Or did Jesus have something else in mind?
We all know the answer to that question, don’t we? An insurrection of evil had invaded the very world God created and continues to do that every moment of every day. Jesus sent us to carry out a mission of spiritual counter-insurrection and to bring His Kingdom and all its benefits to life in this world. Matthew describes to us how He planned to do it:
All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. (Matthew 28:18–20 NKJV)
An Insurgency at Work ~
Our current moral wasteland is the result of the devil’s emissaries systematically infiltrating our culture with ideas, values, behaviors, practices, language, music, and relational patterns that were radically different and considered unacceptable. Though their views and behaviors were condemned and initially rejected, they kept doing them anyway. They infused their radical ideas into everything they did and planted them like seeds wherever they went. Little by little, they gained acceptance and the culture around them began to change. That’s how insurgency works.
Jesus’ Church was born in a nation occupied by an oppressive foreign power. Jesus’ followers had no army, no weapons, and no political leverage, yet they were soon accused of turning the world upside down and eventually became one of the forces contributing to
the collapse of the world’s most powerful empire. That didn’t happen because they exercised better political and diplomatic strategies. It happened because followers like James and John finally got to see what Jesus meant by that comment about the Spirit back in Samaria. The Sons of Thunder had wanted some fire to fall in response to their Master’s enemies, and on Pentecost, it finally did.
In response to the focused prayers of His committed followers, Jesus sent that incredible Spirit they hadn’t gotten to know yet. Unlike the fiery judgment the brothers envisioned, the Spirit that Jesus sent has been empowering His followers, confronting His enemies, and changing the world for 2,000 years. He’s the Author, the energizer, of radical, life-changing attitudes and behaviors it takes to shake the foundations of the devil’s empire.
In case we, like James and John, haven’t really known Him in an active, personal way, some examples of the Spirit sent to indwell and empower us and what He is like follow below. These are the kinds of counter-insurgency tactics God uses to change lives and transform cultures:
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. (Galatians 5:22–23 NKJV)
Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:8–10 NKJV)
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7.NKJV)
For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” (Romans 8:15 NKJV)
And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18 NKJV)
So, instead of allowing the news to fill us with all kinds of awful things (as I’ve been so prone to do), let’s allow the fire of the Holy Spirit that Jesus sent us to infuse His radical, life-changing, hope-inspiring nature into everything we live out and say to those who don’t yet know Him. That’s how an effective counter-insurgency works – and that’s how evil gets defeated and worlds get changed.
“TWEETABLES” ~ Click to tweet and share from the quotes below. Each one links directly back to this article through Twitter . . .
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- Our current moral wasteland is the result of the devil’s emissaries systematically infiltrating our culture with ideas, values, behaviors, practices, language, music, and relational patterns that were radically different and unacceptable. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- Unlike the fiery judgment that James and John, the Sons of Thunder, had envisioned, the Spirit that Jesus sent has been empowering His followers, confronting His enemies, and changing the world for 2,000 years. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
- The Spirit has been empowering His followers, confronting His enemies, and changing the world for 2,000 years. He’s the Author, the energizer, of radical, life-changing attitudes and behaviors it takes to shake the foundations of the devil’s empire. @GallaghersPen (Click here to Tweet)
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