Note: On Tuesdays and some Sundays, you can find me at Your Daily Tripod, owned by my friend TonyD. A longer version of the post below appears there.
When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; but they did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But he turned and rebuked them. Then they went on to another village. (Luke 9:51-56, NRSVCE)
You know they were trying to be helpful, James and John. Really, they were. Their friend had been disrespected. But they still didn’t get that things happened for a 
reason, that Jesus’s rejection by the Samaritan village and others was part of the prophecy and that later, they too would find themselves unwelcome and persecuted in ways perhaps beyond their imaginations.
They were boastful too, boastful and egotistical and full of themselves, those sons of Zebedee who were not only jockeying for position with Jesus, but sure they could personally give a shout and have God destroy an entire village.
Small wonder, then, that Jesus rebuked them.
We try to be helpful too. Really, we do. We give the Lord all kinds of ideas on how He can do His work in a way a bit more pleasing and timely from our viewpoint. We’re boastful too, boastful and egotistical and full of ourselves, telling God He’ll have some explaining to do when—when—we get to heaven about the way He answered or didn’t answer our prayers.
Small wonder, then, that from time to time, we are rebuked.
