Luke 9:53

Because it was necessary that the true Lamb should there be offered, where the typical lamb was sacrificed; but it is said, he stedfastly set his face, that is, He went not here and there traversing the villages and towns, but kept on His way straight towards Jerusalem.

(v. Theophyl. in loc.) They thought it much juster that the Samaritans should perish for not admitting our Lord, than the fifty soldiers who tried to thrust down Elijah.

Mark that He was unwilling to be received by those who He knew had not turned to Him with a simple heart. For if He had wished, He might have made them devout, who were undevout. But God calls those whom He thinks worthy, and whom He wills He makes religious. But why they did not receive Him the Evangelist mentions, saying, Because his face was as if he would go to Jerusalem.

For they knew both that when Phineas had slain the idolaters it was counted to him for righteousness; (Numb. 25:8, Ps. 107:31) and that at the prayer of Elijah fire came down from heaven, that the injuries of the prophet might be avenged. (2 Kings 1:10, 12.)

But let him be avenged who fears. He who fears not, seeks not vengeance. At the same time the merits of the Prophets are likewise shown to have been in the Apostles, seeing that they claim to themselves the right of obtaining the same power of which the Prophet was thought worthy; and fitly do they claim that at their command fire should come down from heaven, for they were the sons of thunder.

But the Lord is not moved against them, that He might show that perfect virtue has no feeling of revenge, nor is there any anger where there is fulness of love. For weakness must not be thrust out, but assisted. Let indignation be far from the religious, let the high-souled have no desire of vengeance. Hence it follows, But he turned and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.

For we must not always punish the offender, since mercy sometimes does more good, leading thee to patience, the sinner to repentance. Lastly, those Samaritans believed the sooner, who were in this place saved from fire.

What is the meaning of what is written in the Gospel according to Luke: "And they did not receive him: because his face was going to Jerusalem" (Luke 9:53). Hastening, the Lord went to Jerusalem to fulfill the days of his assumption and to celebrate the Passover, about which he had said: "With desire I have desired to eat this Pasch with you, before I suffer" (Ibid. 22:15), and drink the cup, of which he said: "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" (John 18:11). He confirmed all his doctrine on the gallows, according to what is written: "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself." (Ibid. 12:32). He set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem. For it is necessary to have steadfastness and strength for one who is hurrying spontaneously toward passion. Hence to Ezekiel, to whom God had said: Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of scorpions, and art not afraid of them: I have made thy face strong against their face (Ezekiel 2:6 and 3:9); so that if perchance the hammer of the whole earth had risen up against him, he would be like a most enduring anvil and crush the hammer, of which it is written: "How is the hammer of the whole earth broken and shattered!" (Jeremiah 50:23) And he sent messengers, that is, Angels, before his sight (Luke 9:52). For it was fitting that the Angels should minister to the Son of God. Whether he calls the Apostles Angels, because even John, the precursor of the Lord, was called an Angel (Malachi 3:1; Matthew 11:10). And when they entered a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him, they did not receive him, because his face was going toward Jerusalem. The Samaritans and Jews are at odds with each other in enmity, and while all nations hate them, they are raging against each other with their own fury, while both contend for possession of the Law, and they persecute one another so much that after the Jews returned from Babylon, the Samaritans always obstructed the building of the Temple. And when even they wanted to build the Temple with them, the Jews replied: It is not lawful for us and you to build the Lord's house (1 Esdr. 4). Finally, for a great injury, the Pharisees reproached the Lord: Do you not have a demon, and are you not a Samaritan? (John 8.48). And in the parable of Jerusalem descending to Jericho, the Samaritan is placed as a sign and a miracle that he did good (Luke 10): and it is written to the Samaritan woman at the well: For Samaritans do not count themselves among the Jews (John 4.9). Therefore, the Samaritans seeing the Lord go towards Jerusalem, that is, to his enemies, as they had heard from his disciples who had come to prepare lodging, recognized him to be a Jew: and, as a Jew and a stranger, and one going to his enemies, they did not want to receive him. Although, with other understanding being submitted to us, it was the will of the Lord not to be received by the Samaritans, because he hastened to go to Jerusalem, where he was to suffer and shed his blood, so that, occupied with Samaritan hospitality and the teaching of that nation, he might not delay the day of suffering to which he had come. Hence he says in another place: "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 15:24). And he commanded the Apostles: "Do not enter the city of Samaria" (Ibid. 10:5), wishing to remove all occasion of Jewish persecution, so that they might not afterwards say, "We have crucified him," because he had joined himself to our enemies and adversaries. Therefore his face was set towards Jerusalem. And accordingly, by another interpretation, the Samaritans did not receive him: for he was hastening to enter Jerusalem. But that they did not receive him, was of the Lord's will. Finally, the Apostles, versed in the Law, in which they knew only justice- an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth- seek to avenge the injury, and to imitate Elijah, at whose word two captains of fifty soldiers were consumed by fire: and they say to the Lord: Wilt thou, we say, that fire should come down from heaven, and consume them? (Luke 9:51). Beautifully, they say, Wilt thou, we say: for even Elijah had said: If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven upon thee (2 Kings 1:10). Therefore, for the effectiveness of the speech of the Apostles, it is the will of the Lord. For if He had not commanded it, the Apostles would speak in vain, asking that fire descend upon them, and in other ways. If fire descended from heaven to the injury of Elijah's servants, and consumed the Jews and not the Samaritans, how much more should the flame rage against the impious Samaritans, to the contempt of the Son of God? The Lord, who had come not to judge but to save, not in power but in humility, not in the glory of the Father but in the lowliness of man, rebukes them because they have not remembered His doctrine and the goodness of the Gospel, in which He said: 'If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also' (Matt. 5:39) and 'Love your enemies' (Luke 6:35).

It also benefited them in another way. They were to be the instructors of the whole world and to travel through the cities and villages, proclaiming everywhere the good tidings of salvation. Of necessity, while seeking to fulfill their mission, they must fall in with wicked people who would reject the divine tidings and not receive Jesus to stay with them.… Christ rebuked them for their own good when they were enraged beyond measure at the hatred of the Samaritans. He did this so they might learn that as ministers of the divine tidings, they must rather be full of longsuffering and gentleness, not revengeful. They must not be given to wrath or savagely attack those who offend them.

When the time was near at hand in which it behoved our Lord to accomplish His life-giving Passion, and ascend up to heaven, He determines to go up to Jerusalem, as it is said, And it came to pass, &c.

And He sends messengers to make a place for Him and His companions, who when they came to the country of the Samaritans were not admitted, as it follows, And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and altered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. And they did not receive him.

But our Lord, Who knew all things before they came to pass, knowing that His messengers would not be received by the Samaritans, nevertheless commanded them to go before Him, because it was His practice to make all things conduce to the good of His disciples. Now He went up to Jerusalem as the time of His suffering drew near. In order then that they might not be offended, when they saw Him suffer, bearing in mind that they must also endure patiently when men persecute them, He ordained beforehand as a kind of prelude this refusal of the Samaritans. It was good for them also in another way. For they were to be the teachers of the world, going through towns and villages, to preach the doctrine of the Gospel, meeting sometimes with men who would not receive the sacred doctrine, allowing not that Jesus sojourned on earth with them. He therefore taught them, that in announcing the divine doctrine, they ought to be filled with patience and meekness, without bitterness, and wrath, and fierce enmity against those who had done any wrong to them. But as yet they were not so, nay, being stirred up with fervid zeal, they wished to bring down fire from heaven upon them. It follows, And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, will thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, &c.

It would be false to affirm that our Savior did not know what was about to happen, because he knows all things. He knew, of course, that the Samaritans would not receive his messengers. There can be no doubt of this. Why then did he command them to go before him? It was his custom to benefit diligently the holy apostles in every possible way, and because of this, it was his practice sometimes to test them.… On this occasion, he also tested them. He knew that the Samaritans would not receive those who went forward to announce that he would stay with them. He still permitted them to go that this again might be a way of benefiting the holy apostles.What was the purpose of this occurrence? He was going up to Jerusalem, as the time of his passion was already drawing near. He was about to endure the scorn of the Jews. He was about to be destroyed by the scribes and Pharisees and to suffer those things that they inflicted upon him when they went to accomplish all of violence and wicked boldness. He did not want them to be offended when they saw him suffering. He also wanted them to be patient and not to complain greatly, although people would treat them rudely. He, so to speak, made the Samaritans’ hatred a preparatory exercise in the matter. They had not received the messengers.…
For their benefit, he rebuked the disciples and gently restrained the sharpness of their wrath, not permitting them to grumble violently against those who sinned. He rather persuaded them to be patient and to cherish a mind that is unmovable by anything like this.

Let then the Heathen cease to mock the Crucified, as if He were a man, who it is plain, as God, both foresaw the time of His crucifixion, and going voluntarily to be crucified, sought with stedfast face, that is, with resolute and undaunted mind, the spot where He was to be crucified.

Or the Samaritans see that our Lord is going to Jerusalem, and do not receive Him. For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans, (John 4:9.) as John shows.

For holy men who well knew that that death which detaches the soul from the body was not to be feared, still because of their feelings who feared it, punished some sins with death, that both the living might be struck with a wholesome dread, and those who were punished with death might receive harm not from death itself but from sin, which would be increased were they to live.

The Lord blames them, not for following the example of the holy Prophet, but for their ignorance in taking vengeance while they were yet inexperienced, perceiving that they did not desire correction from love, but vengeance from hatred. After that He had taught them what it was to love their neighbour as themselves, and the Holy Ghost also had been infused into them, there were not lacking these punishments, though far less frequent than in the Old Testament, because the Son of man came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. As if He said, And do you therefore who are sealed with His Spirit, imitate also His actions, now determining charitably, hereafter judging justly.

But if one understands that they did not receive Him for this reason, because He had determined to go to Jerusalem, an excuse is found for them, who did not receive Him. But we must say, that in the words of the Evangelist, And they did not receive him, is implied that He did not go into Samaria, but afterwards as if some one had asked St. Luke, he explained in these words, why they did not receive Him. And He went not to them, i. e. not that He was unable, but that He did not wish to go there, but rather to Jerusalem.