18: Casting Fire from Heaven

(… continuation of post 17)

Jesus named John the Evangelist and his brother James: “Boanerges”, which means “sons of Thunder” (see Mark 3:17). Indeed, one day, when they saw some Samaritans not welcoming Jesus to their village, they said to Jesus "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?" (Luke 9:54) They are alluding to Elijah's action in the first book of Kings, casting Fire from Above over the Sacrifice he prepared, to prove that YHWH is the Real God (see 1Kings 18:20-39).

Jesus did turn and rebuked them (see Luke 9:55). One would think that this reputation of being “sons of Thunder” or wanting to emulate Elijah's epic action with the Prophets of Baal will be dropped, or leave John's mind. On the contrary, if we deepen our reading of Elijah's account and John's Gospel, we'll find that in fact John is the New Elijah, the realisation and fulfilment of the Prophecy, in Jesus. In fact Jesus didn't come to abolish the Prophets, but indeed, He came to give Prophecy all its fulfilment, in Him (see Mt 5:17).

After Jesus' rebuke, John didn't drop his fascination by Elijah and by what he did with the prophets of Baal. He certainly dropped a violent interpretation of it, but not the whole thing. John admired Elijah's closeness to God, the intensity and quality of his Prophecy, and wanted to deepen his epic action of “casting the divine Fire”. He did understand that if Jesus named him: “son of Thunder” he'll have to deepen the meaning of it, and not simply and cowardly drop it. He got the point that Elijah was a figure, and that with Jesus, the Reality arrived, and reached completion and that he had to find it out.

He certainly meditated on this epic passage of Elijah's action: 1Kings 18:20-39.

What did this meditation bring to him? The deepening of “Real Prophecy”, the passage from the pale figure to the intense fulfilled reality: the Prophecy in the New Covenant. Meditating Elijah's action brought him to compare the Old, imperfect Prophecy, with the New one. He went through the text, and asked himself with Elijah:

1- Who is the Real God?

2- What is (who is) the Real Fire?

3- How then can we receive it?

4- Can he, John, as a Prophet of the New Covenant, do the same: cast the Divine Fire from Above?

5- If so, how can he do it?

In fact, he will become able to do it. And, when he'll write his Gospel, he'll offer us the state of the art of Prophecy, as the result of years of experience and deepening of Jesus Mission.

1- The real revealed God is Jesus himself.

2- The Real Fire, is the Holy Spirit, the Life of God.

3- We can receive the Holy Spirit by believing that Jesus is God, giver of the Holy Spirit.

4- John will embody the Prophecy of the New Covenant. He'll be able to enter in Jesus side, and drink abundantly His Holy Spirit. He'll experience the fact that when one receives the Holy Spirit, he/she is transformed in Jesus, and “rivers of Living Water will flow from his belly” (John 7:38), serving his brothers and sister with this Divine Water (or Fire).

5- John will engineer his message (his Gospel) as a journey of transformation of Jesus' follower, through 6 steps of purification (the 6 signs), so he/she can access in fullness Jesus opened side, receive the Water and Blood, and transmit them to his brethren.

John will draw the state of the Art of “how to become a Prophet” under the New Covenant. He'll show the way to Jesus' follower so he/she can find the Divine Ladder that gives him/her access to the Side of Jesus, the real "Heaven Opened", and then "ascend and descend on the Son of Man", "ascending", reaching his divinity, drawing the Fire of Love from His Side, and "descending", bringing that Same Fire to his Brethren.

“I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." (John 1:51)

Jacob's Ladder

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