The Son of God had come to do His Father’s will—whatever the cost. This holy will led Him to Jerusalem, where He was to suffer and be crucified. He knew everything that would happen to Him there. But nothing and no one could dissuade Him from the path of obedience. With great determination He set His face to go to Jerusalem (Lk. 13:34; 9:53).

Before He set out, He sent messengers before Him. They were to make preparations for Him in a Samaritan village (9:52). The Lord had already done much good in Samaria. Many had been saved there. You might have expected that the people there would be friendly towards Him. But far from it! Instead of giving Him a friendly welcome, they rejected Him. How did the disciples react to this? They said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” (9:54). They had only one thing in mind: revenge and retaliation! In Jesus, on the other hand, we see a completely different spirit. He did not impute their transgression to these people (2 Cor. 5:19), for He had not come to resist evil, but to overcome evil with good. He rebuked His disciples and accepted the Samaritans’ rejection with meekness, without grumbling or rebelling in any way. It simply says, “And they went to another village.” Undeterred, He continued on His way to Jerusalem—regardless of the applause or opposition of the people.

How often we discover our behavior resembles that of the disciples! How quickly we are inclined to react harshly when we are wronged and people treat us dismissively. Yet God’s Word specifically calls us not to repay evil with evil (Rom. 12:19; 1 Pet. 3:9), but to show gentleness and meekness towards all people (Phil. 4:5; Tit. 3:2). The meek man who is able to subdue his anger is strong and victorious (Prov. 16:32). Giving in to our anger is easy. But to resist anger and “overcome evil with good” is truly Christian.