Changi Chapel

Are you a prophet or a performer?

In Luke 4;24, we see Jesus testify that “No prophet is accepted in his own country”. What did he mean? Prophets tend to be unpopular (and unwelcome) simply because they speak the truth with a forthrightness that does not always endear them to people!

Prophets are given to “comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable”. They challenge the status quo and want to drive change for the better.

And the two examples about Elijah and Elisha that Jesus referred to in the synagogue that day, was rather unsettling and convicting to those present. And the pushback was palpable!

Performers on the other hand are always welcomed and appreciated – even in their own country! In fact they are often celebrated first in their own native place for delighting and entertaining their own.

Will we like Jesus be forthright in speaking the truth or will we pander to the crowds?

2. Does God’s choice confuse or confound you at times?

Jesus in Luke 4:28 referred to Elijah who saved a widow from death and Elisha who healed a leper. That God would be more kind to foreigners than to the children of Israel made the listeners mad at Jesus.

They were the “chosen people” and that God would by-pass them was unthinkable and heresy to those who heard Him.

God’s sovereign choices are not always logical or predictable. He chose to care for the widow in Sarepta by-passing the many widows in Israel suffering during the famine. He chose to heal Naaman the leper, ignoring the many lepers in Israel at that time.

Why would God do that? Simply because God is God and His choices can at times be confounding to us. He chose a shepherd called David to become a King and young captive called Daniel to become a President and a prisoner called Joseph to become a Prime Minister.

Not very logical but His purposes prevailed through each of their lives.

Will we accept God’s sovereign choices for our life or demand He does what we want?

3. No man will die before his time has come….

In Luke 4:30 we read how those who heard Jesus that day were so mad at Him, that they determined to kill Him by “casting Him headlong” from the brow of a hill.

They were a sizeable crowd and Jesus was defenseless when He was surrounded by those with a murderous intent. And if they had their way, He would have been killed on that day. But His time had not yet come to die (on the cross) and no man could harm Him till then!

We see how in Luke 4:30 “He passing through them went His way”. What does that mean? Jesus miraculously did a “disappearing act” and they were left groping to find Him amongst the crowd!

In Acts 8:20 we similarly see God snatch Philip and transport him to another location, when he “disappeared” after baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch.

Will we rest assured that none of us will die till our time has come?

John B. Samuel