Luke 4:26-27 (ESV)
[26] and Elijah was sent to none
of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a
widow. [27] And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet
Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
Jesus had just declared himself
Messiah by reading from a passage in Isaiah 61 and then declaring that the passage
was fulfilled that day before them. He then went on to mention Elijah and
Elisha. The crowd became angry and tried to throw him off a cliff. The thing
that incensed them was not his declaration, but his reference to Gentiles
(non-Jews) receiving provision and healing through the prophets. Surely Messiah
was for the Jews. Messiah, the Christ, would come to deliver them, heal them,
restore them. In doing so he would certainly destroy the Gentiles who were
their oppressors living in their land.
That is convicting. God is often at
work in the lives of the ones we would prefer to avoid Like Jonah, he is often
calling us to minister and serve those we don’t like, those who are different
from us, those who are weird, or dangerous, or who make us feel uncomfortable. Like
the crowds, we can reject his plan and try to throw it over the cliff along
with him, or we can listen, and watch God do incredible things in ways we would
never expect. Are we listening?
Comments
Post a Comment