Prophet
Read Matthew 13:24-58.
There are a lot of names and titles we use to refer to Jesus. King. Lord. Savior. Holy One. Rabbi. But rarely do I hear people use a word of him that he uses of himself. In this section, he calls himself a prophet.
Now, when we think of "prophet," we're usually looking for someone to tell us what is going to happen in the future. Jesus doesn't do any of that in this chapter, in these parables. Maybe that's why we don't think of this word in relation to him. However, as it always is, the problem is not with Jesus. It's with us.
We think of "prophet" wrongly. In the Bible, a prophet is less concerned about "fore-telling" as he is with "forth-telling." In other words, Biblical prophets only tell the future as it has an impact on the present. They are called to speak the word of God for the people of God in this present moment, and sometimes they say something like, "This will happen if you don't change your ways." Fore-telling is secondary to the work of a prophet. More often, they speak the difficult word, the word we don't want to hear, the challenge we don't want to accept.
So Jesus comes to his hometown, perhaps sharing some of the same stories (parables) Matthew has just told us about, and the people are upset. "Who does he think he is?" they ask. "He grew up among us! Why in the world does he suddenly think he's some sort of prophet? His family is here, and he's no better than us." You see, Nazareth in the first century was not a "center of the world" place. It was a nothing place. It doesn't even appear on ancient town lists. And so here comes Jesus, back to this place where he was raised, preaching the kingdom of heaven. Yet, even those who lived there knew that nothing good comes from Nazareth (cf. John 1:46). A prophet? A man of God? Those sorts of folks come out of Jerusalem, not Nazareth. "And they took offense at him," Matthew says (13:57).
Luke says they did more than that. They tried to run him off of a cliff (cf. Luke 4). They literally threw him out of town. And that's why Jesus says a prophet is without honor in his hometown. No one there wants to listen. Maybe because they know him to well, or think they do. It's hard to believe that God might use someone you used to play baseball with. (That's why I've only been back to my hometown to preach a couple of times.)
But I wonder if we listen any better than they did. Do we have open hears to hear the word of the Lord when it is proclaimed to us? Are we willing to listen, even if the word spoken is an uncomfortable word? Or do we prevent the work of Jesus among us by our unbelief (see 13:58)?
We are recipients of the word of the Lord: Jesus, Prophet King. Lord, open our ears to hear!
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| Mt. Precipice, Nazareth, Israel |
There are a lot of names and titles we use to refer to Jesus. King. Lord. Savior. Holy One. Rabbi. But rarely do I hear people use a word of him that he uses of himself. In this section, he calls himself a prophet.
Now, when we think of "prophet," we're usually looking for someone to tell us what is going to happen in the future. Jesus doesn't do any of that in this chapter, in these parables. Maybe that's why we don't think of this word in relation to him. However, as it always is, the problem is not with Jesus. It's with us.
We think of "prophet" wrongly. In the Bible, a prophet is less concerned about "fore-telling" as he is with "forth-telling." In other words, Biblical prophets only tell the future as it has an impact on the present. They are called to speak the word of God for the people of God in this present moment, and sometimes they say something like, "This will happen if you don't change your ways." Fore-telling is secondary to the work of a prophet. More often, they speak the difficult word, the word we don't want to hear, the challenge we don't want to accept.
So Jesus comes to his hometown, perhaps sharing some of the same stories (parables) Matthew has just told us about, and the people are upset. "Who does he think he is?" they ask. "He grew up among us! Why in the world does he suddenly think he's some sort of prophet? His family is here, and he's no better than us." You see, Nazareth in the first century was not a "center of the world" place. It was a nothing place. It doesn't even appear on ancient town lists. And so here comes Jesus, back to this place where he was raised, preaching the kingdom of heaven. Yet, even those who lived there knew that nothing good comes from Nazareth (cf. John 1:46). A prophet? A man of God? Those sorts of folks come out of Jerusalem, not Nazareth. "And they took offense at him," Matthew says (13:57).
Luke says they did more than that. They tried to run him off of a cliff (cf. Luke 4). They literally threw him out of town. And that's why Jesus says a prophet is without honor in his hometown. No one there wants to listen. Maybe because they know him to well, or think they do. It's hard to believe that God might use someone you used to play baseball with. (That's why I've only been back to my hometown to preach a couple of times.)
But I wonder if we listen any better than they did. Do we have open hears to hear the word of the Lord when it is proclaimed to us? Are we willing to listen, even if the word spoken is an uncomfortable word? Or do we prevent the work of Jesus among us by our unbelief (see 13:58)?
We are recipients of the word of the Lord: Jesus, Prophet King. Lord, open our ears to hear!
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