Prophecy
It’s easy to say the Old Testament predicts Jesus as the Messiah. BUT prophets of the Old Testament did not predict the future, they spoke God’s word into a current situation.
Most Christians think that Prophets, predict. They don’t! Prophets speak about a current situation and inject their understanding of God’s voice into the crisis at hand. If a Prophet was coming to your town, you didn’t say, “Wow, Great! we are going to find out about the future”. You would say, “Oh No, now what did we do wrong.” AND the Prophets always challenged the powers at be, the kings, the priests, and the leaders of the nations. That is our Biblical tradition.
Jesus says in Luke 4:24 “No Prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.” Not because they predicted the future, but because what they prophesied would have been grating on the ears of those who hear. Matter of fact, the hometown crowd of Jesus, in this story of Luke the 4th Chapter, did not like what Jesus told them and instead tried to kill Jesus. I want you to take out your Bible and read Luke 4:28, it will let you know that prophets were not loved. People, want to hear, what they want to hear….and will try to kill the voice of truth in their lives.
Prophets speak the word of God. We have prophets among us today. Some of us, don’t like what we hear. A Prophetic voice of the past was, “Smoking is no good for you”, yet cigarette companies fought back, “Smoking is a healthy habit!” The problem with a prophetic voice is it is only known, as we look back. Today we know, Smoking kills you. Today we know, burning fossils fuels warms the planet. You can fight all you want to disagree with those prophetic voices, but the science is clear. For some, it will take another 50 years to see the writing on the wall. That is what the Prophetic voice is up against. The prophetic voice sees the current situation and warns us to make a CHANGE TODAY. Some get it, others resist.
In Luke 4:28, Jesus hometown crowd RESISTED. They wanted to kill Jesus for what he said. What did he say? He said, foreigners, were healed by God, when Jewish people were not. God was working in non Jewish people. A widow of Sidon, non Jewish and the Leper Naaman from Syria, another non Jewish person. They could not accept God loving and healing foreigners, while not helping their own people! But Jesus spoke a truth. God works in all people. Some people cannot accept that and want to kill the messenger.
The words of the Episcopal bishop, Mariann Edgar Budde, which I heard at the National Prayer Breakfast this past week, was a prophetic voice. No different from our very own scripture. When TRUTH, the prophetic voice, speaks to power, kings, priests, and leaders, there will always be tension, anger, and push back. Look again at Luke 4:28. We want to eliminate the voice of God that we don’t like. Followers of Jesus, need to listen and discern.
When I get my hackles up about what it is said to me, about myself, I best step back, reflect and listen. It could just be the voice of a prophet. Do I have the humility to hear what is being said?