THE MOST SCANDALOUS PROPHET
The law and the prophets all prophesied of Christ (Lk. 24:44) who was and is a Prophet (Deu. 18:15,18) . However, Christ's behavior did nothing to enhance the public image of a prophet, in His own time. Are you sure you want to be Christ-like?
Look at Christ's contemporary "public image". Begotten of an unmarried woman, whose future husband was not his father, he was, by the current standards, a bastard and the son of a harlot (Jn. 8:41) . The step-son of a Jewish carpenter, He claimed to be from outer space (Jn. 6:38, heaven) while everyone knew he grew up in Samaria (Jn. 8:48) , a contemptible place of origin, even to Jews from outside Jerusalem (Jn. 1:46).By age 12, he amazed teachers in the synagogues with his understanding and knowledge and later he triumphed in debates against the leading Jewish scholars and lawyers, yet he was never accepted as anything more than "the carpenter's son" in his own home area. He was accused of working for Satan (Mat. 12:24) and had in fact, negotiated with demons (Mk. 5:1-17) and spent time in the company of Satan (Mat. 4:1-11) . He acknowledged that he came to cause division in the religious community (Jn. 7:42-43) and even in families (Lk. 12:51-53).
He "attacked" (sic) temple workers (Jn. 2:13-15) , was a known drinker (Mat. 11:19) and even produced alcohol in large quantities (Jn. 2:1-11). He welcomed the company of prostitutes (Lk.7:37-39) and had a "following" of women (Lk. 8:2-3), at the same time claiming that he could forgive sin (Mk. 2:5-7). At one point, his family came to take custody of him (believing him to be mentally impaired) and he publicly disowned them (Mat. 12:46-49) .
He conducted mountain-top seances with his disciples and famous ghosts (Mat. 17:1-8). He preached doom and gloom (Mat. 24:5-30) while establishing a reputation for performing paranormal phenomena (Mat. 4:23-24) allegedly by the power of Satan (Mat. 12:24) . He talked about understanding but spoke in riddles (Mat. 13:10-11,34) . He healed people, but sometimes it looked like a circus act. For the deaf-mute, he put his fingers in the man's ears, then spit on his hand and grabbed the man's tongue (Mk. 7:33) . For the blind man, he spit on the ground and put the muddy mess on the man's eyes (Jn. 9:6).
He traveled unconventionally, taking a shortcut across the sea, without a boat (Jn. 6:15-25). He killed thousands of head of privately owned livestock (Mat. 8:28-34), ate with tax agents (Lk. 19:2-7) and favored the company of whores and social low-lifes over that of "polite" company (Mat. 9:10-11).
He "talked" to things, for instance, a tree (Mat. 21:19), a storm (Mat. 8:26), and a fever (Lk. 4:38-39). At times, he refused to help those who asked (Mat. 15:22-28) and he didn't always get perfect results with miracles the first time (Mk. 8:23-25). Sometimes he couldn't even perform healing or other miracles (Mat. 13:54-58), but he repeatedly interrupted funerals (Lk. 7:11-15; 8:49-56; Jn. 11:39-44).
He fed and inspired crowds of thousands resulting in their wanting to crown him King (Jn. 6:15), but he was betrayed by one of his own disciples (Mat. 26:14-16, 47-50), and was unable to maintain a loyal following prior to his death (Mat. 26:56). He publicly debated and humiliated the popular and respected religious teachers who conspired to have him killed (Mk. 11:18), while the masses cheered for his execution (Mat. 27:22-23).
His life ended in a dishonorable execution and within days, his body disappeared (Lk. 24:1-4). But according to reports, he haunted the countryside for over a month afterwards (Jn. 20-21).
All this does not add up to a logical evangelical campaign. Now, he is the most well-known figure in human history, but at the time of his death, he was alone, ....... totally alone (Mat. 27:46). Now, how many of us still want to be like Christ? Hopefully we are more concerned about becoming righteous than about maintaining our social standing by public standards because his behavior is still not considered acceptable, even within the religious groups that bear his name.Would your church tolerate you if you truly imitated Christ today?
Do we have impossible standards for recognizing the prophets among us today?
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