Matthew 4:17 From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.”
It is significant that Jesus began His public ministry after John was arrested (verse 12). John’s ministry was to prepare the way for Jesus, as had been prophesied (Luke 1:17) and as he himself had proclaimed. (Matthew 3:11) John’s ministry was all about repentance, so the people knew what Jesus was talking about when He started saying the same thing. That is still largely true in culturally Christian countries like America, but it sounds quite foreign in Japan, even though the Japanese term for repentance is if anything easier to understand than the English. (It means, regret and start over.) Because of that, evangelism in Japan requires a lot of “soil preparation” for the “seed” to be received and take root. Jesus’ parable of the sower is certainly applicable here! (Matthew 13) It is also striking to me that the Japanese translation I’m using, in this verse, where most English translations say “preach,” uses the term that is applied to missionaries. Analyzed, it means, “proclaim knowledge.” By extension, that means, “proclaim religion.” There are church groups in Japan that use that term for Sunday preaching, though I didn’t grow up doing so. The term I grew up with is still often used in a religious context, but it is also used for a parent “dressing down” their child for an infraction, which is a nuance “preach” can carry in English as well. The thing that comes through to me from this whole story is that God had prepared Jesus, as is demonstrated by His response to the devil’s temptations, He had prepared His audience, and, as comes up immediately after this, He had prepared His disciples as well. God has His plans, since He knows the end from the beginning and so knows what is going to work. We don’t know what the next minute will bring, so we need to be sensitive and obedient to whatever God is saying, because the probability of our getting things right otherwise is totally negligible.
This is certainly applicable to me! I’m not very adept at planning, so the secular proverb of, “Those who fail to plan, plan to fail,” is all too appropriate. However, my first priority is to seek God for what He is planning and get with His program. That said, I’m not to use that as an excuse for my own failures in planning! God’s plans for me have not included massive harvests, such as Billy Graham and Reinhard Bonnke experienced, but I’m not to be resentful or jealous. I may not see the outcome of what He tells me to do today, but that doesn’t mean I should fail to do it. I may recognize His appointments for me and rejoice in them, or I may overlook them entirely, not recognizing that He has used me. That’s my problem, not His! I am to be active in seeking His direction and following it, doing His will on His schedule, so that His purposes may be fulfilled for His glory.
Father, thank You for this reminder. Today I’ll be attending a ceremony marking 100 years of the school where I taught for 42 years. It feels like a big deal, even though I will be an insignificant attendee. May my attitude, actions, and words be exactly what You desire of me, so that I may be Your agent for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!
