All of us have started a discussion with, “If only…” Often times, we follow those words with, “I had done (fill in the blank).” It could be something fairly unimportant, such as, “If only I had studied a little more, I wouldn’t have failed that exam.” However, the situation could also be a very serious one. A little over twenty years ago we often heard, “If only our nation had taken more seriously the threats by Osama Bin Laden, 9/11 wouldn’t have happened.”
On a national level, perhaps the greatest example of what could have been occurred during Christ’s earthly ministry. He came to the Nation of Israel and offered it the kingdom of God. If the nation believed that He was the Christ, He would give the people eternal life. If they turned from their sin, He would bless them with the kingdom promised in the OT.
In Luke 4, Jesus proclaims this message while speaking in many synagogues in Galilee (Luke 4:31, 46). He performs many miracles of healing to show that He is the One for whom they have waited (4:35, 40). One demonstration of His power was the healing of a man full of leprosy (5:12-15). After this healing, He sent the man to the temple in Jerusalem to show the religious leaders that the man had been cured through the power of the Christ. Only God could heal leprosy, and Jesus had healed this man. The completion of this examination would require an eight-day waiting period, but after those eight days, the implications would be clear.
The religious leaders could acknowledge before the people that the Messiah had indeed come. Meanwhile–during the eight days of waiting–Christ continued preaching to large multitudes of Jews in Galilee. Imagine what could have been if the priests in Jerusalem, including the High Priest, had traveled north to Galilee and told the throngs that they were all blessed because the Christ had finally come! If only the shepherds of the people had acted like good shepherds and pointed the sheep to the Great Shepherd.
But that isn’t what happened. The leaders’ pride, as well as their love of their religious traditions, made them unwilling to believe what they had clearly seen and heard through the man cured of leprosy. They told the people that Jesus was a deceiver who used evil power. The nation followed their example and rejected and killed the Christ. As a result, the kingdom will now be offered to a future generation of Jews. No generation of any nation has experienced a greater tragedy.
We will never find ourselves in those exact same circumstances. We are not the Nation of Israel. However, there is a direct application for believers today.
Through the Scriptures, we can hear the words of the Lord and His apostles but be unwilling to believe them because of our pride or traditions. If we are in positions of leadership, we can even encourage others to follow our example of disobedience.
The consequences can be tragic. Of course, believers cannot lose eternal salvation. But the consequences of disobedience and lack of faith can include the loss of spiritual maturity for ourselves and those we influence. That can result in God’s discipline in the present and the loss of eternal rewards in the world to come.
When we read the Gospel accounts, we can look at the history of Israel during Christ’s earthly ministry and lament what could have been. Let us be students of God’s Word and determine what He requires of us. When we find it, let us be doers of the Word (Jas 1:22) so that we don’t have to lament what could have been for us.
