The Rejection of Jesus
John 1:10-13
25/01/09
Before we get stuck into our passage today we need to think together a little bit about the issue of rejection.
Rejection Hurts
Do you know what it’s like to be rejected? It’s not a nice feeling is it?
Rejection occurs when you offer something that is refused; and the greater the thing that you offer the greater hurt you suffer at it’s refusal. For example:
- “Would you like a coffee?” – if it’s turned down that’s no big deal.
- “Would you like to have a coffee with me?” – that brings disappointment if it is turned down, because it’s more than just the drink, it was time together that was being offered.
When I was the chairperson of the Telecentre one of the things I found hardest to do was interview people for positions and then have to contact some to let them know they were unsuccessful. I know what it’s like to do your best to offer yourself as a good employee, and how disappointing it is when you get turned down. Sure, it might be disappointing not to get the job, but it feels like you have been rejected as a person as well – that you had been measured up and found lacking.
Some people will be able to recall the mixed feelings of fear and hope as they offered themselves romantically to another, and the deep despair and even humiliation if rejected. Some will remember the hurt of rejection by loved ones – whether they are parents, a partner or even children. How many parents have felt the rejection of children who have grown up and no longer depend on them or want their advice?
We have all been rejected in all sorts of different ways, and we know how much it hurts.
In dealing with painful rejection or trying to help others deal with it, the most common strategy is two-pronged:
1) Reassurance – don’t let this destroy your self-esteem. You are valuable, special, capable, attractive or whatever else might be appropriate. This was just the wrong situation or the wrong person or the wrong job. Keep going, don’t let this pull you down. Keep training, keep studying, keep dating, keep applying or whatever else is required.
2) Indignation – they were wrong to reject you. They didn’t see the real you. They don’t know what they’re missing. It just shows how shallow they are. It just shows that you can do better than being with them.
Do these sound familiar?
Keep these things in mind as we turn to a passage which contains both some of the saddest and some of the happiest verses in the Bible, John 1:10-13.
10 [Jesus] was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. [1]
Jesus Understands Rejection
Verses 10 and 11 talk about the greatest injustice ever perpetrated. Follow the story of John 1 so far: John has described to us this incredible being who is the Word, who is God, who created the Universe, who is the Light and the Source of life; and says that this One is coming into the world. A man also named John came to witness to this fact and prepare people for His reception.
When this Creator-God comes into His world, what sort of reception does He receive?
First of all, verse 10 tells us that he was not even recognised! Despite the testimony of John the Baptiser, despite the many miraculous signs, despite His authoritative teaching, despite even His death and resurrection the world as a whole did not and has not recognised Jesus for who He is!
It gets even worse than that in verse 11. There is a subtlety in the Greek language here that we don’t quite get in the English translation. It says “He came to that which was his own” – “his own” there refers to his own place or possession. It continues “but his own” – this time referring to his own people – “did not receive him”
If there was anywhere in the world that God’s Son – the promised Messiah – should be able to find a welcome reception, it should be in the Promised Land that God gave to the Israelites. If there were any people that should recognise and receive Christ as King it should be the people who God himself had made into a nation.
Jesus Himself told a parable to the religious leaders of
33 “Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
35 “The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said.
38 “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ 39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
41 “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.”
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures:
‘The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
43 “Therefore I tell you that the
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
So Jesus came into the world and to the nation that God had established to be His very own people. He’d given them land, laws and everything they needed, yet they had turned away from true worship and rejected His lordship. They had killed the prophets He sent to call them back to Him. Finally God sent His Son, and even the Son was rejected and killed.
“Yet”, we read in verses 12 & 13, “to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God”
If Jesus had never endured the rejection of His people we would never have had the chance to receive Him. If Jesus had never been unfairly crucified, we could never have received forgiveness.
All this was foretold by the prophet Isaiah, as we read in Isaiah 53:1-6
“Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he took up our infirmities
and carried our sorrows,
yet we considered him stricken by God,
smitten by him, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.”
So What Does This Teach Us?
So as we think about the rejection of Jesus by His world and His people, what are some lessons that we can take away and apply to our own lives?
1) Do not join with others in rejecting Jesus
The Bible is quite clear that God the Father will judge us on the basis of whether we have accepted or rejected His Son. We can accept Him as our Saviour and our Lord, or we can continue to go our own way and accept the penalty for our own actions. The choice is between eternal life and eternal death. Choose life!
If you have accepted eternal life through Jesus, you must continue to be careful not to reject Him in any aspect of your life. He must be the Lord of our eating, our working, our playing, our speaking, our relating, our thinking. We must remember to do everything as an act of service to Him with all our heart (Colossians 3:17,23). We must also remember to treat people with the same generosity and love that we have for Jesus, because what we do for them we do for Christ, and to reject them is to reject Christ (Matt 25:31-46).
2) Don’t try and make Jesus marketable!
During the week I read this story from the Reader’s Digest magazine:
On a sightseeing trip on
Sometimes people are tempted to change the signs on Jesus – to change the gospel that they preach – in order to achieve a better result. It might be to focus on Jesus’ ability to improve our lives but leave out His demand that we surrender our lives to Him. It might be to focus on legalism instead of grace in an attempt to better control people’s behaviour. It might be the love of God without the righteousness of God. There are countless variations.
We need to proclaim the true Jesus as revealed in Scripture, and allow people to reject or accept the truth. I don’t care how many people are in a church if they are not following the real Jesus. I would rather them not have any Jesus than to have a phony Jesus. We need to think carefully about how accurately we are portraying Jesus in what we say and more importantly in how we live.
3) Expect Rejection!
If we follow Jesus we can expect rejection. Rejection is inevitable anyway, but following Jesus with all your heart is a sure guarantee of it!
The great thing is that we no longer need to fear rejection by people, because we have been accepted by God! I would much rather be accepted by God and rejected by people than be accepted by people and rejected by God. Yet so often I lose sight of that. So often we try and walk a tight-rope between pleasing God and pleasing people, when it should be no contest at all.
Yes, you will suffer rejection in life, but you can handle it. Look at what Jesus endured and take heart, because His Spirit is within you strengthening, encouraging and comforting. Find out the truth about who you are in Jesus – that is all the reassurance you need to help you through even the most painful rejection by others. You don’t need to prove that you are fun or smart or sexy or anything else that people feel they need to prove in order to be accepted or desired by others. You are incredibly valuable because of who God has made you and because of who lives in you. Don’t sell out to the petty demands of those who want you to conform to the expectations of this world.
When you feel the indignation rising in you about how unfairly you have been treated, remember that we live in an age of grace. God will judge people fairly, but he would much rather judge people generously. He longs to forgive, not to punish; and as His people we must be the same. So in the words of Jesus (Matt. 5:44-45), “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”
It’s not easy, but in Christ you can do it.
[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (Jn 1:10).
[2]Tan, P. L. (1996, c1979). Encyclopedia of 7700 illustrations : A treasury of illustrations, anecdotes, facts and quotations for pastors, teachers and Christian workers.
Posts
