The Rejection of Jesus

Luke 4:14-28

            One of the reasons we humans have been able to survive throughout the millennia is that long ago we learned to cooperate and work with each other for the common good.  This gave everyone a better chance of surviving.  The solitary human, the lone wolf, may be lauded in the theater but when one is alone one has greatly diminished the possibility of surviving.  Long ago we learned to establish working relationships with one another so that we could survive.

            With relationship comes the possibility of rejection.  In the ancient days the worst form of punishment other than execution was banishment.  The offender was pushed out of his village and sentenced to wandering alone without the support of the group.  Complete rejection like this was more like a death sentence.  However, rejection is just a part of life itself.  Everyone at some point has experienced a rejection.  Everyone knows what it feels like to be rejected.  Rejection occurs in the closest of relationships.  The closer the relationship the greater the effect rejection has on us.  Rejection of any kind hurts.

            Rejection takes many forms.  It comes through hurtful words and withdrawn attention.  It comes through unspoken gestures and unreciprocated love.  It comes through malicious assault.  In our culture child abuse is one of the harshest forms of rejection.  When a parent rejects a child, the child often pays the price for life.  My mother was rejected by her parents.  A neighbor woman came to them and asked if she could take Mabel.  Her parents agreed and she was shuttled from one family to another.  She never got over it.  Many people carry the wounds of rejection with them for life.  We live in a culture where fathers are often absent doing their own thing and children grow up feeling father-rejection.  Our culture suffers greatly from children who have been emotionally wounded by their fathers. 

            Sometimes when we reject someone it is not intentional.  We do not deliberately intend to reject others and others do not deliberately intend to reject us.  Pastors have to be cautious of the woundedness of others.  Once before the church service I was leaving the office and remembered I needed to pick up the bulletins and turned back into the office.  Unbeknownst to me, an elderly couple was hanging up their coats and saw me turn around.  The husband interpreted my turning around as rejecting them.  When I learned about this, I visited them and met with them for a couple of hours.  His wounding was too great and they never returned to church.  Some people carry wounds of rejection which will always be one of the foremost issues in their relationships.

            The Bible is filled with accounts of people who were rejected by others.  In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, we learned that our first parents were Adam and Eve.  They had two boys: Cain and Able.  Do you remember the story?  Cain was angry with his brother Able.  He must have been in a serious rage.  He met with Able in a field and killed him.  Murder is probably the most serious kind of rejection.  Rejection has been with humans since the very beginning.  Moses, God’s prophet who led the people of Israel out of Egypt, experienced numerous rejections.  Every time the people got into a difficult situation in the wilderness, they rejected Moses and his leadership.  At one point they were ready to give him the ultimate rejection.  They were ready to kill him.  Leadership means dealing with rejection.  David, who became the greatest King of Israel, faced rejection over and over again.  King Saul knew that Samuel anointed David as the next king and was so angry that he tried to kill him.  David did become king.  Later, his son, Absalom raised an army and attempted to take the throne from his father by force.  This rejection wounded David severely.  David was rejected by many but stayed faithful to the Lord God.

            The Scripture reading today is the account of Jesus returning to his hometown synagogue after his time of temptation in the wilderness.  He stood up and read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah.  You can find what he read in Isaiah 61:1-2.  His choice of that particular reading was deliberate.  It is one of Isaiah’s Messianic prophesies.  Jesus said, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”  He then sat down to teach and said to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing (Luke 4:21b).”  No one misunderstood what Jesus was saying.  People’s eyes were glued on him.  They accepted what he was saying and all spoke well of him.  They had a strong Messianic hope and spoke well of him.  At this point they accepted him.  If Jesus would have stopped there, all would have been well. 

            However, Jesus then began to speak prophetically.  In Nazareth he was unable to do signs and wonders, the healing and miracles as he did in Capernaum.  He reminded them that no prophet is welcome in his hometown.  He gave examples from history where God worked in the lives of foreigners.  He reminded them that God sent Elijah to a woman in the Gentile city of Sidon and provided for her during a famine.  He reminded them that God cleansed the Syrian general and leper, Naaman, from his disease.  According to Bible scholars, Jesus was speaking to a small group of narrowly focused ultra-orthodox Jews who had nothing but contempt for people who were not of their religious persuasion.  Jesus was telling them that the Lord God is the God of all people and not just a tiny group.  This was too much for them.  They got up, drove him out of town, took him to the edge of a cliff and were about to push him off, to kill him.  However, Jesus walked right through the crowd and went on his way. 

            Over and over again Jesus faced rejection.  The religious professionals rejected him.  The Roman officials rejected him.  The soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him.  The crowd who was with him all through his ministry rejected him.  His disciples ran off when he is arrested and they hid in fear.  Judas betrayed him.  Peter denied knowing him.  By the time he was crucified, the ultimate rejection, everyone has rejected Jesus.  He is sent by God to proclaim his good news and is rejected by everyone.  Doesn’t that make our rejections look small?  Jesus is Lord and Savior but he is also the Rejected One. 

            Since rejection is a normal part of life and an expected part of the Christian life, what can we do to deal with rejection when it comes our way?  One thing we can do is recognize it as an expected part of life, not an unusual part.  We can recognize our hurts and wounds.  We can offer the pain of rejection to the Lord.  If we respond properly to rejection, God can use the experience to grow our souls, to conform us more and more into the image of Christ Jesus himself.  Rejection in the hands of God will not destroy us but grow our souls.  Experiencing rejection helps us learn humility.  It can soften our hearts and makes us more sensitive to the needs and feelings of others.  God can teach us to be more intentionally kind as we turn our rejections over to him and let the Holy Spirit do his transforming work.  Rejection may hurt us but we do not have to let it leave deep wounds and disfiguring scars on our hearts and souls.  When you experience rejection, you have the option of turning to God and asking him to do his marvelous work in your life.  We can say, “Lord, I don’t want this rejection to wound me and prevent me from being the person you want me to be.  Take it from me, and use the situation to mold me more into Christ Jesus’ likeness.”

            There are steps to healing the wounds of rejection.  The first step is that of extending total forgiveness to those who have wronged you.  Notice I say “total forgiveness.”  Not only are we to forgive them but we ask God not to charge them for the sin.  This is a stretch for we humans.  However, our example is Jesus who prayed to God on the Cross, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:34).”  When Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was in the midst of being executed by stoning, he prayed a similar prayer, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them (Acts 7:60).”  The first step to healing is forgiving others and asking the Lord not to hold the wrong they have done you against them.

            The second step in healing the wounds of rejection is accepting your heavenly Father’s love for you.  God can provide a healing ointment for your wounds.  His healing ointment is grace, his unparalleled affection that he lavishes on his children.  Although others may reject you—will reject you—your heavenly Father, accepts you as you are.  Rejection is a trial but the acceptance of the Father’s love is the healing ointment.  Read John 3:16 and put your name to it: “For God loved (your name) so much that he gave his one and only Son, that since I believe in him, I shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Believe that God loves you and receive that love.  Let his love wash over you.  His love will renew, strengthen, sustain, lift and give you power.  His love will heal your hurts and the wounds of rejection.

            The third step in healing is the realization that when God accepts you, you do not need acceptance from anyone else.  When you realize you are accepted and embraced by the Lord of the Universe, the acceptance of others becomes secondary.  One writer puts it this way, “The message: Jesus plus nothing.  I need Jesus plus nothing else.  When I have his endorsement, I need no one else’s endorsement.”  We will suffer rejection when we look to others for acceptance.  The key is found in deciding that Jesus is going to be your sole source of acceptance.

            Rejection is part of living.  However, when we are no longer inflated by another’s acceptance, we will no longer be deflated by their rejection.  Don’t look for others to endorse and lift you up.  Others may let you down, but God will never let you down.  The more you mature in the Spirit, the more you will accept Jesus’ love and the less you will look for the praise of others.

A sermon preached by CH (COL) Michael W. Malone, USA, RET

at Veterans Memorial Chapel in Indianapolis, Indiana.