Tag: Rejection

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God goes for the rejected.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

“When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭4‬:‭16‬-‭21‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Luke gives us the story we were all so curious about. What happens when a kid comes back home, as an adult? Wow! Themes of familiarity, knowing someone when they were little, but now they are all grown up. Mothers who speak of feeding, burping and changing your diapers. Fathers who use phrases like, “knee high to a grasshopper.” Older friends talking about very stale stories when you were a child or teen, laughing about your “awkward” stage. Jesus went home, but he had changed even though Nazareth had not! It’s gets me.

I’m guilty of and surrounded by the stories of “back in the day.” Unfortunately, it’s one of the things you have to face when you’ve kept life-long friendships and relatives that are more sentimental than ever. Jesus went home and home only had memories of his past and a few stories of what had happened since he left. What a moment to capture! Thank you Dr. Luke for giving us such a dramatic, transitional moment in Jesus’ life, but also an amazing insight into how we tend to keep people locked in our memories, not allowing them to grow into God’s design.

To get the best possible picture of what these short moments in the local Nazareth synagogue looked like, you have to watch The Chosen, Season 3, Episode 3, called, “Physician, Heal Yourself.” To summarize: At the synagogue, Jesus reads a scroll from the Prophet Isaiah and declares its fulfillment on that day. Jesus uses the examples of Elijah with the widow of Zarephath and Elisha with Naaman to prove His pronouncement of salvation in the Year of Jubilee. Jesus then proclaims Himself as the Messiah, enraging and upsetting the hearers. The people of Nazareth reject and condemn Jesus for His proclamation as the Law of Moses, driving Him out of the town to throw Him down a cliff, but Jesus passes through their midst.

Wow! Jesus, comes home and literally causes a violent riot, with the local religious activists fully intending to kill him. Luke tells us, “When they heard this, the people in the synagogue were furious,” Luke‬ ‭4‬:‭28‬. What exactly were they furious about? Because right after Jesus said the prophetic promise was fulfilled that day. Luke tells us they spoke well of him and they were even amazed by his grace with authority. It was most likely the next thing Jesus told his own community leaders that ruffled their defensive feathers.

Jesus, led by the Spirit and reading the room, simply spoke what they were all thinking. What were they thinking? They were thinking about an ancient proverb that says, “Physician, heal yourself”— meaning, “Do miracles here in your hometown like those you did in Capernaum.” Then Jesus presents the pharisaical elephant in the synagogue. “Your legalistic, religious zeal has blinded you because that same selfish spirit is what killed the prophets that brought God’s truth!” Jesus said, “no prophet is accepted in his own hometown,” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭4‬:‭24‬.

Bringing light and salt to their fake facades Jesus quickly summarizes two stories about two of the most favored, famous prophets; Elijah and Elisha. Elijah with the widow and Elisha with the Syrian general. Instead of God sending these two prophets to their own people, the Jews, God sent them to Gentiles – despised foreigners! Hard truth: God has passed you by because you’ve rejected truth, and God has moved on to invite all people – namely, the Gentiles, the Samaritans, the rejected and lost. This is what caused them to pick up their proverbial pitch forks and torches! They didn’t like what Jesus inferred, so they dealt with it exactly how our modern mobs deal with truth – let’s just kill the truth teller! Of course it was not Jesus’ time, it would come later. But, we all know you can’t kill truth, it will endure beyond individuals.

God still goes after the rejected. Paul even says God goes after His enemies – even while we were yet sinners… Christ died for us. Apparently that really makes self righteous folks really mad. The good news for the poor is the understanding that we know we’re broken, but God comes not to condemn us but to save us. If we can’t figure out how broken we are, then when we see God’s mercy given to someone not so good, it makes us angry not grateful.

Prayer

​Dad,
Sinners, know thyself! I know who I was and who I am now. I was not just lost, I was miserable. I knew without you, I would not have anything, no life, no future. You changed my life and I must see others through the same eyes that recognized just how broken I was. Thank you.

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Offended and amazed.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Jesus left that part of the country and returned with his disciples to Nazareth, his hometown. The next Sabbath he began teaching in the synagogue, and many who heard him were amazed. They asked, “Where did he get all this wisdom and the power to perform such miracles?” Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him. ‭‭Mark‬ ‭6‬:‭1‬-‭3‬ ‭NLT‬‬

For anyone who has tried to rise above their circumstances or station in life, even Jesus faced familia familiarity! Jesus returns home, as an adult, as a well known Rabbi, with rumors of miracles he had performed. Of course, coming back into his hometown as a recognized Rabbi, he would be invited to speak at his synagogue.

Mark doesn’t give us the same detail of Jesus’ reading, nor his shocking words we find in Luke’s gospel (4:21). Mark just tells us that Jesus spoke and they were “amazed.” The consensus question; “where did he get all this wisdom and power to perform such miracles?” Remember when Jesus spoke? It was said that he did so with “authority.” But the amazement quickly faded into dismissive disbelief.

Mark writes, “they scoffed.” And, they were offended! The Greek word, “skandalizó,” they believed that Jesus scandalized them – sure, offended – but even more, that Jesus was beguiling them, setting a snare, a trap. They believed that their own homegrown understanding of Jesus was that he returned as some kind of city-slicker con-man! Where else could Jesus have gained all these abilities? With all of this local, mis-guided gossip they convinced themselves that Jesus was a fake! Jesus own community would not believe and Jesus was truly astonished at their unbelief, their lack of faith. Jesus uses an ancient proverb, “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his own family.”

This scene, this rejection of Jesus just because they were family and they were familiar with his beginnings, reinforces what Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 10, “all nations will hate you because you are my followers.” And, “Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword. ‘I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. Your enemies will be right in your own household!’” Jesus told them, and us today, people will hate us or turn against us because of their own unbelief! There comes a point when we have to realize that sometimes friends and family are not rejecting us, they are rejecting God – and it turns their hearts. I had a stepdad like this. My stepdad Ben, didn’t exactly oppose me, I was just a nobody, a teenager. Ben’s battle was with the God he despised.

When we feel rejection, it’s hard not to think it is all about something we’ve done or who we are. It is helpful to remember there is more going on than we know. If Jesus hometown folks treated him with disdain, why would it be any different for us.

Prayer

​Dad,
I am still baffled as to how your own son, doing Your will with grace and mercy, with miracles following, could possibly be mistaken for a religious scandal. It truly highlights the duplicity and complexity of our human hearts. This is just one of many aspects of our brokenness that you came to heal and restore. Thank you for persistently putting up with us! Amen.

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Backsliders Beware.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

”Backsliders get what they deserve; good people receive their reward.“ Proverbs‬ ‭14‬:‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The only reason I am highlighting this verse is because I am SHOCKED that the word, “backslider” shows up in the Bible. I thought it was just a churchy word, used for people that once had a relationship with Jesus, but then fell away, aka – slid back to their former life! This really bothers me!

It bothers me because I often heard this word easily roll out of the mouths of folks who dismissively described a person struggling in their faith, going through hard times or even rebelliously denying Christ. I would ask, “what happened to Bill?” Answer, “oh he backslid.” The Hebrew word is real and simple, it’s “sug: to move away, or backslide.” It is often just written, “turning back.”Translating the whole Hebrew thought written out, was much easier to grasp, the “backslider is one who moves away from God because he wants what is in his own heart, more than he wants God.” Okay, I see that happening, in some degree or another, in a lot of people – I even see it show up in my own heart as well! This idea that we are either moving towards God or away from God is a powerful lesson, a warning. I think the Old Testament writers talk about it in terms or softening or hardening our hearts towards God – and His will, not ours.

A heartbreaking picture is shown in C.S. Lewis’ little parable book, “The Great Divorce.” A story about God sending a bus from heaven to hell to pickup anyone that would want to a glimpse of heaven, kind of seeing what they missed out on – like a day trip. But in the story, Lewis describes the community members in hell itself. They seem to all arrive at this “bus stop,” but in complete anger, hate and rebellion immediately make their journey to the interior of hell’s estate. The most evil, he writes, are not only desperately trying to get as far away from God as possible, but far away from any other human contact as well. It’s as if hell is an eternal drive to get further and further away, thus isolating themselves in their own misery. I’m not sure that’s how the Bible describes hell, but I can tell you this, I often see people vehemently trying to get as far away from God as possible! They are often very open, almost proud of it! Many self-disclose hurtful things like saying, “I NEVER really knew God,” like they were lying or faking it the whole time.

Given the context of this backsliding, it is a very sad realization that God allows us to move away, go back, harden our heart, or turn from His grace and mercy. God gives humans this choice! People often complain that believers are trying to “cram religion” down people’s throats. It seems impossible to do so, knowing they have the ultimate choice, not about religion, but about acknowledging the rescue float while they are drowning in the deep sea of their own despair! Since I became a believer at fifteen I have heard this truth, “God does not force Himself on anyone.” I believe that’s mostly true. What I believe is that God still accomplishes His will through humans; His plans and intentions are to save us and all of humanity. And, even though we will fulfill what God has planned, in those moments we are still given a choice to accept or reject Him. What do you think about this?

Prayer

​Dad,
It is hard for me to imagine rejecting you after all you have done for me, in me and through me. Even through my own sin, my desires are for you and NOT to fulfill the disordered desires in my heart. I am crushed thinking of those who knew you and then make a decision to reject you. I think of the warning in Hebrews, “it is impossible once they have tasted and seen to bring them back to repentance.” God, help us be steadfast in our commitment and keep our hearts soft and obedient in all things before You.