Rejection

Luke 9:22

“The Son of Man must suffer many terrible things,” he said. “He will be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He will be killed, but on the third day he will be raised from the dead.”

We are in Holy Week - following the Passion of our precious Lord Jesus.

The journey to Calvary was a road of rejection. Jesus knew it was coming. He wasn't fooled by the superficial adulation He received on Palm Sunday.

The people craved a political deliverer, not an internal Saviour who would mess with their individual lives.

They wanted tax cuts and a free meal ticket, but not a change of heart - how like today! Human nature is timeless.

Rejection was prophesied, rejection was on the horizon for Jesus.

I've often wondered why the disciples failed to understand that Jesus was going to be betrayed - the gospels make it clear that He told them over and over again.

Peter even told Jesus that it must never happen to Him and was soundly rebuked!

Isaiah, in that "inch perfect" prophecy of chapter 53, says the Messiah will be despised and rejected:

Isaiah 53:3 AMPC

He was despised and rejected and forsaken by men, a Man of sorrows and pains, and acquainted with grief and sickness; and like One from Whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we did not appreciate His worth or have any esteem for Him.

And so it happened just as it was foretold.

Following Jesus, many times, will involve being rejected and despised. That's not easy to take on board. We all like to be popular.

But imagine what it was like for Jesus who came from Heaven where He had been eternally adored.

Psalm 69:20 exposes some of His emotions as He hung on the cross:

Scorn has broken my heart and has left me helpless; I looked for sympathy, but there was none, for comforters, but I found none.

If you are walking the way of rejection, you are not far from the cross!

Remember what Jesus says of His followers:

Luke 9:23 AMPC

And He said to all, If any person wills to come after Me, let him deny himself [disown himself, forget, lose sight of himself and his own interests, refuse and give up himself] and take up his cross daily and follow Me [cleave steadfastly to Me, conform wholly to My example in living and, if need be, in dying also].

Don't be afraid of rejection, rather expect and embrace it.