GOD’S ANSWER TO REJECTION
For me, the saddest verse
in the Bible is John 6:66: “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no
more with him.” The second saddest is nine verses later: “Neither did
his brethren believe in him” (John 7:5). Jesus came to save the world. He
required commitment, but his disciples couldn’t handle it. They had their own
ideas about how to live and about how Jesus should act too. Jesus disagreed
with them. Jesus was rejected by the general population and by those he thought
agreed with him—his disciples. God shows us through His son’s actions what we
are to do when we get rejected by those we thought were our friends.
We all get rejected sometimes. We’ve asked for or
at least hoped for some kind of commitment, and the person we asked was not
willing to give it. They have their reasons, but it still hurts on a human
level.
We’ve also been in situations where we refused to be
the person someone else thought we should be. Rejection happens to all of us,
and we have several choices of what to do about it.
When I read the scriptures in John, I felt so bad
for Jesus. I thought, “Don’t they get it? Jesus is the son of God. Why
are they being so stupid and so mean?” These people had been following
Jesus, but then when he actually required a commitment from them, they said no.
It kind of broke my heart. But then I kept reading and saw exactly how Jesus
handled the rejection. It’s how we need to handle it as well.
After the people stopped listening to Jesus, he
just moved on. He was in Jerusalem, but he moved away. It says in John 7:1:
“After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry,
because the Jews sought to kill him.”
Then when it was time for one of the yearly feasts,
his brethren thought he should go to the feast in Jerusalem with them, but he told them to go on ahead. He wasn’t
going to do what they wanted him to do, just because they thought he should. He
did what God wanted him to do, and we need to be doing the same.
As it turns out, Jesus did go to the feast in
Jerusalem, but he went privately. God sent him to Jerusalem, directly to the
temple, where he preached the gospel of God, like he always did, with boldness.
Jesus didn’t stop preaching. He didn’t stop
speaking the truth in love. He didn’t stop calling a spade a spade. When he saw
corruption, greed, and unrighteousness, he plainly exposed it. Jesus wasn’t
afraid.
Even when those closest to him rejected and
criticized him, he didn’t stop doing what God’s Word said to do. He didn’t let
rejection change him. As far as this section of John tells us, it doesn’t even
look like he allowed himself to be sad about the situation. What a great
attitude!
Jesus could instantly turn his eyes on God and do
the next thing with joy. That’s amazing to me, and I want to have that kind of
mindset as well. Jesus didn’t quit or let himself be weakened by rejection. He
stayed strong.
When we get rejected by people who don’t want to
be around us or by those who don’t think we’re acting like they want us to act,
we can do what Jesus did and just let them go.
We replace the rejector with the lover, Jesus. The
words to an old Christian hymn ring true here: This hymn was written in 1922 by
Helen Lemmel and was inspired by a tract written by the missionary Isabella
Trotter:
Turn your eyes upon
Jesus
Look full, in his wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of his glory and grace
Love, Carolyn
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