REJECTED
Third
of twelve in Jesus’ Earthly Life & Ministry Parallel Series
Isaiah
53:3, John 1:11
Isaiah
53:3: “He was despised and hated by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.”
John
1:11: “He came to that which was His
own, but His own did not receive Him.”
“Greg and Bobby, pick your teams,”
Ms. Landis said to her fourth grade class that assembled in the school’s
basement for recess. “The outside exit
door is ‘Safe,’” Ms. Landis said before they began playing dodge ball.
As teams were chosen, two groups formed
one-by-one on opposite sides of the basement.
Only Miguel remained. “Miguel, go
with Greg’s team.” Ms. Landis directed, handing him a large rubber ball. “Begin!” she announced.
Miguel was the only Mexican in the
class. He was used to never being chosen
on
teams—despite his talent to play baseball.
The class was mostly White kids, but also had one Asian, two Black kids,
and one girl from India. Yet, Miguel was
usually the only one never chosen to play on a team.
Not everyone is gifted with the same
talents—especially in sports. Not everyone
even wants to play sports. Usually,
there’s one person in every class who’s never chosen on a team. And if that’s you, Jesus knows your pain. Being rejected, or labelled as “other” isn’t pleasant
for people of any age. Everyone has the
need to be accepted, welcomed and valued.
People are often cruel. Kids don’t hide prejudice (PREJ-u-dis)
well. Prejudice means to judge another
on sight—without knowing anything else.
So, people who’re a different skin color, height or weight are typical
targets for rejection based only by
what’s seen.
While Jesus looked like He belonged among the people—in Israel and where he walked
in ministry—He became “different” or “other” when He spoke. And Jesus talked a lot! Jesus routinely blew people’s minds. Or contradicted their opinions. So they rejected Him. Their rejection led to their plot to kill
Jesus. (Matthew 26:3-5, Mark 14:53, 15:1,
and John 11:48-50).
Take Home Nugget
Jesus constantly confronted the
Sadducees and Pharisees (Israel’s ruling class). Rejecting Jesus was
self-preservation, for these wealthy men loved their positions in society. The Sadducees were aristocrats. They were powerful as chief priests, and they
held the majority of seats in the Sanhedrin (ruling council). They were more political than religious.
The
Pharisees were popular with regular folks.
They accepted the oral Word of God to be as authentic as the written
Word of God. The Sadducees claimed only
the written Word (Genesis through Deuteronomy) as God’s Word—which they routinely
contradicted. See the lesson linked
below for examples of Sadducee challenge of Scripture.
Jesus comforts those who’re rejected,
because His own rejected Him!
J.D.
Griffith
A
personal, private lesson experience with our staff
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