Despised and Rejected: the Life of Jesus

Rejection feels like a stab in the heart just for being yourself. I thought about rejection and why it's so painful. I think the reason it's so painful is someone can help you get what you want, but for whatever reason, they choose not to. It can be acceptance, love, friendship, a job or an opportunity. When someone stands in the way of what we want, it's hard not to get angry and take that personally. What I realized is that people can't give us what we really need. What we really need the most can only come from God. People don't hold our future in their hands. They don't hold our opportunities, God does. While their rejection may be temporary, our future is secure in God's hands. When someone chooses not to love us or be our friend, it's because it's their choice. They have the right to their decision. It obviously wasn't meant to be. People get to decide what they want to do, but don't get to decide our value. Our value is inherent, no matter what anyone says or does. Their decisions don't have any effect on our value. While things people do may hurt, their choices and reactions are not the way we gauge our worth and value. Their reactions are coming from a completely different view of the world. Depending on the day and situation they could have entirely different feelings about us (or something regarding us) from one day to the next. They have their own preferences, and we may not be giving them what they want.

The crowd can often be wrong. Jesus was a perfect human- God in the flesh, and by the end, had the majority of people hating him and shouting to crucify him.

Jesus lived a hard life. Brought up in obscurity until 30 years of age, he must have had a hard time waiting- knowing what he was capable of. Have you ever had the urge that you were ready to do something big, only to be unable to do anything at all? I think this is how Jesus felt. His time didn't come until age 30. At 12 years old he was found by his parents in the temple, talking to the rabbis who were astounded by his knowledge. By 12 years old, Jesus probably thought he was ready to take on the world. His knowledge certainly was there, but his character needed further development. How did his character develop to prepare him for what was ahead? His character developed by waiting patiently for 18 years through the pain and suffering of being unable to do anything related to ministry. This has be the most painful and torturous waiting period I can think of. He knew his purpose on earth for at least 18 years. It was a long period of waiting in complete obscurity doing carpentry work for his family trade. This work was in no way related to what you think the Savior of the world would be doing. The thing I love about Jesus is he's so relatable. He was human of course, but he was in no way what others would consider a special human. He had no characteristics that would set him apart or make others love him or desire him more. He was not from a wealthy or well known family. He had a questionable birth where there was talk he may have been an illegitimate child. He worked at a regular job as a tradesman. He was not an official rabbi, even though he had the knowledge to be one. He was a bit of a renegade, staying out of the public eye, behind the scenes. He was observing life around him during this time and making observations which he kept to himself. Later he turned these observations into sermons. It took 18 years for him to develop these observations about the world and develop his connection with the Father through pain and obscurity to be ready for his 3 intense years of ministry.

When Jesus first began his ministry he was tremendously popular. Everyone loves a guy who heals people and gives them free bread. Jesus became dismayed when he saw that his popularity was mostly because of the superficial things people thought they could get from him. They wanted the stuff, but didn't see the value of the person. This was the beginning of his feeling of rejection. He most likely thought once they saw the miracles they would comprehend his identity as Messiah and Savior of the world, but it didn't go exactly as planned. He had undoubtedly read the book of Isaiah countless times and knew that he would be the "suffering Messiah", but didn't comprehend that it would be this type of personal rejection. They didn't see him for who he was. There were so few that actually saw it.

It can often be the same today. We think the crowd must be right, but sometimes it's the small minority that are actually right. These few people were the die hard followers of Jesus. They saw something in him that they couldn't explain. They knew that this was the Messiah and they loved and accepted him for who he was, even if he wasn't exactly who they wanted him to be.

After some time the popularity started waning as Jesus no longer wanted people to follow him for superficial reasons. They wanted something from him. Perhaps they felt rejected by him because they felt he was denying them of what they needed. If he was the Messiah like he said, then they wanted to be set free from the oppression of Rome. They wanted a political Messiah, but Jesus was not a political Messiah. His Kingdom was not of this world, so he refused, and the people got angry. The same ones who before were shouting "Savior!", now started shouting "crucify him!" He was not conforming to the people's wishes. Often the weight of being very popular or famous involves pleasing the people who have made you famous- the "fans". Jesus was not after fans, but heartfelt followers. Today it often saddens me when I see celebrities with heartfelt followers. Celebrities are worthy of love, but not of worship. People can often worship a celebrity they have never met and never seen in real life, but have a hard time worshiping Jesus, who they have never seen or met in real life.

Jesus became cruelly despised by the majority of the people by the end. The Pharisees and Scribes were the worst of all. They relentlessly tested him and scrutinized everything he did. They said cruel things about him. They said he performed miracles by demonic power and that he was an illegitimate child. They mocked his home town and upbringing. They questioned his whole identity. They completely scoffed at his claims to be the Son of God.

I think we have all had people who have left significant scars on our hearts by saying extremely cruel and hurtful things that attack our identity. These are the things that hurt the most.

Then there are the people who failed to do the things we needed. When we needed them to be there, they failed us. These things hurt tremendously.

At the very end, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was in complete agony. He began taking the sins of the entire world on his mortal body. He was in such intense mental and physical pain he began to sweat drops of blood. He just asked one thing, that the disciples would keep a watch for him if anyone came to find him. They failed him. They kept falling asleep. In one of his most vulnerable moments, his closest friends failed him. This was pain on top of pain- almost too much to bear.

He was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, taken away, beaten, humiliated, mocked and scourged. He was made to carry his own cross to Golgotha. He had to walk among his own people to a criminal's death. The people shouted humiliating obscenities at him as his body gave out under the weight of the cross and sins of the one's mocking him. They were completely unaware they were mocking the one who came to save them.

Things are unfair in this world. I think it's an understatement to say they are not as they should be. Jesus could have folded under the injustice of it all and refused to give his life but he didn't. He chose to go to Jerusalem, knowing that he would die there. His life was not taken from him; he freely gave it.

His final moment of rejection was on the cross. This was the pinnacle of earthly pain. On the cross he was rejected by his own Father, alone and suffering a torturous death just for being himself. He never did anything deserving of death. He never even sinned. He never deserved what he got. None of it makes any sense unless you understand what came after.

After Jesus endured the pain and suffering of being utterly despised and rejected here on earth, he earned the greatest reward there is- becoming the King of heaven and earth. He is the King of EVERYTHING. He won. He endured and won it all. This is our Savior. I am so proud to call this person my Savior, my God- and my HERO.  He suffered tremendously, but it will be worth it for an eternity where all things will be made new, and those who believe in him will live forever in bliss, where everything will be made right.