"... If You do these things, show Yourself to the world." For even His brothers did not believe in Him.
John 7:4-5
We have all felt the sting of rejection. Some of us have felt the rejection of losing a job. Others of us felt it when we got picked last for the team. And still for others it has been the spurning of a horrible break up. Rejection can cause us to feel unwanted and unloved and leave deep emotional scars that can leave us hurting for years.
We are not alone. Jesus faced rejection many times and in many ways. But in the passage above we see that Jesus faced one of the hardest rejections. He was rejected by His own family. The Book of Isaiah gives another clear picture of Jesus rejection: "He was despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; ..." (Isaiah 53:3) The cross of Christ is the ultimate rejection. He, who never sinned, was made to be sin for us. When He was on the cross, He cried out in the deepest agony of rejection. "My God, My God! Why have you abandoned Me!" (Matthew 27:46 The Message) Jesus knows how it feels to feel the humiliation, the loneliness, and the wounds left by rejection. He faced it all for us!
How did Jesus deal with it? First of all, He made God His refuge. (Psalm 91:2) He committed Himself to God. (I Peter 2:23) He pursued God in prayer. It was Jesus habit to make a connection with God (Luke 5:16) When He was going through tough times, He sought the face of His Father and poured out His heart to Him. (Matthew 26:36-43) Jesus also looked at the end result of His suffering and saw us being saved and the joy that was before Him. (Isaiah 53:11; Hebrews 12:2-4). His triumph over all the rejection and grief that He faced was seeing us made whole and reconciled to God!
Rejection will never be easy. But we can face rejection and overcome it if we put our hope and our trust in God. He will never reject us! He says that nothing will separate us from His love! (Romans 8:35-39). He will be our fortress; our strength; and the One on whom we can cast all our burdens. We must learn to spend time pouring out our heart to Him. (Psalm 55:22) We must learn to receive the comfort from His Word. (Psalm 119:50) We must learn to walk in love so that we can forgive others the way that He forgave them. (Luke 23:34) As we spend time in Jesus' presence we will find ourselves transformed into His likeness and then we will truly have the victory that overcomes the world--our Faith!
Blessings to you!
Great word!