Jesus: Despised and Rejected
Please read Jeremiah 1: 4-10 and Luke 4: 14-30, (especially 22-30) and then pray; Almighty God, I bow in your presence; may your Word be my rule, your Spirit my teacher and guide, and your greater glory my supreme concern. In Jesus name, Amen.
Our focus today will be upon Jesus at the commencement of his Spirit-filled ministry (14) in Nazareth, but we will also keep in mind Jeremiah and his call, and the commencement of his ministry in the 7th century BC – (627-582 BC) a prophetic ministry amongst the people of the southern kingdom of Judah/Israel – many years after the demise and downfall of the northern kingdom of Israel.
You may have noticed that in both lectionary readings from Jeremiah and Luke – a special emphasis is placed upon the word “today.” In Jeremiah 1:10;
See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.
And from Luke, and from the lips of Jesus;
Today this scripture (Isaiah 61: 1-2) is fulfilled in your hearing.
In Jeremiah, we have God calling a young man to be a prophet to the nation from that day onwards. In Luke we have the Lord Jesus fulfilling Messianic prophecy on that day – the day on which he read out the prophecy from Isaiah 61 in the synagogue service. On the one hand with have the emergence of a new prophet; on the other we have One who uniquely fulfils all messianic prophecies.
The gospel writers all reveal how Jesus from Nazareth fulfilled all the bold and clear messianic prophecies uttered by the prophets (including Jeremiah) and recorded in the OT period. After his resurrection from the dead, Jesus explained to two confused and dejected disciples on the road to Emmaus;
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:27)
And later in Luke 24:44;
This is what I told you while I was with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.
What we have in Luke 4 is of great significance in helping us to understand why Jesus came, what his priorities were, and how many people would react to his teaching and mission. We see an amazing example of fulfilled prophecy in Jesus and how this can guide and strengthen the Church in the future.
Isaiah, not Jeremiah, is the OT prophet who speaks about the “One to come” most frequently. In our passage today in Luke, there are two aspects of Isaiah’s messianic prophecies which Jesus fulfilled to the letter. One refers to his Spirit-anointed ministry and the Messiah’s priorities, and the other to the reality of rejection.
Firstly, and briefly, let us remind ourselves of who empowered and anointed Jesus’s ministry. The Holy Spirit anointed and empowered the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth in fulfilment of prophecies made by Isaiah. We read in Luke 4:14:
Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread throughout the whole countryside.
Jesus is returning after his baptism, where we are told “heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove. At his baptism Jesus was anointed and filled with the person and power of the Spirit. He later returns to Galilee “in the power of the Spirit” (14) and announces in a synagogue service that;
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
Jesus is claiming to be the Spirit-filled and anointed Messiah spoken of by Isaiah in the OT. Not just Isaiah 61, which he personally reads out to the captive audience, but also Isaiah 42 v 1-4. (Read)
From this episode in the life of Jesus at the outset of his ministry, the Church (you and I) must learn that our work and endeavours for the Kingdom of God need to be empowered and guided by the Spirit. The Spirit orchestrates all areas of Christian mission. This is why Pentecost, recorded in Acts (Luke volume 2) was to be so crucial. In Acts 2 f, we have the events of Pentecost with the mighty descent of the Spirit upon the disciples, but prior to that we have the promise of Jesus in Acts 1: 8;
But you will receive POWER when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Jesus went out in the power of the Spirit – so must his people – the Church. May God grant us such power.
But where was the Spirit-filled ministry to be directed? What were Jesus’s priorities? Jesus tells those in the synagogue that the priorities of his compassionate ministry were spelt out hundreds of years before by Isaiah the prophet. Jesus will be working primarily amongst the poor, the prisoners, the blind and the oppressed. Spirit empowered miracles will occur amongst these groups – and this is precisely what we see throughout the rest of this gospel. Miracles, blessing and salvation amongst the poor, the prisoners, the blind and the oppressed!
The second powerful point has now been made for future generations of Jesus’s disciples – you and I and all followers of Jesus. Where should the Church be working and ministering in the with the power and love of the Spirit? Amongst the spiritually and economically poor, amongst those who find themselves in different kinds of prisons, among the spiritually blind and ignorant, and among all who are oppressed by cares, anxieties, pressures, and the subtle and not-so subtle evil powers of this dark age. The Church that obeys this manifesto is the prophetic Church – the obedient Church. How are we doing? How are you doing? Where is our mission focused and do we take our lead from the Spirit?
Jesus fulfils prophecy through his unique and clear anointing with the Spirit, and through the priorities of his ministry. But he does it in another way – and this is what I feel I am called by God to especially emphasise today. Let us move on to Luke 4: 22-30, which sees Jesus firstly in the people’s good books, and then in their bad books – to such an extent that the people of his hometown – Nazareth – want to throw Jesus off a cliff, a prominent local geographical feature on the edge of his home town.
In Luke 4:22, we are told that “all spoke well of him and were amazed at his gracious words.” The problems mounted for Jesus when he went on to speak a few home-truths about the fact that in the past God had graciously decided to work wonders among non-Jews. Jesus speaks of two prominent incidents in the OT involving the great prophets Elijah and Elisha where God chose to use these men to bring extraordinary blessing to Gentiles – a poor widow in Zarephath and an army General in Syria. And God is going to be doing mighty things among Gentiles as well as Jews in the coming days – up until the end of the age. For speaking about God’s care for foreigners, Jesus is instantly rejected, and threatened with death. This now is what we must focus on – this whole area of rejection – the rejection of Jesus, his teaching, his offer of salvation, his offer of eternal life.
Once again, we see the fulfilment of messianic prophecies from Isaiah – this time to do with the rejection of God’s Servant and Messiah. From the famous Isaiah 53 v 1-3 we read. (Read)
Linger with me for a moment on these astonishing words;
He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering.
Despised: Rejected: Familiar with sorrow and suffering.
Jesus will later face full-blown rejection, sorrow and suffering as he experiences brutal scourging and crucifixion. But it starts here in Nazareth, not long after Jesus’s baptism. Jesus was baptised with the power of the Spirit but he was also baptised into suffering. Rejection! (Mark 10:38)
Now just as the subject of Spirit filled ministry and Spirit directed ministry is important to us and all the Church in every age, so is the subject of rejection and suffering for the sake of Christ and is kingdom and his gospel. As Christians we must be aware and alert to the reality of rejection. The Church is not here to be popular. The Church is here to be faithful – faithful the One who was “despised and rejected.” Faithful to Jesus and his teaching. (Luke 9:23-26)
Let me say this, and this is true for so many people in a broken, sinful, and cruel world. Rejection is painful – sometimes unbelievably painful and traumatic. Rejection can and does leave deep psychological wounds and painful emotional scars. Rejection is not nice, but we do not live in a “nice world.” We live in a fallen world as described in Genesis 3. Jesus came into this fallen world to save it and redeem it.
Rejection is especially difficult and harmful for children. The effects of childhood rejection can be multiple and can result in deep distrust, crippling anxiety, clinical depression, loneliness, fear of intimacy and an unhealthy attachment to people pleasing behaviours – because you do not want to be rejected again, do you? Once bitten? But what if those people pleasing behaviours are dangerous and unhealthy to the child and to others? Some people here today may have been neglected and rejected by a parent or by an important individual in their lives. Jesus is good news to such people. Are you a person who has experienced rejection from a spouse, a close friend, perhaps your closest friend, or an employer who you have faithfully served over a long time – Jesus is good news to you. Why? How?
Firstly, because Jesus came to save the rejected ones, those who society have labelled and treated as “rejects.” We see in Lukes’s gospel how Jesus reaches out to touch and heal the sickly poor, the lepers, the blind beggars, the oppressed, the demonically scarred and oppressed. Stories of Jesus’s peculiar love for the rejects of Israel and Gentile territories abound in the gospels. The Messiah who was himself “despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering” prioritised the rejected ones of his day. It was in his manifesto – and his manifesto was written on a scroll of the prophet Isaiah, but it was also inscribed upon his heart of compassion and mercy. It dictated his actions. Jesus was and is good news to rejects – to those who have been excluded and find themselves on the margins – the lepers of each generation.
And the unique thing about Jesus, God with us, is he truly understands your trauma and suffering because he (God the Son) experienced it first-hand. If you come to Jesus and reach out to him for help, healing, and salvation, you are coming to One for whom nothing is impossible, but you are also coming to One who understands the afflicted and the broken hearted – those who have been crushed in spirit, who may also have had their bodies harmed and abused. Jesus retains the scars to prove it.
Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he can help those who are being tempted. (Hebrews 2: 16-18)
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted (tested) in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
Jesus uniquely shows us a God who suffered all that we suffer, including the harshest rejection; a God who understands and sympathises like no other, but also a God who is powerful and merciful enough to heal us, just as he healed those whose stories are recorded in the gospels. Listen to what happened after Jesus left another synagogue, this time in Capernaum. (Read Luke 4: 38-40) If this gospel teaches anything at all, it is this: Jesus reached out to the rejected ones.
But I must state one other truth to do with rejection which applies to Christians and the Church today, and every age. Rejection is part and parcel of our calling. Just as it was a central part of the experience of Jesus, so it will be a major part of the experience of Christians now and the Christian Church and gospel. Jesus spelt this out to his disciples. He was clear and honest.
“No servant is greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you also”. (John 15:20)
And when Jesus sent his disciples to share the good news of the kingdom with the people of surrounding towns and villages, his training manual including these words;
He who listens to you listens to me; but he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me. (Luke 10:16)
Jesus warned his disciples to expect rejection. If Jesus experienced rejection of his person and message, his disciples and ambassadors can expect the same. This is part of the true cost of honest and faithful discipleship. There will be rejection. There was for the prophet Jeremiah who was rejected by his family and his countrymen. Jeremiah, who is sometimes referred to as “the weeping prophet” is the one from whom came the famous saying quoted by Jesus; A prophet is without in his hometown. (Mark 6:4). Jesus warned his disciples then, and warns us now, that rejection is to be expected. It is interesting to read Acts of the Apostles (Luke volume 2) and see just how many times the apostle’s faced rejection, often from Jews, but also from Gentiles. There are great successes and Church growth, but there are many stories of outright rejected and persecution. This is the way it will always be. (See Acts 14:1-7 as just one example)
Why the rejection? Why the rejection of Jesus and his message and his disciples who now share that message? In a nutshell, the rejection occurs because sinful people reject truth – and Jesus is the truth, the way, and the life. People do not want to hear a message which includes repentance and radical change. People do not want to acknowledge Jesus as Lord and embrace him as their Lord and King. Sinners do not like what Jesus for example, teaches about subjects such as money, sex, and power. His teaching is rejected in the same way the people of Jeremiah’s day rejected the covenant. They preferred to reject God rather than repent of their sin and failings.
Christians face a big challenge because it is so tempting to shy away from the distinct possibility of rejection. If we share Jesus and his gospel – we may be rejected – we may be opposed – we may be mocked. That is true – but are we going to be disobedient and unloving instead? To share the truth with others, is to love them. Sharing the gospel is an act of love; but such love can be rejected; that does not mean we should back away from sharing what is the greatest good news of all. Pastor Charles Stanley writes;
Many Christians have a commitment of convenience. They stay faithful as long as it is safe and does not involve risk, rejection, or criticism. Instead of standing alone in the face of challenges and temptation, they check out to see which way their friends are going.”
John Bevere writes; “It is much better to tell the truth than to compromise the truth and have someone believe a lie. if you truly love someone, you must be truthful – even if you know it means rejection.
Jesus told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. He is the truth. Consequently, he often faced rejection in a world full of deceit, ruled by the “father of lies” – the devil. (John 8:44-45)
As I speak, many Muslims are making the bold step to become Christians and to be baptised. They will be rejected by their families and by the communities. Many from other religious backgrounds are acknowledging Jesus as Lord and are then having to walk away from their families. They are despised and rejected. You may know of individuals who have paid a significant price for responding to Jesus’s call upon their lives. But if we or they are rejected, we can find healing and consolation in Jesus.
If we are rejected by men (like Jesus was), we can be reassured and blessed because we have been “chosen by the living God.” (1 Peter 2:4) God’s choice is more important than man’s rejection or mockery. This was Jeremiah’s consolation and it can be ours. God will never leave us, but will be with us always – through all situations, experiences, and challenges. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 1:8). You will be amazed at how Jesus can heal the wounds caused by rejection. In his presence and by the power of His Spirit and through prayer, there is healing, hope and transformative peace and joy. This is a King and a God who specialises in rescuing, saving, and healing rejected people. Trust Him and you will not be disappointed.
And now unto our great God, Father, Son, and Spirit, be all the glory and praise. Amen.
Revd Peter J Clarkson (2.2.25)