TUESDAY 16 March 2021 “Rejection”

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Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,

I need to begin today with what may be a troubling question. When and where was your most painful experience of rejection? How did it wound you and what lasting impact did it have on your life?

I wonder if God the Father and God the Son Jesus talked about rejection before Jesus came here to earth. They had experienced it once before in heaven… Lucifer rejected God’s holy supremacy and led a rebellion of angels against God. (Ezekiel 28:12-17) Jesus overpowered that rebellion and drove Lucifer and all the rebelling angels OUT of heaven and they formed the kingdom of darkness. (Col. 1:13)

Luke gives us the story I want us to focus on today, in Luke 4. We’ve been following Jesus on His road to Easter and here Jesus returns to His earthly hometown of Nazareth. I presume He was warmly welcomed by His mother Mary and many in Nazareth who knew Him and were His friends.

Luke tells us “On the Sabbath day Jesus went into the synagogue, as was His custom. And He stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. Unrolling it, He found the place where it is written:

‘The Spirit of the LORD is on me, because He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor…’

Then Jesus rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him…” (Luke 4:16-20)

Freeze the moment… look around the Nazareth synagogue. From the time of His youth, Jesus was ALWAYS in this room on every Sabbath, unless He and His family were in Jerusalem for a festival. The men had watched Him grow up. He seemed like a well mannered, honest, honorable young man and as He read the scroll that day, everyone nodded their approval. Perhaps the most learned among them had found it interesting that Jesus had turned specifically to this passage to read, but it was one of their favorite Messianic Scriptures and one day, oh my what a day that would be, Messiah will rise up to fulfill it.

And then suddenly everything changed, in an instant. Everyone was expecting one of the oldest men to comment on what had been read, instead it was Jesus who spoke! “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing! Surely you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’ I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you, that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for 3 1/2 years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon…” (Luke 4:21-27)

It was as though a bomb went off in that synagogue! Nothing Jesus could have said would have been more shocking. Jesus was unequivocally declaring HIMSELF to be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy! It was blasphemy, it was lunacy! And worse, Jesus was comparing Himself to Elijah, one of the greatest prophets of Israel. Jesus was saying He was sent by God and would NOT limit His work to Nazareth or even the Galilee region or even Jews! Jesus’ mission would know NO borders, NO limitations! Men pulled their beards, leaped to their feet, rushed at Jesus and drove Him out of their synagogue. Those close enough punched Him. In a moment He had turned the tables from being a favorite son of their town to being a demon which must be expelled!

Luke writes: “All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove Jesus out of the town, and took Him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw Him over the cliff. But Jesus walked right through the crowd and went on His way.”

Can you see the church crowd growing to be a frantic, mindless mob determined to kill Jesus? The noise likely called everyone out of their homes, including Mary. Can you imagine her confusion, her questions, her fear for her Son? Nazareth is still there on the top of that cliff today, and it’s not difficult, if you visit Nazareth, to imagine the mob violence which was taking place. What is unimaginable is how Jesus somehow calmed the outrage and simply walked right through the angry mob, and right out of town, untouched but enthusiastically, wholeheartedly, angrily rejected by His hometown.

Luke writes “He went down to Capernaum and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. They were amazed at His teaching because His message had authority. In the Capernaum synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, ‘What do you want with us Jesus of Nazareth. Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God!’

Be quiet,’ Jesus said sternly,‘Come out of him!’. Then the demon threw the man down on the ground before them all and came out without injuring him. All the people were amazed and said to each other, ‘what is this teaching? With authority and power He gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!” (Luke 4:31-37)

Two different Synagogues, in two different towns, only about 30 miles apart. The same Jesus, yet oh my what a difference in the responses of the people! His hometown of Nazareth totally rejected His claim to be the living fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1,2. The people of Capernaum welcomed His demon defeating power. Jesus had found a new home from which He would accomplish the mission for which God had sent Him to our planet earth. He would boldly proclaim God’s truth; He would bind and drive out demons from their holding people in bondage; He would bring hope and comfort to the frightened, the lost, the hopeless.

And Jesus would invite some men to join the journey with Him. Men whom He could train and teach. Men who would find purpose for the rest of their lives by following Jesus. Men who would eventually change the world, and men who would die martyr deaths rather than denounce their Savior Jesus. Tomorrow we’ll watch Jesus invite four of them to leave their fishing and start walking with Him toward Easter! Their lives would change forever. For today, I urge you to spend some time considering REJECTION as you’ve known it, experienced it. Jesus understands what it feels like, and He understands rejection can actually be a launch to something very significant with Jesus!

That mocking demon in Capernaum was actually a herald, announcing the arrival of Messiah in Capernaum! The demon crawling out of that man in shame, was the first of many times Jesus powerfully shamed and defeated Satan and his demons who were trying to terrorize people. Deliverance came into the Synagogue that day, and fear turned into celebration as Jesus did exactly what He had promised the people of Nazareth that He would do! “He released the oppressed and proclaimed freedom for the prisoner…” Have you praised Him recently for all Jesus has accomplished in YOUR life?

I invite you to do that right now. Celebrate how Jesus can empower you when demons are trying to terrorize or defeat you and Jesus hating people are rejecting you! Celebrate that as you walk with Jesus you will experience His mighty power and you will live victoriously over rejection, intimidation, or any other effort of the kingdom of darkness to silence you! Here’s a song to help you celebrate the victorious living Jesus makes available to you and to me!!

Today’s Scripture is Luke 4:16-37.

Choose below to read or listen.

Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.

Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.

Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)

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