Jesus: Rejected

Jesus was rejected.

Not all rejected him. How many did? Was it the speaking majority? Were the quiet, accepting ones a minority in the Jewish nation?

At various points we see clearly that itinerant teacher Jesus encountered rejection.

Jesus entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a shriveled hand. In order to accuse him, they were watching him closely to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath. He told the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand before us.” Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. After looking around at them with anger, he was grieved at the hardness of their hearts and told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. Immediately the Pharisees went out and started plotting with the Herodians against him, how they might kill him (Mark 3:1-6, CSB).

There had been many questions and much scepticism prior to that moment. There was confusion about this "new" Jesus.  We find the rejection becoming more planned and deliberate, at least on the part of those who realised they had something to lose.
Jesus went back home,[b] and once again such a large crowd gathered that there was no chance even to eat. When Jesus' family heard what he was doing, they thought he was crazy and went to get him under control.
Some teachers of the Law of Moses came from Jerusalem and said, “This man is under the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons! He is even forcing out demons with the help of Beelzebul.”
Jesus told the people to gather around him. Then he spoke to them in riddles and said:
How can Satan force himself out?  (Mark 3:19b-23, CEV) The delegation wanted to blacken Jesus in the eyes of the uncommitted. All would eventually decide, one way or the other.

Some opposition even came from people who thought they knew Jesus. At some stage Jesus had moved his place of living to Capernaum. Did any others of that family move there? What of Joseph? No answer. (No need to correct an electoral roll, anyway!): and coming to his hometown he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.  (Matthew 13:54-58, ESV) Looks like familiarity had bred contempt and people were stuck in their prejudices. I wonder how many people from Capernaum were able to break away from that mindset?

Organised action grew. Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
“‘These people honor me with their lips,
    but their hearts are far from me.
They worship me in vain;
    their teachings are merely human rules.’[c]”
Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides.[d] If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:1-14, NIV) People did and may take offence at Jesus. Perhaps that is more useful than benign ignoring?

More than once Jesus was challenged to "prove" himself. One day some teachers of religious law and Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, we want you to show us a miraculous sign to prove your authority.”
But Jesus replied, “Only an evil, adulterous generation would demand a miraculous sign; but the only sign I will give them is the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. (Matthew 12:38-40, NLT). I feel that the requests were not polite!

Even Jesus' closest ones were divided in mind or reluctant to really take to heart what he said: He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.”[a] And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” (Mark 8:29-33, NRSV). In this case Peter, spokesperson for the group, wanted to reject Jesus' undertaking completion of God's salvation plan.

The disciples' confusion remained. The threat from the powerful loomed. Then they left that place and made their way through Galilee, but he did not want anyone to know it. For he was teaching his disciples and telling them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed[a] into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after he is killed, he will rise three days later.” But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask him (Mark 9:30-32, CSB). Perhaps they felt they ought to understand? It seems Jesus, humanly speaking, wanted to give more time to them.

Jesus did deliberately go finally to Jerusalem. The disciples were confused as Jesus led them toward Jerusalem, and his other followers were afraid. Once again, Jesus took the twelve disciples aside and told them what was going to happen to him. He said: We are now on our way to Jerusalem where the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the teachers of the Law of Moses. They will sentence him to death and hand him over to foreigners,[a] who will make fun of him and spit on him. They will beat him and kill him. But three days later he will rise to life. (Mark 10:32-34, CEV) The fear of those behind was easy to understand. The dominant reaction of those closest to Jesus was astonishment - that he could be going into the heart of his opposition, the heart of religious darkness.

We see the campaign developing as the end neared: And he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while. When the time came, he sent a servant[a] to the tenants, so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent another servant. But they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed. And he sent yet a third. This one also they wounded and cast out. Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:
“‘The stone that the builders rejected
    has become the cornerstone’?[b]
Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.  (Luke 20:9-19, ESV). It was taking longer than they wanted! Not the first time some "people power" had turned aside evil action.

But the traitor was at hand: Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. “But not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”
While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table.
When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”
Aware of this, Jesus said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you,[a] but you will not always have me. When she poured this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”
Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over. (Matt 26:3-16, NIV). The opportunity came, and it was done. (That meaningful act of the woman they tried to bother - did it prompt Judas?)

That last night Jesus purposely went out with three followers. Jesus walked on a little way before he knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you will, please don’t make me suffer by having me drink from this cup.[a] But do what you want, and not what I want.”

Then an angel from heaven came to help him. Jesus was in great pain and prayed so sincerely that his sweat fell to the ground like drops of blood[b] (Luke 22:41-44, CEV).  Jesus was overcome and torn by what he knew lay at hand. Crucifixion was ugly and intentionally cruel. (The last two sentences of the quote are omitted from some ancient manuscripts.) Nonetheless, Matthew and Mark also tell us Jesus instinctively reacted thus to what was going to happen in fulfilment of God's salvation plan, not the plans of the powerful. The unimaginable and unthinkable lay not far ahead. Was Jesus filled with fear?

 

The arrest and proceedings soon followed, including a resulting episode of rejection. This was "decision point", as it were; what is the Governor to do with Jesus? It is not exactly clear who ("they") is doing the rejection and to me it reads as an orchestrated crowd reaction: But they kept urgently demanding with loud shouts that he should be crucified; and their voices prevailed (Luke 23:23, NRSV). Our texts indicate that Governor Pilate (strangely) wanted to avoid condemning Jesus to death. Rejection of Jesus is clear, even if motives and personnel are blurred.

 

The final human "mob" rejection soon followed: The people passing by shouted abuse, shaking their heads in mockery. “Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!”

The leading priests, the teachers of religious law, and the elders also mocked Jesus. “He saved others,” they scoffed, “but he can’t save himself! So he is the King of Israel, is he? Let him come down from the cross right now, and we will believe in him! He trusted God, so let God rescue him now if he wants him! For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”  (Matt 27: 39-43, NLT). Given the previous reports it is hard to believe their call was sincere. It was clear they rejected him and were sorry he had ever come into their orbit.

 

During that afternoon came an incredible moment: From noon on, darkness came over the whole land[a] until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, “This man is calling for Elijah.” At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.”[b] Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last.[c] (Matthew 27:45-50, NRSV). Why would Jesus say something, so dreadful, so extraordinary like that? These unprecedented words are in Matthew and Mark *. Why would Jesus think his God had rejected him? Why would he use those words? I think the answer lies in the remarkable Psalm 22 (*; q.v. below), and in the well-known words of Isaiah 53 (q.v. below).

John tells us how that ended: Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit (John 19:28-30, NIV). What was finished? Jesus said that his work was finished. I believe that the incomprehensible content of Jesus' being forsaken was done; once for all, his offering of himself had been made and accepted.

 

I see the dreadful rejection of Jesus by God re-stated in the unique words of Paul: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” (Galatians 3:13, NIV). Since the quotation is found in the Bible of that day (Deuteronomy 21:23), I imagine the application to Jesus was easily reached and commonplace enough. From another angle, see the stark explanation, For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin,[a] so that we could be made right with God through Christ (2 Cor 5:21, NLT). Some prefer to translate that extraordinary statement as Christ being made sin itself. The sin offering was then prominent in the Jewish religion. (The New Testament  document, "Hebrews", explores their experience of the old way in contrast the new - better - way to be at peace with God.) The impossible problem was ours. How could imperfect, shortcoming, humans become friends with God? To have cancelled what we deserve? Christ in his person dealt with that problem for "us", for "we". Not exclusive, not a closed community, but acceptance is critical, for the "we" has to be joined (see below).

The rejecters had the power (they thought). Their judgement was final (they thought).
They used fear for their ends - a fear which continued even after Jesus overthrew it all and rose from the dead. Not hard to imagine the followers being fearful. Like the many who would know rejection and hide in caves, and sewers, and spaces, and shelters and forests, and so on, we read: When it was evening on that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because they feared the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Having said this, he showed them his hands and his side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. (John 20:19-20, CSB). Since John says that was evening, they already had the incredible news, from more than one source, that Jesus had risen. They still trembled at rejection but now could rejoice. Fear might be replaced by caution and by consideration of consequences. (There was never justification to "put God to the test", to seek suffering.) A lot of fear about at that time. What chance of the news of Jesus going out to the world now? These fearful, trembling people were never going to herald a new king, The King, were they? (Well, actually, read on, especially in Luke, to see how we got to here.)

In his opening lines John gives that overall summary statement: He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own,[a] and his own people[b] did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:10-13, ESV).  "Did not receive him": Considered as a whole people, Jesus was rejected by them. But there were those women and men who broke away, who heard and trusted Jesus. The result - they became part of God's family, members of a lasting kingdom.

Jesus knows what it is to be rejected. He experienced total exclusion - from God. That exclusion on account of, for the sake of, all who receive(d) him. He wanted to be accepted. He wanted to accept.

The same opportunity is there today. For everyone. To re-word now what John wrote: to all who receive him, who believe in his name, he gives the right to become children of God. No one else has any say in it; that is a direct transaction between Jesus and you.

Paul the Apostle of Jesus stood in awe that God would separate his own son. That cataclysmic event gives ordinary folk a much mentioned grounds of ultimate personal confidence : He did not even spare his own Son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him grant us everything? Who can bring an accusation against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Can affliction or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written:
Because of you
we are being put to death all day long;
we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.[a]
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:32-39, CSB). No rejection, ever! None!

Psalm 22
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
    Why are you so far from saving me,
    so far from my cries of anguish?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
    by night, but I find no rest.[b]

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
    you are the one Israel praises.[c]
In you our ancestors put their trust;
    they trusted and you delivered them.
To you they cried out and were saved;
    in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm and not a man,
    scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
    they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
    “let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
    since he delights in him.”

Yet you brought me out of the womb;
    you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
From birth I was cast on you;
    from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

Do not be far from me,
    for trouble is near
    and there is no one to help.

Many bulls surround me;
    strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
Roaring lions that tear their prey
    open their mouths wide against me.
I am poured out like water,
    and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
    it has melted within me.
My mouth[d] is dried up like a potsherd,
    and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
    you lay me in the dust of death.

Dogs surround me,
    a pack of villains encircles me;
    they pierce[e] my hands and my feet.
All my bones are on display;
    people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them
    and cast lots for my garment.

But you, Lord, do not be far from me.
    You are my strength; come quickly to help me.
Deliver me from the sword,
    my precious life from the power of the dogs.
Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
    save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

I will declare your name to my people;
    in the assembly I will praise you.
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
    All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
    Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
For he has not despised or scorned
    the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
    but has listened to his cry for help.

From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
    before those who fear you[f] I will fulfill my vows.
The poor will eat and be satisfied;
    those who seek the Lord will praise him—
    may your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth
    will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
    will bow down before him,
for dominion belongs to the Lord
    and he rules over the nations.

All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
    all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
    those who cannot keep themselves alive.
Posterity will serve him;
    future generations will be told about the Lord.
They will proclaim his righteousness,
    declaring to a people yet unborn:
    He has done it! (NIV)

Isaiah 53
Who has believed what we have heard?
    And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
    and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by others;
    a man of suffering[a] and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces[b]
    he was despised, and we held him of no account.

Surely he has borne our infirmities
    and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
    struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions,
    crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
    and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have all turned to our own way,
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
    Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
    stricken for the transgression of my people.
They made his grave with the wicked
    and his tomb[c] with the rich,[d]
although he had done no violence,
    and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.[e]
When you make his life an offering for sin,[f]
    he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.
    Out of his anguish he shall see light;[g]
he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.
    The righteous one,[h] my servant, shall make many righteous,
    and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,
    and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he poured out himself to death,
    and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
    and made intercession for the transgressors. (NRSV)

* Psalm 22:1 in Matthew and Mark raises variant readings between Hebrew and Aramaic versions of that Psalm. (Publishers favour the Hebrew for Matthew.) I presume both were commonplace amongst a people who had long known man-made cataclysmic disasters and destruction. Our English text represents the Greek, which represents the Hebrew, or the Aramaic.  To me it seems probable that Jesus would utter the words he must have known from earliest days. (Aramaic was a widespread language.) Nonetheless, would it be possible today to vocalise the exact sounds uttered by Jesus? We know what he said.

May God bless you
Allen Hampton

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Note 1: I retain in the publishers' text where they occur the references [ ] to footnotes, but usually not the notes. You can check footnotes out by viewing the text on-line. Often they are replicated in different translations.
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AL 30/05/24