Rejection

The video Sunday packed a punch, didn't it? When she asked the question, "Who has rejected you?" the past landed with a heavy thud in the middle of my chest. Who among us does not have a long history of small and large rejections that tear at the fabric of our peace and joy? Rejection--the fear of it, the experience of it, and the inevitability of it--is one of the most destructive forces we face. As Beth said, it can wound deeper and last longer than hosts of other injuries. It temps us to invite into our lives things we otherwise might never welcome. It can empower us to act in ways we never dreamed of behaving. Thank God that the One who has taken up residence in our hearts is greater than the one who sits outside trying to claw his way in!

Coincidentally (as if such things exist in God's domain!), earlier this week I received an email from someone close to me who has gone through severe rejection over the past several years. She's hurting. She often feels that God must have made a mistake in creating her since important people in her life tell her in various ways that the end result isn't worth much. She's bombarded with messages of failure and inadequacy. But in spite of these dark times, she has hope...because she has Jesus.

Here's what she wrote (I'm quoting it here because it relates both to Sunday's video and to Monday's homework. I think you'll recognize some of the verses referenced.): "I think the answer to my situation is Jesus, to keep my eyes firmly fixed on Him and to consider all my other dreams as rubbish compared to being with Him in His death and resurrection. Others may say I'm too radical, pushy, whatever - but I don't have to believe that. I can believe that this place isn't able to receive me. And I may never be in a place where anyone can receive me. It doesn't mean that I'm a mistake. It means that God sent His Son to those who were His own, but they wouldn't receive Him. The darkness couldn't comprehend Him. But to all who WOULD receive Him, He was the very power of God."

As she said, we live in a world that is not good at receiving; we reject one another in ways too numerous and painful to list. That many of those wounds are unintentional does not erase the damage. Our propensity for rejecting that which we should receive shows itself in our treatment of Christ. (And never think that because we personally weren't there that we aren't guilty of taking part in his rejection. If he had come to us in 2008, do you really think his treatment would have been any better? The WORLD--past, present, and future, all inclusive--is guilty of rejecting him.) The creator and ruler of the universe came to his own kingdom, his own people, and received not the homage and accolades he deserved but an outpouring of the bile of indifference, ignorance, and rebellion. Instead of a king's welcome, he was despised and rejected so violently that his final resting place on this earth was a grave with the wicked (Isaiah 53); he was tossed aside like any useless piece of junk. This is how humanity responds to the person of God among us.

But thanks be to God that in his grace that isn't the end of the story! Christ has opened up for us a way out. Into the darkness of rejection, he came as light. Although we in ourselves are horribly hindered in our ability to receive Christ or each other, Christ's death and resurrection have removed the power of our weaknesses. His perfect acceptance of us overcomes our rejection of him; his love swallows up our lack of love. There are now no hindrances left; through the gift of faith in Christ, we can come to God, and his Spirit can come to us and live in us. Here's the whole story from John 1: " He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God--children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but BORN OF GOD." What a precious gift to have God as our Father, to be adopted into his family. He never rejects us; his arms are always opened wide to welcome us. The chains of rejection have been broken.