Jul 4

John 1:11
Memorise Isaiah 53:3
“He came unto his own, but his own received him not.”

When a famous person, a world leader, celebrity or VIP visits a certain place, his arrival is normally met with great fanfare, the ‘red-carpet treatment’, and surrounded by much media coverage. This is the sort of attention that the world gives to people that they respect and love.

Jesus Christ is Emmanuel, God with us. He was the Messiah whom the whole of the Old Testament looked forward towards. Every faithful Jew should have known about the prophecies concerning Jesus, and looked forward to His coming with the eyes of faith. We would expect that Jesus, having left heaven’s glories to come to this earth to save sinful men, would have received a hero’s welcome. He above all should be the one highly exalted and praised. Yet we are told that when Jesus finally did come to earth, ‘he came unto his own, but his own received him not’. How sad! Nobody, besides a few faithful Jews (like John the Baptist, Anna and Simeon) recognised for who He was. For the rest of the Jews, they largely ignored this great event. Not only that, we will go on to see how throughout his life and ministry on earth, he was hated, despised and mocked at. The scribes and the Pharisees, who were supposed to be the most religious Jews, were the very ones who persecuted Him and constantly tried to find fault with his every action. Ultimately, Jesus was completely rejected by His own, and was sentenced to death for crimes he never committed, by the most humiliating and painful possible – a shameful death on the cross. However, all these did not discourage Jesus, neither did they cause him to deviate from his purpose in coming to earth, that is to save the very people who were rejecting him. What love!

How about us? How do we handle rejection, persecution and difficulties in life? How will we respond when we get ostracized by the people whom we try to witness to in love? How will we react when we try to do the right thing, but get persecuted instead? Always remember the example of Jesus, and how he faced the greatest rejection of all, but he never capitulated in the face of adversity, but persevered on, knowing that His purpose was not to please man, but only to please God the Father who had sent him.

Thought: The sort of rejection that we face is pittance compared to the way the world rejected Christ.
Prayer: Lord, grant me the courage and perseverance to handle rejection in my life.