Caught in the world’s rejection
He came to what was his own,
And his own people did not accept him. John 1:12
Read Isaiah 53:1—6
Why was the Servant of God rejected? I ask myself that. Why was Jesus rejected? And why is he still? In the day I have just lived I can surely identify some evidence of the world’s rejection of Jesus. I see this if I look into myself. I, for example, see people I find singularly unattractive. Nothing in their appearance makes me desire them. They have no form, no attractiveness. I hide from them. I must acknowledge this. I treat them as the world treats Jesus. At day’s end I may look back and see that I have despised someone like that. So, if I have, I just wonder, perhaps there is an equation here. Perhaps I have found my way into how easy it is to reject Jesus. It is as easy as ignoring my neighbour when all my neighbour needs is my acceptance.
Lord Jesus Christ, what a costly coming you had of it. You came and you were rejected. As though this world is no place for you. But you came in order to be rejected, rejected by your own. It was no mistake. You were not surprised by such despicable manners. It was the very nature of the case, spoken by the prophet because that is how this world stands in relation to the one from whom and for whom it exists. And now I see that this world’s attitude to you so easily patterns my own behaviour. Forgive and restore me. Let me truly connect with those I have looked down upon. Give me a full heart toward them, an open door and a glad embrace.