My acceptance in his rejection
The stone that the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone. Psalm 118:22
Read Acts 4:8—12
I’m in Jerusalem. Peter speaks up just where and just when and among just whom Jesus had just been rejected. He came to his own and they scorned him. There’s more than a good chance that today I have mixed it with people who have rejected the Messiah. Or are rejecting him. It makes me weep. I weep for them. I weep for blind eyes. I weep for the rejection. And for signs of this rejection I see in myself. But how God used the rejection of the Son! He healed a man. The rejected one bore this man’s sickness as well as his sin. So I can never let anyone’s rejection of Jesus be the last word.
Lord Jesus Christ, Messiah of Israel, Son of God and God the Son, you came to your own. You entered into the life of your own people. You healed them and loved them. Yet you were despised and rejected and acquainted with pain.[1] You were called Satan’s disciple, a blasphemer,[2] and your healings were discarded and discounted, the action of a law-breaker.[3] You took more than my flesh: you took my shame. Your name suffered. Your very reputation, and your name is still thrown out as a curse. You did that for my healing. I hold up to you this night those who are still rejecting you. They are precious to me. I name them. And they need healing. I believe they are precious to you, even more than to me.
[1] Isaiah 53:3—4
[2] Mark 2:7
[3] Mark 3:1—6