A King Born to Be Rejected

What makes authentic disciples is not visions, ecstasies, biblical mastery of chapter and verse, or spectacular success in the ministry, but a capacity for faithfulness. Buffeted by the fickle winds of failure, battered by their own unruly emotions, and bruised by rejection and ridicule, authentic disciples may have stumbled and frequently fallen, endured lapses and relapses, gotten handcuffed to the fleshpots and wandered into a far country. Yet, they kept coming back to Jesus.
~ Brennan Manning

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it… There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through Him. He was not the Light, but came to bear witness about the Light… The true Light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people 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, The Beloved, Disciple, in John 1

Oh beloved, it is true.

We are to be made one with The One, Who is The Word. But, the path to this theosis is very much what His Life looked like on this earth. So much of life, is just… life.

The people we pour into, look at us and despise the flow.
The projects we attempt, seem to crumble into the dust.
The Love we give, gets thrown back in our face in rejection.
The hand we offer, gets bitten off at the elbow.
The hope we proffer, is laughed away.
The work we do, is seen as useless.
The heart we have, is often greatly misunderstood.

All of this is actually not a sign of poverty. It is a sign of our high estate. For the entrance into the dwelling place of the Most High is through an ocean of suffering. Oh yes, much of our suffering is self-inflicted. But, just as yes, our suffering comes through the reality that when we care, we will be despised and face rejection – and be well-acquainted with grief.

This is exactly what our Jesus went through. The Very Maker of Existence was seen by most as not even worthy of their time. That is, unless He was doing some fancy miracles that week, and people could get a few good meals, and some entertainment. Otherwise, He was seen as a joke, a yokel from the “redneck” of the Judean woods.

And, this hurt His feelings. It nearly crushed His Spirit. So, to compensate for the weight of the pain, He took long tours into the desert before light. The temptation was to become bitter; to put the other people in the wrong for not giving Him the worship He was truly due.

Can we see it?

What made Him more Kingly and Regal than the fairest of the fairest of ten billion, was that every ounce of the pressure put on Him, and every gram of rejection He endured, was offered up to His Papa as an invitation to pour more Love than the “opponent” could bear back onto his or her soul – that they might be healed.

This fool of a writer is going through much of what Jesus went through. Surely, my circumstances are much easier in many ways. But still, i am a stranger in a very far country, and the people i thought were my people seem to have gone another direction. i do, more than i can put into words, feel forsaken and very much alone in a very cold world right now.

For me (and maybe for you too?), what is missing is a heart that deeply desires the healing of the people around me who are so dysfunctional in so many ways. i, like some wicked tyrant, want everyone around me to bow down or applaud all my incredible efforts in missions over the past years. It saddens me, in moments like this, how little like my True King, i really am.

However, for me (and maybe for you too?), there is a deeper desire. i do indeed want to be just like Him. i want nothing but True Love to be expressed from my being when i am pressed. And, i want to want nothing but wholeness and exultation for those who are struggling around me.

And so, hopefully you are catching the drift of this entry. The more Jesus was despised, the more He Loved. The more Jesus was rejected, the more He Loved and simply wished to draw people to Himself that they might experience the Love they were fleeing. So again, the path to becoming a perfectly Loving king and co-regent of The King of The Universe is to walk in the path He trod…. down through the poverty, and pain, and rejection… and even death.

Tonight is your night beloved. You are the royalty of The Kingdom of Heaven. Walk on through the entryway. It is paved with suffering and rejection, death and tears. But, on the other side of the Gate, is nothing but neverending, and ever-growing Love.

Our great honor lies in being just what Jesus was and is. To be accepted by those who accept him, rejected by all who reject him, loved by those who love him and hated by everyone who hates him. What greater glory could come to any man?
~A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)