After Rejection

Father, we ask that you would gently but powerfully continue to pour out the Holy Spirit upon us.

We thank you, Father, that we can meet together, whether it's in person or online,

that we can be in your presence.

Father, we acknowledge that you, with the Son and the Holy Spirit, three persons, one God,

that you are the true and living God, the creator and sustainer of all things.

And we give you thanks and praise that we can be in your presence through what Jesus has done for us on the cross.

And we ask now, Lord, that you would minister to us, that you would give to us,

that we would receive grace from your hands in a worthy manner, and that we would respond in a worthy manner.

And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

Please be seated.

I just realized I forgot my Mikey thing. That's fine.

People considering the Christian faith today have a lot of extra type of issues which we have to face.

I mean, obviously, people who might first hear about some of the, actually hear what Christianity really is,

and have that shared with them, they're going to have intellectual objections as to why the Christian faith isn't true,

and why they couldn't possibly believe it.

But whether it's acknowledged or not, there's a profound emotional and personal reason

that might make becoming a Christian very difficult.

And that is that we feel that to become a Christian would mean, well, we'd have less friends rather than more,

that we will actually face rejection if we were to become a Christian.

Many people in our culture think that Christianity is toxic,

that rather than being part of a solution or just maybe one neutral option amongst many,

that in fact the Christian faith is part of the problem,

that it has to be rejected, that it's actually literally toxic.

In our country, churches could be burned.

It was just about a year ago that almost 50 churches were either burned or seriously defaced,

and many of the leading lights in our culture just thought that that was fine.

It hardly got any outrage whatsoever.

And so we're sort of familiar with that as part of the issue in our culture,

that if they were to rewrite the book today, How to Win Friends and Influence People,

the first chapter wouldn't say become a Christian.

That in fact would be the opposite of being able to influence people and win friends.

And those of us who are Christians, we feel this in our bones as well.

And so we wrestle with whether or not it's required to,

maybe we should just leave the Christian faith or we should rewrite it

in a way that doesn't get us rejected or put down.

The text that we're going to look at today speaks directly into this issue.

Whether you're a Christian or you're on the outside of the Christian faith looking in,

trying to figure it out, the text that we're looking at today speaks directly to this issue.

So it would be a great help if you were to look with me at the Bible for yourselves

as we go sort of through it.

And it's Mark chapter 6, verses 1 to 13.

Mark 6:1–13

And we're preaching through the gospel of Mark.

And so what, just to remind us, Mark is one of the ancient eyewitness biographies of Jesus.

Mark would have been an eyewitness of some of the things here,

but he would have drawn upon the actual eyewitnesses.

And this biography was written when the eyewitnesses were all still alive

and kicking, so to speak.

And so this is an ancient eyewitness biography.

And what's just happened before this,

two Sundays ago we looked at Jesus going to the pagan side of the Sea of Galilee,

and he met a man who was possessed by a legion of demons,

and he cast the demons out.

But one of the results of that is that the people of that region wanted Jesus to leave.

They didn't want him to stay there anymore, so he left.

And then he comes to the Jewish side of the Sea of Galilee,

and what we just looked at last week, he's met by a man whose daughter was dying.

And so Jesus agrees to go with the man to heal his daughter.

But on the way, he gets sort of interrupted by a woman who's had a very profound,

and I guess in that cultural time,

embarrassing and weakening medical condition that's impoverished her.

She's had it for 12 years, and he heals her.

But while he pauses, the daughter dies of the synagogue ruler, Jairus.

But Jesus still goes anyway, and he's raised the daughter from the dead.

That's what's just happened before this.

And now the story continues, and here's how it goes.

Jesus went away from there and came to his hometown, which is Nazareth.

We know that Nazareth, archaeologists guess that, or estimate, I guess.

I guess if I did it, it would be a guess, if an archaeologist does it, it's an estimate.

And he estimate that probably at its most it had about 500 people living there.

And anyway, he goes to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.

And on the Sabbath, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished, saying,

Where did this man get these things?

Now, just to pause here before we go any further.

Sometimes it's impossible in one language to capture all the significant nuances in another language.

And there's a very significant nuance that's going to happen right here, which isn't really captured with this man.

If you were to see me at a public gathering, and we had somebody there maybe who was a professor

at the University of Ottawa or Carleton or University of Toronto, and they had a couple of PhDs,

and they had a very prestigious position, and if I came up and talked about this guy,

you'd all know that I was putting him down.

If I didn't introduce him as Professor, you know, Bob or Professor Sue,

and, you know, PhD from Oxford, another PhD from Harvard,

if I didn't introduce them like that but just referred to them as this guy,

every single one of you would know that I've just put them down.

And that's what's happening here with this word, this man.

In the original language, it's a dismissive term.

And literally, given that Jesus is right there, it is like a public dismissiveness,

which not only is it a public dismissiveness,

it's a public dismissiveness, as we'll see later on in the story, that's accepted.

In other words, it would be as if we had somebody here, a professor,

and I was to say we're going to hear this guy say a few words,

and all of you folks out there are going like this.

Way to go, George.

This is a good thing to dismiss.

This is a good way to dismiss this guy.

Way to go.

Two thumbs up.

And so just, I'll read it again from verse 2.

That's the context here, right off the bat.

So, and on the Sabbath, Jesus began to teach in the synagogue,

and many who heard him were astonished, saying,

where did this guy get these things?

What is the wisdom given to him?

How are such mighty works done by his hands?

Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James,

and I don't know how to pronounce that word, Joseph, and Judas, and Simon?

And are not his sisters here with us?

And they took offense at him.

So, just a couple of other things that the put-downs continue.

One of them is by referring to Jesus as son of Mary.

The normal Jewish way of referring to a man would be to refer to him as Jesus, son of Joseph.

In fact, there's a bit of debate among scholars,

but most of them would agree that, in fact, it's also a bit of a dig

that he was born illegitimately.

And that, in our culture right now, isn't a bad thing.

But for old people like me, there would be girls in high school who would miss a term, a year.

And everybody would know they missed a year because they got pregnant and had a baby.

They sent the family, sent the girl away completely to another place to have the baby.

And then the baby would be put up for adoption

because it was a shameful thing to have a child out of wedlock.

Some families far more than others, but it was a shameful thing.

It's not a shameful thing in our culture right now,

but in many, many cultures in the world,

it's a shameful thing to have a child out of wedlock.

And once again, if I had a person here and I was introducing them

and there was something shameful in our culture,

and I pointed it out in public to everybody,

and you all went like this,

you can get a sense of what's going on here with Jesus.

There is, in a sense, a very public dismissing of him,

put down, and rejection of him.

And just one other thing about this put down of him

is that in the Jewish culture,

it's not a shameful thing to be a carpenter.

In fact, it would have been considered an honorable thing.

It wouldn't have made him eligible to really be a rabbi.

It didn't mean he had high-level qualifications,

but it wouldn't be a put down necessarily.

But in the other world,

and Mark, the original writer of this ancient biography,

is writing it not in Hebrew or Aramaic,

but is writing it in Greek,

so it's designed for the wider culture.

And Nazareth itself is actually only four,

I can't remember now if it's four kilometers or four miles,

but just from a very, very significant Gentile city.

And in the Gentile or the pagan world,

a carpenter would be like a real put down.

You know, it would be like in our day

at the University of Ottawa,

if they were introducing somebody and they said a janitor.

And everybody in the University of Ottawa,

well, just a janitor.

Like, just a janitor.

Not somebody with even a BA or an MA or a PhD.

So there's multiple putting down of Jesus

here in this particular story.

So the interesting thing then

is he's been publicly put down,

publicly dismissed, publicly rejected.

And he's been,

this is done in a context where people know him.

And they feel they have the sufficient social power

to get away with it, and they do.

So how does Jesus react?

Like, how does he react?

Like, let's just be honest here for a second.

Like, you'll notice that over the last few weeks,

I often say that the Gospels act

as both a mirror and a window.

It's a mirror in the sense that it helps you,

if you think about it, to see yourself.

It's a window in the sense that it actually helps you

to understand a little bit about

what the true and living God is actually like,

what the universe is actually like.

It's a window into understanding the real world.

But, you know,

you guys are probably all vastly more holy than me.

But I would,

I probably would sulk.

And inwardly, I would storm and rage.

And I would pout.

And I would alternate internally between self-pity

and murderous revenge fantasies.

But as I said, that's probably just me.

None of you would feel the same way

to be publicly rejected, dismissed, and humiliated.

And I also might, of course,

feel severe self-doubt as well

after actually being put down in such a way.

Because we are social creatures,

and to be treated in such a way

often creates within us these,

if you're at all like me,

you can go back and forward

between self-pity, anger, and doubt,

all going back and forward

in the face of this type of thing.

So what does Jesus do?

What does Jesus do?

Well, let's look.

Verse 4.

We see the first bit of his response.

In some ways,

what we see from verses 4

right through to 13

is how Jesus responds

to this particular situation

and how his disciples react

to Jesus' response.

And so in verse 4,

you see the first part of it.

You see he makes a comment.

And Jesus said to them,

to them,

not only to his disciples,

but to the people of Nazareth,

a prophet is not without honor

except in his hometown

and among his relatives

and in his own household.

So the first bit he does

is he actually names it.

He names it in public.

He uses a common type of a parable

or saying that was both common

in the pagan world

and common in the Jewish world.

And he says that this is just,

this is what you've actually,

this is what's happening.

I'm not being honored.

And it's actually very,

very interesting

that this helps to show

that the people

who are saying these things

about Jesus,

obviously not all of it,

but in some ways,

his family,

his own family is involved

in this put down of Jesus.

It would be as if his brother

or his half-brother James

says,

like,

this guy's just a carpenter.

Like,

come on,

I'm his brother.

Like,

we're his brothers and sisters.

Like,

who does,

like,

who does he think he is

to do all this stuff?

And so he,

he names it.

Now,

the next thing that he does

is actually very,

very interesting,

although often what we,

when we read the next bit,

we miss what he's done

because we get confused

by what happens.

And so we ask ourselves,

in a sense,

a different type of question

than really noticing

what happens

with the flow of it.

So just look what happens

in verse five

in the first bit of six.

And he could do

no mighty work there.

That means he couldn't

do a miracle.

He could do no mighty work there

except that he laid his hands

on a few sick people

and healed them.

And he marveled

because of their unbelief.

He marveled.

He was gobsmacked,

to use an Irish expression,

at their unbelief.

Now,

what often happens with us

is we start to go off

in a bit of a different direction

as to why Jesus couldn't heal.

But the fundamental thing

to notice first,

I'll talk a little bit

about why he couldn't heal

in quotation marks,

couldn't.

But the really interesting thing

is that even though

he's been publicly rejected,

publicly dismissed,

publicly put down,

publicly shamed,

he's still willing to heal.

You'll notice that.

That's actually the really

important thing to notice.

He's still willing to heal.

Like, in a sense,

what this is just saying to us

is that if Jesus is put down,

dismissed,

rejected,

and shamed,

so will you,

if you have him

as your Savior and Lord.

But love

and speak the truth anyway.

I mean,

in some ways,

that's actually the big message

of this text.

Jesus was rejected.

Jesus was dismissed.

Jesus was shamed.

But his response

was to continue

to bear witness

to the truth

and to seek

to be a,

and to heal

and deliver.

And the lesson is,

we're going to have

the same thing happen to us.

And our response

shouldn't be proud,

anger,

attacking,

but our response

should be

to continue

to witness

to the truth

and to continue

to seek

to be an agent

or to be healing

and act

towards deliverance.

So Jesus

is willing

to heal.

The problem here,

and here's where

people get confused,

it's not

that Jesus,

let's say,

let's say Matt

here is Jesus

and he comes up to me

because he wants

to heal me

because I'm sick.

And so he comes up

on the stage

and says,

okay,

I'm going to heal you.

And, you know,

he, I don't know,

closes his eyes.

If this was Hollywood,

he'd close his eyes,

maybe put his hands up,

you know,

do a little bit of this

or a quivering.

And then he all of a sudden

stops and says,

okay, George,

you got to work with me

here a bit.

Okay,

you got to work with me.

Don't just sort of

stand there

like you're,

you're the,

a horizontal,

a vertical version

of a couch potato

just saying whatever.

You got to work with me.

Okay,

try to,

try to get a little bit pumped.

I need you to get a bit pumped

and a little bit of energy

and then I,

then,

and then I,

and goes back

and,

oh no,

George,

you got to work with,

no,

that's not what's happening at all.

What's happening

is they don't come.

I mean,

you read the gospel,

Jesus doesn't need

people to believe him

to heal them,

but they don't come.

It would be as if I have

a couple of sick people

or in my household,

but I don't want to bring

them out to Jesus

and I don't want to ask

Jesus to come to me.

Why?

Because I,

you know,

who is this guy?

Yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

he does miracles.

Yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

yeah,

he has lots of wisdom,

but good grief,

he's just a carpenter.

Like,

we know him,

like,

he's nothing special,

his mom is nothing special,

his dad was nothing special,

oh,

if we even know

who his dad was,

and,

you know,

and his family's nothing special.

Like,

why do we want to have him

come to our house?

Like,

you know,

just,

you know,

forget about it.

Like,

they don't actually even want

to have him come.

So,

it's not as if their faith

is in any type of way,

or their lack of faith

is a barrier to Jesus' healing,

because all of the healing

comes from him,

none of it comes from them.

But they're uninterested.

They have no belief,

and they just want to reject him.

Well,

how does Jesus continue

to react to it?

Once again,

does he pout,

sulk,

rage,

revenge,

or attack?

We already see

that he was willing

to continue to heal,

but they didn't want him to heal.

And this next bit

of how he responds to it

is actually a very,

very profound meditation

upon the difference

between Christianity and Islam,

and the difference

between Christianity

and Buddhism

and Hinduism as well.

The difference between

Buddhism and Hinduism

and Christianity

is a little bit hard.

In fact,

a lot of people,

when they read this text,

don't actually read the text

or understand it

in a Christian way.

They actually

bring in Buddhist

and Hindu categories

and think that the text

is justifying their categories,

but actually,

it's a rejection.

rejection of the errors

in Buddhism

and Hinduism,

but a deep fulfillment

of the deep desires

of Buddhism

and Hinduism.

And it is a clear rejection

of Islam,

but it is,

in fact,

a fulfillment

of the deeper desire

of those who follow

Islam.

So what do I mean?

Well, let's look.

Look at 6B.

And he went out about,

he went about

among the villages

teaching,

and he called the twelve

and began to send them out

two by two

and gave them authority

over the unclean spirits.

He charged them

to take nothing

for their journey

except a staff,

no bread,

no bag,

no money in their belts,

but to wear sandals

and not put on

two tunics.

A tunic is a,

there's just a long,

it would be like a t-shirt,

but it would be like

that you wear

right next to your skin,

but it would go down

past the knees.

Now,

here's the first thing.

So,

Jesus has been rejected.

His disciples have been,

seen him rejected

and shamed

and put down,

but his response

is he's still willing

to heal.

And his response

is that he's going to go out

and continue to teach

and he's going to continue

to deliver people

from demons.

He's going to continue

to offer to heal.

And not only does he do this,

he now authorizes

and calls the twelve

to do the exact same thing.

So,

how is this,

if you think about it

for a second,

Muhammad was a warrior.

Muhammad was a warrior.

warrior.

And,

and in the Quran

and in the Hadiths,

I mean,

there's a,

the consistent message

of,

of Muhammad

from Allah

is that if you're

in a minority

and you don't have

any power,

then,

then you can sort of

just,

you know,

be like this.

But once you begin

to get some power,

then you,

you need to be a warrior.

You need to,

to arm yourself.

You need to,

you need to attack.

You need to take control

of the situation.

Muhammad was a warrior.

and we see here

the exact opposite

message.

In fact,

what we see here

is rather than

when the time is right,

grab your sword,

is don't even have a staff.

Don't have any money.

Be completely

and utterly powerless

as you go out

to bear witness

to the truth.

And the,

the message about the,

and the contrast

with Buddhism

and Hinduism

is,

you see,

on one hand,

often when people

read this thing,

they think,

okay,

now we're getting

to something

very familiar

because this is

a familiar category

to us.

This is the category

of religion.

In fact,

you know,

what we know

about religious people

is that they like

to dress funny

if they dress at all

and,

and that real religious people,

they often don't like

to eat very much

and they often

don't want to have

any possessions

and,

and they want to,

you know,

do these odd types

of rituals

and they,

they want to,

you know,

they're just very,

very odd

and that's sort

of how you know

that they're very

religious

and,

in fact,

one of the problems

I have

when I talk

to friends

who are,

you know,

enamored with,

or would be Buddhists

or would be Muslim

or come from

a Jewish background

is that when I try

to talk to them

and I try to,

to communicate

that I'm actually

like a very serious

Christian

or a devout Christian,

I mean,

that doesn't mean

I'm always a good Christian

but I try to be devout,

is that I know

that in their mind

they don't really

have a category for it

because if they're Jewish,

well then,

I should be having

like something

that's very distinctive

in my dress

or,

you know,

I should be more

emaciated

or I,

you know,

I should have a,

like,

and often when people

say that they want

to be spiritual

but not religious

is they want to say

we don't want to have

anything to do

with all that

like really,

really weird behavior

but we want to,

we still understand

that there should still

be something like

religious and spiritual

longings and yearnings

and so on one hand

you see

this text looks like

it's putting Jesus

and the Christians

in a familiar type of thing

and people can say

okay,

I understand that

although the next thing

that will go on

in their mind

is Jesus,

George,

if you say you're

a serious Christian

how come you're not like that?

Like,

how come you're sitting here

having a coffee

in the coffee shop

and how come you don't look

like you've starved yourself

to death

or,

you know,

you're not dressed like that

and there's probably

a little bit of a,

they're trying to get

their mind around it

but what's going on

in this text here

isn't that Jesus

is telling them

that they have to learn

detachment from the world

and non-attachment

for the world.

In fact,

it's the complete opposite

of that

because he's sending them

in to the world

and he's sending them

into the world

to heal people

and he's sending them

into the world

not only to heal people

but to deliver

and he's sending them

into the world

to heal people,

to deliver people

and to teach the truth

so he's not at all

telling them

to practice detachment

or non-attachment

or to be some type

of an ascetic

and to be a beggar.

The heart of what

he's telling them

is I'm going to give you

this mission,

I'm calling you

to bear witness

to the truth,

to tell people about me,

to tell people

about the fact

that I have come,

I am the Messiah,

I am the one

who will reconcile

not only the Jewish people

but eventually they'll hear

that I've come

to reconcile all

who put their faith

and trust in me

to reconcile

them to the true

and living triune God

and that I want you

to heal people

and I want you

to deliver people

and I want you

to do that

not because it's

going to be popular,

not because everybody

wants to be your friend,

not because it's accepted

but because that's just

who,

that's just the way

to be properly human

and I am trying

to form you

to be properly human

and to be properly human

you are a person

of the truth

not a person

of the lie

and you are a person

who values healing

and you are a person

who wants to deliver people

and you do that

whether or not

people accept you

or not.

That's just what you do

if you follow me.

And so the message

of, you know,

not the money

and not that

and even this next

little bit

which we're going

to go you,

what they're actually

saying is

just trust me.

Like, trust me.

Like, George,

if you trust me

that I can fit you

for heaven,

if you trust me

that when you die

death is not the end,

neither is hell,

but if you trust me

you will awake

in a new heaven

and new earth.

You will be reconciled

to God

and spend eternity

with the triune.

If you can trust me

on that,

if you trust me

on that,

can you trust me

to care for

some of your needs?

It's a whole other thing

that even if it means

that you end up

being martyred,

it's still

because you're

bearing witness

to the truth,

but for now,

can you just trust me

that I can provide

financially for you?

You see,

in a sense,

for the average

Christian today,

that's part of

the whole thing

about financial

generosity

and tithing.

Nobody,

I can't ever tell you

that if you give

10% of your money

to the furtherance

of the gospel

and the glorification

of God

that you'll get

more money back

and anybody who says

that to you

is lying,

they're speaking

out of their butt,

not out of the Bible.

But the fact of the matter

is,

is that by doing

something like that,

you're trusting

that God can continue

to meet your needs,

that you won't

go hungry,

you won't be

homeless,

but God will

care for you.

And so what this

is actually teaching

is, in a sense,

the deepest longing

of Hinduism

and Buddhism,

that there's a God

who loves you,

who cares for you,

like he cares for you.

And not that you

have to learn

non-attachment,

but you have to learn

not to make idols

of things

and think that

all of the things

have to be

under your control.

It's not an issue

of attachment,

but control.

And so will you

trust me

to have me

send you out

into the world,

even if you're rejected,

even if you're shamed,

even if people

embarrass you,

even if people

unfriend you,

stop following you

on Instagram.

And when they

stop following you,

they also say

a whole pile

of nasty things

to all of their followers.

And when those

things happen to you

because you love me,

continue to trust me.

Pray for your persecutors.

Pray for their healing.

Pray for their deliverance.

Bear witness

to the truth.

Bear witness

to the truth.

I am calling you

to join me

as people of the truth,

not people of the lie,

and people of life,

not people of death.

That is who

I am calling you to be

because I am

the God of truth.

I am true.

I am the God of life.

I am life.

I am the God of light.

I am light.

I am the God of love.

I am love.

I am the God of goodness.

I am good.

I am the God of mercy.

I am mercy.

I am the God of justice.

I am just.

Bear witness to it.

And that is partly

what is going on here

in verses 10 and following.

Verse 10,

and he said to them,

whenever you enter a house,

stay there until you depart from there.

What that means is,

don't sort of,

I am going to stay at this person's house

and I am going to milk them for money

and then I am going to stay

at another person's house,

I am going to milk them for money

and I am going to stay at another person's house,

I am going to milk them for money.

That's what the talk is.

Just be content that your needs are met.

And verse 11,

and if any place will not receive you

and they will not listen to you

when you leave,

shake off the dust that is on your feet

as a testimony against them.

This is a type of prophetic act

where they go into a Jewish,

in the culture of the day,

many Jewish people,

if they left the pagan town,

they would shake the dust off of their feet.

And Jesus is saying here,

you go into a Jewish town

and they reject you,

shake the dust off your feet.

But the point of that is not,

the point of it is actually to be noticed

and people say,

whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,

what are you doing?

Right?

Because you see,

any time in the Bible

that sin is mentioned,

it's never mentioned to push you away,

it's mentioned to connect with you.

It's mentioned so that you want,

you go, what?

What's happening?

Like, what?

Like,

Jesus confronts to connect.

He confronts in the hope

that you will repent.

That's why he confronts.

Never to shame,

never to belittle,

never to put you down,

never to humiliate you.

He confronts to connect.

Verse 12,

so they went out and proclaimed

that people should repent

and they cast out many demons

and anointed with oil,

many who were sick.

And he healed them.

So,

this little picture

of how Jesus reacts

is only going to go deeper

as you continue to read

the rest of the gospel.

And the fact that this is actually

what the gospel is all about

is made more and more and more clear.

It's not as if,

you know,

sometimes you watch a movie.

I was just watching,

you know,

something and

it was actually sort of

a very,

very good thing,

a British production

and about a man

whose son is kidnapped

and he comes back

from abroad

and these things

that he does

to help him.

But part of the problem

with it

is there's all these

little plot ends

that never get,

it's sort of brought up

to create some tension,

but it never gets tied

into other types of things.

There's all these things

that happen

that don't get tied up.

And so the movie's all right,

but it's not as good a movie

or as good a story

as it could be

if things were tied up.

Important sort of avenues

of tension

or sort of somehow

rather than just being ignored

or it's almost as if

occasionally the writer,

it looked as if he,

I'll throw this little bit in

because it will create

lots of tension

in the viewer

and then I'll just hope

that the viewer is so stupid

they don't notice

that we never deal with it

for the rest of the movie.

But that's not what happens

in the gospel.

In the gospel,

what we see is that

this insight about Jesus

loving people

and speaking the truth

even after they reject him,

that rather than it

just being something

that's a bit of a plot device

to make you tense

and then forgotten,

it actually gets deeper

as the whole story goes.

As the story goes,

Jesus will begin to predict

that people are going

to reject him.

And yet after he predicts

that people are going

to reject him,

that they're actually

going to crucify him,

you don't see him

then raging,

sulking,

pouting,

you see him continuing

to speak the truth

and you see him

continuing to heal.

And by the end of the story,

the end of the story,

in a sense,

the whole climax of the story

is that Jesus dies

on the cross.

He's predicted

he's going to die

on the cross

and he dies on the cross.

And the message is,

with the bit that goes around it,

who is he dying

on the cross for?

Is he dying on the cross

for the 11 disciples

that haven't,

that loved him

and trusted him

and maybe his mother

at the end

and that's it

because I don't like

anybody else?

No, he dies

for the people in Nazareth.

He dies for the people

who reject him.

He dies for the Roman soldiers

who crucify him.

He dies for Pilate.

He dies for Herod.

He dies for the people

who mock him.

He dies for every single

human being.

His response

to being rejected

isn't hatred,

violent revenge.

It isn't

that as he sees

our gobsmacking

unbelief

that he rejects us.

But the story ends

with him dying

upon the cross

for the unworthy,

for his enemies,

for the people

who shame him.

He dies on the cross

for them.

He dies on the cross

for me.

That's what he does

because he is love.

And the truth

of the matter is

is that we can't

make ourselves right

with God

on our own effort.

The fact of the matter

is that we need

a savior,

that we get things wrong

and we can't fix ourselves.

And so this little window

into the love of Jesus,

even in the face

of rejection,

that little window

that we might not

even notice

that a window is

as the story progresses

becomes bigger

and bigger

and bigger

and bigger.

He dies

for the unlovely

that we might

lovely be.

He dies

for the unworthy

that we might

worthy be.

He dies

for the people

of the lie.

We might become

people of the truth.

He dies

for the dead

that we might

be alive.

He dies

for the unjust.

He pays

the price

of our injustice.

Injustice

that we might

be reconciled

to God.

That's what he does.

That's who Jesus is.

So all I can say

to you,

friends,

it is always

a good time

to be a follower

of Jesus.

It is just

as good a time

to be a follower

of Jesus

if we face

persecution

than if we are

sort of well-liked

or accepted.

It is always

a good time

to be a follower

of Jesus.

It is the end

of our longings

and our yearnings

and the deep need

of our soul.

And all I can say

to any of you

who are watching

or any of you

who are here,

yes,

people might not

like you

if you are a Christian,

but Jesus is calling

and inviting you

to know him

as your Savior

and your Lord.

He was rejected

so you could be accepted.

And his acceptance

is worth it.

His acceptance

is worth it.

Please stand.

Father,

we give you

thanks and praise

that we can come together

to be recharged,

to recommit.

Father,

to hear your word,

to come before you

and say,

Father,

so much,

we thank you

for Jesus.

I confess before you,

Father,

I've had a crappy week.

I haven't been

a very good Christian

and I've maybe denied you

or I'm having this big trouble

or this big doubt

and that we can come

and know

that it's not

because of our worthiness

that you don't weigh

our merits,

that you pardon

our offenses.

It's not because

of our great accomplishments

that you always see

our deep need

and you are

God's great provision

for our deep need.

You are God's

true provision

for our great need.

and we give you

thanks and praise

so we can meet

with brothers and sisters,

so we can be

in your presence,

so we can meet

with those

who are curious

or mocking

and were skeptical

and yet have come

to hear more

and that we can be

and we can be fed

by your word

and we can pray to you

and pour out our heart,

Father,

for the world,

for healing,

and that we can gather

around the table

of the Lord

to receive grace,

Father,

as we remember

Jesus and his

death upon the cross

and his mighty resurrection

and his coming again.

Father,

we thank you

that we can gather again

to be fed

and to be nurtured

and to recharge

and once again

to say

we commit to you,

we follow you.

Lord,

work in us

that we might be

people of love,

not people of hate,

people of justice,

not people of injustice,

people of good,

not of evil,

people of the truth,

not of the lie.

Form us more and more

and more in this

as we keep our eyes

and our hearts

fixed on you,

Jesus.

We ask all these things

in the name of Jesus,

God's Son

and our Savior.

Amen.