Thoughts for another day

June 22, 2006

Today's verse: Lk 17:25. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation. (KJV).

Jesus Christ suffered rejection. He was denied and refused and rejected. Imagine, the Son of God Almighty, came down to earth to show the way to mortal man. To infuse light in his life. What did He get in return…Rejection, insult and death!

While going to the chapel the other day, I noticed the graveyard and for a moment wondered about all those who go into those graves. How many of them might have faced rejection at the hands of people they knew? Men and women, having lived on the earth, buried in the mud. Whose physical form will be erased forever. And as I was thinking, I suddenly remembered this lady called Theresa. Her physical form also would have been erased by now for she had died a year ago.

It seemed very distant but I still remembered. One late evening Theresa came to me. I sensed she was in agony. She cried and told me, ‘my husband has thrown me out of the home. He has rejected me as his wife and asked me to find my own way of living.’ The question she asked of me (still pricks me) was, ‘Brother, what do I do now?’ You see, in a very small way I help others but this was different. For a minute I couldn’t figure out how to help her; I knew I personally couldn’t help her; what was I supposed to do?

But like I usually do, I began talking to her of Jesus. ‘My sister,’ I said, ‘Jesus was rejected too. And they took His life by nailing Him on the Cross between two wicked men!’ So if you are rejected, there is only One whom you can approach – Jesus. After this we exchanged a number of words of both pain and comfort and eventually she came out of it. What really made me happy was how the transformation occurred in her of being ‘hurt’ to being the ‘hurter’. She understood the gross sins she had committed which had resulted in her rejection of Christ in her life. She felt comforted by the Holy Spirit and now started looking for a solution for her current homelessness. After some time, I went home and she went her way.

My beloved, in Christ, there are many of us who are rejected. Sometimes for no fault of ours. We feel depressed and sad. How can they ignore me? How can they be so callous? On Calvary, Mary, Jesus’ mother, would have asked the same questions then, no? But for those of us who are rejected, Jesus is our role model and strength. For He knows well, what rejection means. He can fill your heart. He can come into your depressed mind and fill it with joy. He can make your tomorrows, which seem so bleak, something to look forward too. Lift up your feeble hands right now and tell Him to take them in His own. He is an expert at doing that. Praise His Name.