John 1:10-11 NIV
[10] “He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.
[11] He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”

Some of the saddest words ever written …and yet, a continuation of Israel’s tragic history.

Rejection! What is rejection…the implications of rejection?

Rejection is the worst form of insult and cruelty one person can inflict on another. Rejection implies, “You are nothing and worth nothing. What you say is worthless lies. I want nothing to do with you!”

Even worse is the implication, “I am and will always be better than you. I know more than you. You will never meet my standards for you!”

How is it possible that mere humans, made of dust and returning to dust, alive only by God’s mercy, could reject the gracious appearance on earth of their very own God who came to rescue them from the mess they had made? Sounds crazy, doesn’t it?

Imagine humans saying that to God! Yet, they did!

How many are the newborn babies, cradled in their mother’s womb for nine months, then dumped as worthless in some trash can or left on someone’s doorstep as worthless!

How many people are violently eliminated because they are rejected and unwanted. Yet, terrible as it is, what His people did to Jesus was far worse. They tried to eliminate Him from time and eternity, to obliterate the God who gave them life, the God who cared for them for many centuries, the God who made a covenant with them to be their God forever, the God who loved them and saved them from eternal death.

It doesn’t seem possible, and yet they did.

Many are the reasons for the Jews rejecting Jesus.

They did not recognise Him. Jesus was not like anything they expected as their Messiah. They expected a powerful, majestic, godlike conqueror, probably breaking into history by arriving on a mighty steed. They wanted one who would act like their God, sovereign and strong, driving out the Romans like frightened dogs with their tail between their legs.

Instead, He came as a frail human baby, grew up as a village kid, and set forth to conquer, not Romans, but sin buried deep in the human heart. He was humble, gentle and kind to all, loving and merciful to sinners…and just too nice to be God.

1. They rejected Him because their expectation was faulty.

God had promised them a Messiah, one who would deliver them and reign over them, returning them to a peaceful and prosperous life. Deliver them from what?

Uppermost in their minds was the oppression of Roman occupation. They wanted to be free from Rome, so they centred their hopes on a mighty deliverer who would drive the Romans out and set up a kingdom as glorious as David’s kingdom of old. Even His disciples were confused. Just before His ascension,

Acts 1:6 NIV
[6] “They gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Jesus didn’t fit the bill for the religious leaders. He had another purpose far bigger and far more important than their expectations. He came to set them free from their own self-destructive selves, but they failed to understand His purpose and they were blind to their real peril.

John 8:34-36 NIV
[34] “Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. [35] Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. [36] So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

1. The relgious leaders rejected Him because they were afraid of losing their power over the people.

Of course, power was the crux of their wicked hearts. They were on the payroll of their oppressors. They knew how to play the game. As long as they kept the people quiet by manipulating them through fear, their Roman overlords were happy. So, they punted a seriously strict religious system and an overly disciplinarian God to keep them in fear and stop them from thinking for themselves.

1. The religious leaders rejected Him because they were hypocrites.

They won the admiration of the people and therefore their loyalty, by posing as, “obedient and holy” leaders. They hated Jesus for reading and exposing them accurately…

Matthew 23:27-28, 33 NIV
[27] “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. [28] In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness…
[33] “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?”

… and for getting the better of them in every altercation.

Matthew 22:15-22 NIV
[15] “Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words. [16] They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are. [17] Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?” [18] But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, “You hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me? [19] Show me the coin used for paying the tax.” They brought him a denarius, [20] and he asked them, “Whose image is this? And whose inscription?” [21] “Caesar’s,” they replied. Then he said to them, “So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.” [22] When they heard this, they were amazed. So they left him and went away.”

1. The religious leaders rejected Him because they refused to consider the evidence.

Jesus’ miracles were not primarily a campaign of mercy but a witness to His identity. However, His claims to be God’s Son were met with stubborn unbelief.

John 10:33-39 NIV

[33] “We are not stoning you for any good work,” they replied, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”
[34] Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods” ’? [35] If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside—[36] what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, ‘I am God’s Son’? [37] Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. [38] But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.” [39] Again they tried to seize him, but he escaped their grasp.”

So, John’s record confirms the words of the prophet Isaiah, wrieen centuries before the event…

Isaiah 53:2-3 NLT
[2] “My servant grew up in the Lord’s presence like a tender green shoot, like a root in dry ground. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us to him. [3] He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.”