When Jesus grew up, the bible described him as “increased in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and man.” There was no hint that Jesus was despised and rejected. But that was the pre-ministry days. It was when He began His mission that men turned away from Him.
John 1:11
He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him.
Mathew 27:39-42
39And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads 40and saying, "You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross."
41In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes and elders, were mocking Him and saying, 42He saved others; He cannot save Himself He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him.
Isaiah 53:2-3
He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
3He was despised and forsaken of men,
A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
And like one from whom men hide their face. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Applications:
(a) Dealing with the wounds
Have you been down this road of being scorned? when you did something good, tried to walk the path of obedience, but was mocked instead. At one point or other we have experienced being put down. Sometimes you feel ostracize by a group, maybe friends or peers; in your growing up years or even now, you felt so small, so inferior...
Some just brushed it off and moved on. Others are still living with the hurts. And the wound cuts deeper when they came from people closest to you (spouse or parent).
Bishop Kroeber says: "One of the marks of a true mature Christian is the willingness to take risks, get wounded, work through the healing process and then become vulnerable again."
Are you willing to surrender your wound to Jesus? To take the risk of loving and being wounded in the process?
(b) Dealing with the People who Wounded us
How then do we relate to the people who mock us and hurt us?
Identifying with people
Jesus was mocked and taunted. If it was me, I’ll be tempted to come down. But Christ know his mission, he came to reconcile us to God. To do that, he identifies with us, Incarnation is the ultimate identification with man.
That is why despite the wound of scorn that they inflicted on him, he prayed: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
When we are being hurt, usually we think of our pain first. But Jesus thought of us. He took pity on us who did not get it.
Jesus knew that men do not fall at His feet and worship Him until they have had a radical change of heart that comes through a spiritual birth. "Unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom God
In some of the ministries experiences that I had, that I heard, there are always people whose weaknesses bring much pain to our lives.
2 Temptations:
1. Leave for another pasture : Today Christians are too quick to leave their church, organization, small grup, friend or spouse when the going gets tough. People would rather split and start afresh elsewhere rather than go through the frustrations of working through the issues/problems.
2. The other temptation is to disregard them, write them off. Some leaders gave their members this message: “if you do not agree on the direction we are taking, you are welcome to find another group”.
But we cannot do that if we are the family we claim to be. Can you tell your family members that they are not welcomed because they regularly get upset with what’s happening in the family? I suppose this happens today, but that is not the Christian understanding of family
Would you surrender that right to be angry with these people, and pray that God will bring about a change in heart in their lives?
c) When we are not the victims but the Perpetrator
We are not always like Jesus on the cross, sometimes we are at the opposite side, more like the chief priests, the soldiers, the passing crowd…
We may think, "no lah, since when do I mock at people?"
But the area of your strength is often the area of your danger zone: pride. For eg: people who sees big picture, how do you regard those who never sees the forest but the trees or worse, only the leaves and branches?
I have to confess that God dealt with this area in my life recently “spiritual pride”.
Are there people in your lives that :
- we look down, belittle?
- People we do not take their words seriously, start to switch off when they talked?
- You roll your eyes and think, why can’t they get it?
- When we talked down, every point we want to rebutt?
The bible said: "And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him."
Because there was nothing outwardly beautiful or compelling about the Messiah, mankind's reaction was to withdraw from Him, to despise Him, and hold Him in low esteem. This shows that men value physical beauty and charisma far more than God does, and when we don't see it, we reject the ones God accepts and invalidate what Christ has done for us on the cross.
Reflection Questions
1. Have you experienced the wound of scorn? Being put down? being belittled for who you are? You felt so small, so inferior, would you surrender your pain and receive restoration? The mark of a true mature Christian is the willingness to take risks, get wounded, work through the healing process and then become vulnerable again. Are you willing to tell God: yes I’m willing to take the risk of loving and being wounded in the process.
2. Are there people in your lives that keep putting you down? People whose words always upset or hurt you – would you pray “God, help me to forgive them, bring about a transformation in their lives so that they truly know God.
3. Would you also pray humble yourselves in the presence of God, ask the Holy Spirit to search your heart, is there spiritual pride in you? Are there any areas that you show contempt to fellow believers, whether outwardly or in your heart? As the Holy Spirit brings conviction to our hearts, let's confess and repent, and plead for His forgiveness.
No comments:
Post a Comment