As a kid, I have a memory, or few, of being on the playground during recess. Kids are lined up against the backstop of the field. The two most popular kids are standing near the center looking over the others, trying to judge athletic prowess, or perhaps it was judging popularity quotient. I was not the most graceful runner. Until I was tried at goalie, my soccer position was bench warmer. And everyone knew that. Sports and I didn’t see eye to eye. It’s a reputation that would follow me. I was usually one of the last picked.
Sometimes I still feel like I am the last picked. More times than not, I feel like I was the “settled” choice. Any way you dress it, it comes to being the same thing: REJECTION. And it hurts. And a lot of us have been, or are being, or will be rejected. And when rejection comes, how do you deal with it?
Sunday, we continue our journey through the Gospel of Matthew. You know Jesus was rejected. Sure, our passage is the rejection of his home town. But he’s been rejected by those closer to him. He was rejected by those he loved and trusted. He was still rejected. How did he deal?
Join us as we look at how Jesus dealt with rejection. Let us then apply those strategies, with the help of the Holy Spirit, into our own lives. Join us for the Worship service at 10.30 am. Breakfast Club at 9.00 am.
53 When Jesus had finished these parables, he left there. 54 He went to his hometown and began to teach them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? 55 Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? 56 And his sisters, aren’t they all with us? So where does he get all these things?” 57 And they were offended by him.
Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his household.” 58 And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. (Matthew 13:53-58, CSB)