Rejecting Christ

Matthew 8:34 Then the whole city went out to meet Jesus, and as soon as they saw Him, they begged Him to leave their region. 

This is a very sad verse, describing a very sad situation – an anti climax that followed a spectacular miracle by Christ. The Lord entered the country of the Gerasenes out of compassion, to heal men of sickness, physical, mental and spiritual. He started with a man possessed of a legion of demons. People who heard about the incident flocked to the scene, not to witness this extraordinary event and praise God, not to be cured of any ill health themselves, but to ask the author of it to leave their midst! They considered business and income more important than the Lord’s presence.

But rejecting Jesus, turning away from Him, and refusing His offer of salvation is not uncommon. We often deny Jesus by downplaying our Christianity and trying to merge with the crowd, when we shy away from sharing with others our experience with the Lord and  when we accept the beliefs and practices of the people around us even knowing they are against Christian values. We deny Jesus when we don’t stand up for justice; when we don’t oppose it when our children want to marry into another religion etc.

We have number instances in the Bible of people from different walks of life rejecting the person and the message of Jesus:

1.   When Herod heard about the birth of the king of Jews from the travelers from East, the very first thought that came to his mind was how he could eliminate this “rival” to the throne. It was not only he, but whole Jerusalem was upset, the Bible says.

2.  The people of Nazareth saw His mighty miracles, but rejected Him simply because He was familiar to them! (Luke 4:16-30). Because of this attitude of the public, Jesus was not able to do many miracles there, we are told.

3.  The Pharisees, Sadducees and religious scholars – with all their great learning and experience -- failed to recognize in Him their Messiah.

4.  Even after Pontius Pilot explained that Jesus had not done anything that warrants death sentence, the crowd insisted on a crucifixion verdict.

5.   The flimsiest of the reasons is sufficient to reject Jesus’ offer of grace. For example, see John 7:27. People claimed Jesus   couldn’t be the Messiah, simply because it was known where He was from!

The primary reason for humans rejecting the Saviour of the world is the evil that is inherent in their nature. Scriptures confirm this in various passages:

1.   Genesis 6:5 The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.

2.   Psalms  51:5  For I was born a sinner--yes, from the moment my mother conceived me.

3.   Romans 1:21 …… Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused.

4.    Romans 3:23 ….. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard.

5.   This a vision of St. John about what was to come: Revelations  9:20, 21        The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.

But this doesn’t have to be the ‘norm’. It is not impossible to overcome our inherent evil and be cleansed of it, if we allow the Lord Holy Spirit to do it. Jesus tells His disciples in John 15:3 ‘’You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you”.1 John 4:4 says “But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world”. Consider the experience of the following:

1.   The wise men from east had no difficulty in recognizing God in baby Jesus.

2.   The illiterate shepherds did not find any reason to suspect what the angels told them, that the baby born in Bethlehem was the Messiah.

3.   The Samaritan woman, after a few probing questions, believed the stranger speaking to her was the Christ.

4.   The thief on the cross, a hardened criminal, took one look at the man hanging next to him and knew He was the king, even though every evidence before him pointed to the contrary.

5.   When St. Paul, the sworn enemy of the early church, was confronted by the Lord on the road to Damascus, he metamorphosed into the most fearless spokesman of Christianity.

We acknowledge Jesus when we:

1.      Live a life of justice, righteousness and love that brings glory to God.

2.      Look for opportunities to share our faith with others

3.      Help those in need, Take a stand for justice, Love others

4.      Acknowledge our loyalty to Christ and witness for Him.

5.      Use our lives and resources to promote His work on earth rather than ours.

Jonah preached to the Ninevites for forty days – half heartedly.  But the cruel Assyrian oppressors repented and humbled themselves. The inhabitants and the king of Jericho had heard about the exploits of Joshua’s conquering army, and all about the mighty miracles the God of Israel had performed through it, over forty years, but chose to resist them. God has created man with a free will to choose. Adam made a studied choice. So did Judas Iscariot.  Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, St. Paul exhorts the Philippians (Phillip.  2:12). It is the believers’ responsibility to tell people the truth and let them make their own decisions.

Rejecting the salvation message is the outcome of a hardened heart, which is in turn the consequence of continuing to resist God’s will. People with hardened hearts are so set in their ways that they cannot turn to God. They are stone deaf to God’s calling, having deliberately placed themselves beyond the reach of grace. Normally, this is not of sudden onset, but the result of a series of choices to disregard God’s will. God will reject those who reject Him. The Bible is quite clear about this. See John 12:37-40  Although he had performed numerous signs in their presence, they did not believe in him, so that what the prophet Isaiah spoke might be fulfilled……..Lord, who has believed our message, and to whom has the Lord's power been revealed?.........

Hebrews 2: 2-4 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,  God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.

Hebrews  10:26, 27  For if we choose to go on sinning after we have learned the full truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,  but only a terrifying prospect of judgment and a raging fire that will consume the enemies of God.

God warned the Israelites, in an apparent reference to the coming Messiah:

Exodus  23:20, 21 Look, I'm sending an angel in front of you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place I've prepared. Be careful! Be sure to obey him. Don't rebel against him, for he won't forgive your transgression, since my Name is in him.

The books of Jude, 2 Peter and many other references in the Bible warn us against apostasy – turning away from Christ. God punishes rebellion against Him. We must be careful not to drift away from a faithful commitment to Christ.  

Those who reject Christ and pursue their own pleasures have unknowingly made Satan their God who has blinded their eyes to truth. The good news is revealed to everyone except to those who deliberately refuse to believe. These are the people Jesus refers to in Matthew 13:13-15.

God was Israel’s king, but the nation demanded their ‘own’ king (1 Samuel 10:19). Imagine wanting a human being instead of God as guide and leader! Moses in his ‘farewell speech’ set before the Israelites life and death, blessings and curses and entreated them to choose life and blessings (Deuteronomy 30:19). The disastrous consequences of the wrong choice they made that day echo through the earth to this day.

Our choice today is clear: ‘’……today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as they did when they provoked me during the time of testing in the wilderness’’ (Heb 3:7, 8).

           

><><><><><><><><><