The rejection factor

Luke 4: 16-30 and Jeremiah 20: 7-18

Sometimes the office of readings and the mass readings offer me a perfect synchronicity of theme or understanding.  The other day, this was very present in the two readings.  Jeremiah is a prophet that I feel very connected to through his transparency of humanity.  He’s a smart man, a Godly man, and honest about how hard doing God’s will truly is.  He is also open about the fact that the truth within is unbearable to keep contained.  When you have the truth, and God speaks to you to tell that truth, it’s harder to say no than it is to be obedient.  I love the fact that in these verses he shares that struggle, and his angst with us all. 

Jeremiah 20: 7-10

7You deceived me, LORD, and I was deceived; you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me. 8Whenever I speak, I cry out proclaiming violence and destruction. So the word of the LORD has brought me insult and reproach all day long. 9But if I say, "I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name," his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot. 10I hear many whispering, "Terror on every side!

He is basically up in God’s face right there, mad about being compelled or called in this way.  He is telling us that it is a double-edged sword, and he feels like he is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.  He goes on to explain that the truth (God’s path) is like fire in his bones that he cannot deny. It gives us the picture that doing His will is hard but not doing His will is harder to the point of self-destruction.  I think we all need that reminder and picture as from that time to this it hasn’t changed.  Being in God’s will, taking that faith step, is daunting until/unless we realize that NOT doing His will is a path to destruction. Not just self-destruction, think of what would happen to the people who didn’t get the message, not just of Jeremiah, but any of the prophets and apostles who were charged with carrying the truth to the world.  Their message may have only changed one mind, saved one spiritual life, yet if they were not obedient all would have been lost.  Obedience is such grace!

Yet, as important as all that is, there was one commonality in the readings that stuck out to me bold as brass.  It was something that, I think, might be the crux of our own fear as we align ourselves with the will of God. 

Jeremiah 20: 10

¹⁰I hear many whispering, "Terror on every side! Denounce him! Let's denounce him!" All my friends are waiting for me to slip,

And

Luke 4: 16-30

¹⁶He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: ¹⁸"The Spirit of the LORD is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, ¹⁹to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor." ²⁰Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." ²²All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked. ²³Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself!' And you will tell me, 'Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'" ²⁴"Truly I tell you," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. ²⁵I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. ²⁶Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. ²⁷And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed-only Naaman the Syrian." ²⁸All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. ²⁹They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. ³⁰But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.

This happens to Jesus, as it did Jeremiah.  The people Jesus grew up around, perhaps his home town friends, reject him violently.  Jeremiah said it too.  Sometimes, the people we love most fondly, the people who know us best, reject us the most harshly.  If we have had a powerful conversion, if we have had a change of heart toward something (sin or a life choice), if we have been charged or changed to do something in God’s will…in our humanity we tend to think that our friends are going to celebrate this newness/abundance of life with us.  Yet, the picture of both Jeremiah and Jesus both tell us that this isn’t always the case.  They show us in scripture that the people closest to us will often be our criticizers.  They may point to our past, bring out our mistakes from then, or attempt to diminish our truth by looking for our mistakes.  It happens on a less personal basis in the world too.  Ten thousand Christians can come to the aid in a disaster and no one bats an eye until one Christian screws up and it’s all over the news. 

There are several points in all of this, which I hope you meditate on, but the crux is an understanding of action in spite of reaction.  No matter how hard it is, stay in God’s will.  No matter who accuses you, cling to the truth.  No matter how embarrassing having our flaws and mistakes pointed out to the world is, keep your eyes front and facing the light of the path God has for you.  All of that stuff is temporary, but the reward of obedience is eternal.  The devil knows our name and calls us sin, God knows our sin and calls us His children-both things are true, especially when we are walking in obedience to Him.  If we are rejected, we are in good company.

Just some food for thought and prayer….

Father, no matter the earthly consequences please grant me the grace and strength to walk in Your will for my life. I ask the Holy Spirit to guide me in Your righteous path, no matter how unorthodox it seems to the people who know me best.  In Jesus name, AMEN!

Here I am, Lord, send me!

Lisa Brandel