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No room in the inn
Introduction Rejection, I think is one of the most difficult emotions that many people face. When it comes to being rejected by others who are close to us, a person rejected will feel the cut of rejection very strongly. I know of a friend who was rejected by society because he was a drug addict. Caught in the throes of a drug that he could not abandon, he cast around for friends to help. What he got was rejection. The story ends tragically because he killed himself by jumping off a building.
Another word that is connected with rejection is alienation. Alienation is defined as being cut off and islanded (if there is such a word) to the extent that all ties of human relationship and friendship is gone. A man or woman alienated feels lonely even when he is or she is in a crowd.
I wonder whether we have experienced rejection, alienation and estrangement and have understood all its sadness and pain? Let me share with you that if you are experiencing rejection, alienation and friendlessness, there is good news. I want to tell you that there is someone who would love to come and share in your state of rejection and alienation. I want to share with you the good news that there is hope for those who are alienated and rejected.
Many years ago, when Jesus was born, his family was in a busy town called Bethlehem. They had come in on the night express, and were very tired. Mary his mother was pregnant and she was desperately near to term! Shelter was uppermost in their minds as they went from one hotel to the next looking for a room. But they were rejected. They were poor and unknown and untitled and no one cared for them. Someone today would label them as powerless. The message they got was, there was no room for them. Tired, friendless and rejected they sat down hopeless until someone gave them shelter in the most dirtiest of places that one can imagine. They were offered a stable where cows, chicken, donkeys and all sundry animals were kept. A place unfit for sleeping let alone birthing.
Not only was Jesus rejected by the world, but the circumstances in which his birth took place was far from antiseptic and satisfactory. And yet he came into the world, in the midst of rejection and alienation and germs; to die and to save those who rejected and alienated him.
He experienced rejection Let me put it to you that Jesus would understand rejection and alienated. Why? There are four reasons.
The first has been said already. He was himself subjected to rejection right from birth. He was not accepted from conception. And yet he would willingly come and be our friend.
He understands the pain of rejection The second is an interesting point. Because he experienced what it meant to be rejected and alienated, He understands this particular predicament in all its pain and suffering. If a powerful King had known and experienced poverty, those who are poor in his Kingdom will have someone who would understand and look after their interest. If Jesus was a powerful Someone, He would be able to understand and would do something about those who feel rejected and alienated. Let me tell you, tonight, that Jesus is none other than God and he knows what it means to be rejected. So for those of us who are rejected and alienated, we can now suddenly feel being understood because we have One who is God and who understands our predicament.
He can do something about rejection Thirdly, Jesus can do something about being rejected. He has the cure for rejection and alienation. What is it? Well, Jesus knows and understands that ultimately we can all trace our rejection and alienation between each other by seeing that rejection begins with our rejection and alienation from God. When we experience rejection and alienation from God, we shall soon find that we will experience rejection and alienation between others. Pretty soon if we do not do something about this cancer, we shall experience rejection and alienation between myself and myself. People feel the pain and suffer emotionally not because someone is torturing them physically, but that the pain originates deep within themselves.
We feel a sense of loss in direction and living a rudderless life. We feel that we are fractured personalities because of the alienation and estrangement within ourselves. We feel that the world is not a friendly place because the ultimate reality on which this world is based on has become friendless. We cry out for relief because we see that this estrangement is affecting our loved ones. We want to make contact, but there is a big ache in our hearts which we cannot heal and this pain is preventing us from reaching out to our friends, loved ones and neighbours. Friend; let me tell you the good news. Jesus has come to heal that fundamental reality of pain. He has come to mend the rejection, alienation and rejection we have between God and ourselves. He has come to bring God closer to us and to mend that relationship again. And once he does that we must continue to let him help us to mend the broken relationships we have with others, our families, friends and loved ones. Finally, he wants to mend the deep fractures that exist within uourselves.
Fathers do you find, that your relationship with your teenage son or daughter is slowly slipping away? Husbands, do you find that your relationship with your wife is slipping away? Friends do you find reality slipping away from you? Take heart, there is hope. Jesus the healer of those whose relationships have been sundered because of rejection, alienation and estrangement has the answer. Let him into your heart and he will do a supernatural work of reconciliation and healing. Give him room in your heart and he will come in and work his miracle of love, peace and renewal or refreshments in relationships.
He would heal only if you allow him to Fourthly and finally, Jesus will come if we allow him to do what he longs to do in our hearts. Jesus who is God is a gentleman. He will never force himself upon those who would reject him. He understands that those who reject him are but being natural to themselves. However, he continues to offer himself unashamedly to us. Even though we deride him with jokes and reject him with force. Even though we refuse even to think anything good about him, he still stands at our crossroads of life and knocks and calls and invites. He wants to do something because he understands the darkness and pain of rejection and alienation. He will come in if we invite him.
The invitation is simple. Stop the anger in your mind, and stop the voices that say, you must be crazy. Stop the negative emotions of thinking that this Jesus is a foreign God. Stop the whining and complaining inside which says that if God is true and powerful he would have removed all the pain that I feel long ago. Stop all these and open your mind, to this one thought. What if what is said is true. What if the invitation for healing is true? What if, the love from him is true? The invitation is simple. Give him a chance. Let him come into your heart and see the joy that will follow. Let him in and see how good he is. After you have tried him and found that he is untrue, you can reject him. But right now, let him in. Give him a chance. Come and taste ands see that he is indeed who he is…the healer of the pain of rejection and alienation and rejection. Come.
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