Rejection. The greatest betrayal. The deepest pain. The root of racism, being rejected as worthy because of your skin colour. The root of depression, and anxiety, a fear of being rejected and abandoned. The root of hatred and war. Rejection is a powerful, destructive spirit, which aggresivly opposes the being of God and His love.
How is it possible that a person could go into a situation, giving all that they have; not just a piece of them, not just a guarded element, nothing hidden, full well knowing that they will be fully rejected, and love anyway.
This is indeed a fearless act.
This is indeed, Jesus.
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Isaiah 53:3
I believe that God’s “ultimate” sacrifice was not so much a physical death, which we tend to focus on at Easter. God’s ultimate sacrifice was his rejection. There is no greater pain than to be sentenced to death, and have your children mock you and take joy in your suffering. The “ultimate” rejection of one heart to another.
Jesus, the son of God, knowing first hand the love of his Father, having never known rejection, is thrown into a world that despised him. Yet he faced it, in love.
We so often focus on the physical pain that Jesus endured when he hung on the cross, but can I be bold to say that nothing compared to the emotional pain he endured as he hung, exposed as a sign of the ultimate rejection of humanity. His body, mind and spirit was completely rejected and forsaken.
The cross is not a symbol of death, but of rejection, the rejection of Christ that WE lavished upon him when we sinned, and denied him, and His love.
However, God’s love is greater than our rejection of him.
Rejection, is what Christ faced, and he had more reason to hold unforgivness towards us, than we could ever gather to hold against another, yet he faced it with fearlessness and he faced it with love.
Today, is Good Friday, or #Fearless Friday. God deserves a hashtag!
Can we reflect not only on the physical suffering of Christ but also on the emotional suffering he endured. And better yet, can we focus today on His fearlessness to love you, despite our rejections.
Happy Easter Friends.
