The Rejection Tour
Luke 9:51-62
No one likes rejection. This is especially true when your purpose is to be helpful. Rejection from your enemies is bad enough. at least you can rationalize that this is your enemy; therefore, it is a badge of honor rather than shame. Rejection can come in many forms. This rejection can be hostile and overt. But rejection can also come through your ideas being ignored as well. Jesus was no stranger to rejection. He came to earth with the intention of saving His people, and even His enemies (Romans 5: 8-10). Today we will examine a passage which deals with the rejection of Jesus and His message. Let us not look at the gospel of Luke, chapter 9, verses 41-52.
We see the passage starts with Jesus steadfastly setting His face toward Jerusalem. He was on a mission. This mission was revealed starting at Caesarea Philippi where Peter identified Jesus as the Christ (Messiah). Peter and the others would have understood the mission of Jesus to go to Jerusalem, be heralded as the Jewish Messiah, and then to overthrow the Romans and set up His rule over all the earth at Jerusalem. they would sit at Jesus right and left hand as his ministers. It was quite a shock to them to hear Jesus say that He was going up to Jerusalem to be rejected and crucified. Peter took Jesus aside and tried to correct Jesus’ delusional expectations. This is not what they signed up for. Jesus gives the most stinging rebuke of Pater by saying “Get behind me Satan!” Jesus’ “followers” are always tempted to substitute their own ideas for that of the cross. The cross is the ultimate sign of rejection. (Matthew 16:21-28)
The message of Jesus’ mission was reinforced at the Mount of Transfiguration when Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus and witnessed to the decease (exodus) Jesus was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. this was the beginning of the rejection tour. Up to this point, Jesus had been wildly popular, at least among the masses. We saw rejection last week when we looked at Jesus and the Gadarene demoniac. Jesus confronted one who was probably the most rejected person in the world other than Himself. The miracle should have brought the Gentile villages there to prostrate themselves at Jesus’ feet. But they rejected Him and asked Him to depart. the only one who was saved was the man who had been possessed of a legion of devils. This shows that rejection of Jesus and His message is not limited to the Jews, and more than acceptance of Jesus is limited to the Jews.
Jesus and the disciples now enter a Samaritan village. this was not the village of Sychar which Jesus had previously visited after the woman at the well in John 4 witnessed that Jesus knew all about her and told her everything she had done. the elders of the village came to hear Jesus Himself. they believed in Jesus. But this village in Samaria rejected Jesus. We know of the animosity and hatred the Jews and Samaritans had for each other. It is hard to overcome prejudice of this sort. So, the rejection of the Samaritans would by worldly thinking be quite normal. what was abnormal by the world’s standards is that Jesus came there to proclaim the Gospel. they had rejected Him, but He had not rejected them. Later on, we will read that Christianity would spread widely among the Samaritans.
The disciples were indignant that the Samaritans had rejected them. It as unusual that they, being Jews, were even in this village. If it were not for Jesus, they would not have been. Sometimes, when the Galilean Jews found it necessary because of the urgency of time to go to Jerusalem, they would pass through Samaria. they normally would go miles out of their way to avoid Samaria, even travelling through Gentile territory on the other side of the Jordan River. But if they passed through, they would do so quickly and not stop in the villages. There was no time compulsion which drove Jesus to go through Samaria. the cross was almost a year away. So, the disciples asked is they could pray down fire from heaven to consume them like Elijah had done. they did not see this as a Gospel tour. they did not see this as a rejection tour. Rather they saw it as a judgment tour.
Jesus had to reorient the disciples to the nature of the mission and why his face was steadfastly set toward Jerusalem. He rebuked them for not understanding the nature of Jesus’ mission. Jesus had not come there to destroy but to save. This was His mission to all men everywhere. There are textual variants which omit the latter part of the verse, but regardless, Jesus expressed this truth elsewhere as well. Jesus came to save and not to destroy. And this salvation led to rejection and the cross.
Jesus left that village and went to other villages with the message. Were these other Samaritan villages as well? Or were these villages in Jewish Judaea. we don’t know the answer for sure, but it seems that the answer could be both. the message of the Gospel might be to the Jew first, but Jesus witnessed to Samaritans and Gentiles as well. what is important to know is that the rejection tour went on. Jesus was not discouraged by the rejection but pressed onward. He would not be stopped.
There is a break in the text at this point. One could preach this text alone. but the Lectionary text for some reason includes a new scene. what connects them. the answer is the theme of rejection. As we saw earlier, rejection is not always associated with hostility. Rejection comes in more subtle means. Here we come to three short rejection sequences which demonstrate this. Instead of a village, Jesus encounters three men.
The first of these volunteers to follow Jesus wherever He went. Why was he at first so willing but afterward unwilling when Jesus told the man the cost of following Him. He did not even have to mention carrying the cross after Jesus. It was enough to tell the man that “wheresoever” Jesus was going, he was without a home. Just the toils of ministry and its cost was enough to dissuade the man from following. So, the man rejected Jesus because he would not agree on the terms. Perhaps this man had visions of grandeur. If Jesus was the “Messiah” as the Jews thought that the Messiah would be, then joining in would mean great blessing. He might even get a good position in the government after Jesus was crowned King of Israel and overthrew the Romans. Even though the Bible tells us the full story about the person and work of Jesus, there are many who are willing to follow if it was going to materially bless him or her. There are advantages of being a church member. one feels a sense of belonging. One can also network there to achieve secular ends. The church suppers are pretty good also. these can even lustily sing “I will follow thee, dear Lord, so long as the Lord doesn’t take them up on the offer. The road of ministry is fraught with difficulties and rejection. In the end, there is blessing to those who persevere, but first the cross.
Jesus calls the second man to follow Him. this one agrees on one condition. He needed to bury his father first. I think that this man’s father was still alive, so Jesus’ answer is perhaps a little less harsh than it first appears. what this man seemed to be doing is procrastinating. He did not want to reject the offer outright but made a good excuse why he could not follow Him right now. Perhaps later, after his father died, he would follow. Jesus tells the man to let the dead bury their own dead. If he was going to follow Jesus, he needed to commit himself now. It is not every day that the Lord Jesus comes by and asks someone to follow Him. Jesus would probably not in His earthly life pass this way again. As important as a son’s obligation to his earthly father, one far greater than his father was summoning him. I an earthly king had summoned him, would he not have obeyed? Today, there are a lot of people who have felt the call of the Lord to ministry and does whatever he can to resist it. Sometimes, the Lord has mercy and continues to knock on that person’s heart until he relents.
The third man says he will follow Jesus, bust asks permission to go back and bid his family and friends goodbye. One is reminded of the calling of Elisha the Prophet by the Lord through Elijah the prophet. It says that he slew 12 yoke of his oxen to hold a great feast. This shows that Elisha was burning his bridges behind him. The fact that he had 12 oven shows than Elisha was a farmer of some means. But when he slew the oxen, he made it impossible to resume his former life. He followed Elijah wherever he went and would not stand aside, even when Elijah told him to do so. this story from 2 Kings 2 is the Old Testament lectionary text for this week, so we should see a connection.
So, one could think on the surface that this man was conscious of Elisha. However, this man fell far short of Elisha. This man would not go home, burn his bridges and follow Jesus. He would always be looking back. Jesus told him that anyone who has put his hand to the plough and looks back is not fit fr the Kingdom of God. This is a problem for a lot of ministers. In fact, it was a problem for Peter and the disciples, who in John 21 after the resurrection started to return to their old occupation of fishing. Jesus had to change Peter’s occupation to being a shepherd. There are dangers when we are tempted to look back. Even Jesus reminds us of what happened to Lot’s wife.
Jesus is blunt and honest about the cost of discipleship. Following Jesus is to follow Him on the rejection tour. There is no fame and glory to be found in this world to being a disciple of Jesus. Christians who follow Jesus without reservation will be treated as Jesus was. there will be times in which some accept the gospel with joy and join us in discipleship. It is good to know that we are accepted by Jesus and one another as well. But we must be careful when it seems that the world is speaking well of us. We need to be serious in our following of Jesus. Jesus is not looking for lip service but obedience to the gospel. May the lord show mercy on us, when we fall short of what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ.
