Acceptance for the Rejected – by Eliezer Gonzalez

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Nov 4, 2015 1791

There are many times in my life when I have felt rejected. That might be true for you as well. Perhaps you feel rejected by society, by your church, by your friends, your sibling, your spouse, or your children. In a sense, the closer that those who reject you are to you, the more it hurts.

Rejection can be part of a vicious cycle. It can lead you into bitterness and depression. It can even lead you into sin.

In John 8 we have the story of a woman who had been rejected by everyone. Perhaps it started when she was abused as a child, then it continued when she was rejected by her husband. She had been caught in adultery. This is a story about how Christ deals with people who feel rejected.

We don’t really know how it led up to this, but we find her in front of Jesus, rejected by her entire religion, her whole society, and everyone in her nation. In effect, they were saying to Jesus, “We don’t want her as part of our religion or our society. She is worthless trash and we don’t want her as part of her nation. We have the legal right to kill her right here and now. What do you say?”

Jesus said nothing. He refused to give them the time of day. He ignored the demands of the religion and of the whole nation. He even ignored the demands of the law. He just wrote on the ground, as someone might do to pass the time, while the crowd clamoured their rejection of this woman all around him, while she cowered in her shame and desolation.

And then, when her accusers had all gone, ashamed at his indifference of their accusations in the context of their own sins, Jesus stood up and extended his hand to the woman in the dust:

Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

“No one, sir,” she said.

“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin” (vv.10–11).

Here is how Jesus treats those who have been rejected. This woman was bowed at his feet. Jesus challenges us to see whether there is anyone who can condemn us if we are in his presence.

“No one, sir.”

Then he takes us by the hand and lifts us up and expects the best from us. As if we had never been damaged by the rejection of others. As if we had always known that in him we were always both accepted and acceptable.

Jesus Christ is indeed the Everlasting Father, the Bridegroom, the Son of Man, and the Friend of Sinners. Whatever relationships may have failed us, He will never fail. If we come to him, whatever rejections we may have suffered, we will always be accepted in his eyes.

That’s a promise, sealed in blood.

– Eliezer Gonzalez