Jesus Rejected

If Jesus was rejected by his own people, why should I accept him?

Who is in charge here? (Matthew 21:23-27)

Jesus is teaching in the temple, which in itself is an affront to the chief priests and elders because they consider themselves to be the leaders of the people and the authority in the temple.
So they confront him.
“Who gave you the authority to teach here?”
The implication here is that they don’t want Jesus teaching here because he is usurping their authority.
But Jesus, knowing that the people were sympathetic to him, wasn’t going to give in to these guys that easily:

“If you answer my question, I will answer yours. Where did John the Baptist get his authority, from heaven or from men?”

Now the chief priests and elders find themselves in a predicament:

“If we say ‘from heaven’, he will say, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say ‘from men’, the people won’t respect us because they think John was a prophet.”

So they answered, “We don’t know.”  To which Jesus said, “Then I’m not going to answer your question.” The fact is, however, They knew what Jesus would have answered; he had said it many times before; he would have said his authority came from God his Father.

The Moral of the Story (Mathew 21:28-41)

Now Jesus, still speaking in the presence of the chief priests and elders, tells two stories (we call them “parables”) to illustrate the unwillingness of Israel’s leaders to believe him. First, here is an explanation of the symbolism. In the Old Testament the nation of Israel is often described symbolically as a vineyard, and the people of Israel are the workers in the vineyard. Second, understand the attitude of the self-righteous religious leaders of the time: They saw themselves as the good guys who always obeyed God and they saw the “tax collectors and prostitutes” as the evil, worthless bad guys. Jesus purposely chose two of the most despised groups in their culture to make his point.

Here is Jesus’ first story (parable):

A man owns a vineyard and has two sons. He goes to both sons and asks them to go work in the vineyard.

• One son says, “I won’t go”, but later he has a change of heart and goes to work.
• One son says, “I will, sir”, but then did not go to work.

Jesus then asks those around him, including the elders, “Which of the two sons did what the father wanted? The chief priests and elders responded, “The first one”, that is, the one who at first said "no" but then changed his attitude and went.

Jesus then responds to them:

"I tell you the truth, tax collectors and prostitutes will go ahead of you into the kingdom of God! For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe. Although you saw this, you did not later change your minds and believe him." (NET)

Here is a summary and explanation of Jesus’ response.

• The father represents God.
• The son who said “no” at first but then went represents the “tax collectors and prostitutes”.
• They had, at first, rejected God but then, when Jesus came, they had a change of heart and embraced Jesus and God’s way.
• They are more likely to get into the kingdom of God than the religious leaders.
• The son who said “yes” but then did not go represents the religious leaders.
• They think they are following God’s way but they are not.
• God sent Jesus to them and yet they refuse to acknowledge him.
• Jesus then uses John the Baptist to further illustrate his point.
• John the Baptist came as God’s representative teaching repentance and righteousness.
• The “tax collectors and prostitutes” changed their minds, believed John, and turned to God.
• The religious leaders refused to change their hearts and minds when they heard John.

We are all children of God. Will we be the children who, even though we may have at first rebelled, turn and embrace God’s son?

Here is Jesus’ second story (parable):

A landowner planted a vineyard, complete with all the necessary components: a fence, A pit for the winepress, and a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went off on extended leave. When harvest time came he sent some of his employees to collect his percentage of the crop. The tenants grabbed the employees and beat them and killed them. When the owner didn’t hear from his employees, he sent another larger group of employees but the tenants treated them the same as the first. Finally, the owner sent his son, thinking that the tenants would respect his own son. When the tenants saw that the owner’s son was coming, they thought, “This is the heir. If we kill him we can get the inheritance - the vineyard will be ours!” So they grabbed his son and killed him.

Then Jesus asked them, “When the owner himself comes, what will he do with those tenants?” The religious leaders answered, “He will execute those evil murderers and lease the vineyard to other more honest, trustworthy tenants.”

Before we look at Jesus’ response to them, let’s explore the symbolism of this parable.

• The landowner represents God.
• The vineyard represents Israel.
• The tenants represent the civil and religious leaders of Israel who were supposed to watch over and care for the vineyard.
• The employees represent the prophets of the Old Testament whom God sent to Israel with his message to be faithful to Him. Many of them were persecuted and killed because the people, particularly the leaders, did not want to listen and accept what they said.
• The son represents Jesus, whom the religious leaders are already plotting to kill, and in fact, will be executed in just a few days.

The Rejected Stone (Matthew 21:42-44)

For his final comments on this parable, Jesus goes to their scriptures and quotes Psalm 118:22-23, applying it to himself.

The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. (ESV)

Then he adds, speaking of the religious,civic leaders of Israel:

• “For this reason I tell you that the kingdom will be taken from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.”
• “The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, and the one on whom it falls will be crushed.”

Jesus is the cornerstone, the foundation of this new people, this new “nation”,  that will carry on the banner of the kingdom of God. The old self righteous, self serving leaders are out; the new self-sacrificing servant leader is coming in.

If Jesus was rejected by his own people, why should I accept him?

Note that Matthew remarks here (verses 45-46) that, as they were listening to Jesus, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest Jesus but they were afraid of the common people who regarded Jesus as a prophet of God. So while it is true that the religious leaders rejected him, many of the other people accepted him as being sent by God.

Did the religious leaders reject Jesus? Yes they did. They rejected him in the face of overwhelming evidence. Their own self-centered attitude blinded them to the truth. Many others saw the truth and believed Jesus: “...because the crowds regarded him as a prophet.”

A “tax collector” named Matthew who, because of his profession, was despised and rejected by most of the citizens of Israel, accepted and followed Jesus. As a result, he wrote down many events of Jesus life and many of the words Jesus spoke. Matthew is known and respected today because of his humble service to Jesus and to the kingdom of God.

 About 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection, Peter, a small business man, stood up and gave an inspiring speech in front of thousands of people in Jerusalem defending Jesus as the Son of God. He concluded his speech with these words, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know beyond a doubt that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.” As a result, over 3000 people chose to believe in Jesus as the Son of God and to turn to God through baptism.

So, yes, a few hundred self righteous religious leaders rejected Jesus, but within two months of their rejection thousands of people embraced Jesus as coming from God.

Have you ever noticed that rejection seems to be part of life? Have you ever felt rejection? We all have. Jesus has been there. He has experienced rejection just like we have, so maybe he can help us get through it. Sometimes rejection can be debilitating, but sometimes it can lead to new opportunities. Let Jesus help you discover those opportunities.

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This post is the result of my studies based on the book by Mark E. Moore, Core 52: A Fifteen-Minute Daily Guide to Building your Bible IQ in a Year, published by WaterBook (Penguin Random House)

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