Have you experienced rejection.  You are not alone. Rejection must be at the top of the chart when it comes to crucibles. The worst kind of rejection is that that comes from those we love. Some seem to never recover from being rejected. How can we live through the pain of rejection?

We are concluding our examination of the Life of Christ and others from the perspective of Living in a Crucible. 

It is my hope that you now understand that symbolically that a crucible is the fiery trials we experience as we grow and develop.

And though Crucibles are painful, although they are uncomfortable, and they do hurt, they are beneficial in developing our character.

From the Sabbath School Adult Bible Study Guide 2022 Quarter 3: Sabbath.School

See also Hope Sabbath School and 3ABN Sabbath School

Inviting the Holy Spirit’s Presence

Father, you love us so much you gave your only son to die to save us humans. Help us accept, and not reject Jesus and the sacrifice he made to save us.

In Jesus Name Amen.

Jesus was divine. He was the Son of God. He is our creator. He came to offer Himself for the sins of the entire human race. Yet, he was despised that is hated and rejected

by the very ones he created, loved and came to save.

The following verses help us better understand the pain that Jesus suffered while living on this earth as a man.

In Matthew 12:22-24 Jesus healed a blind and mute man, the people rejected him and attributed his healing to the power of Beelzebul, Satan.

22 Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw.

23 All the crowds were amazed, and were saying, “This man cannot be the Son of David, can he?”

24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.” (Matthew 12:22-24)

Then In Luke 4:21-30 Jesus attempted to teach and offer divine help to the people in his own hometown about his mission. His own people in the town where he grew up rejected Him and tried to kill him.

21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

22 And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”

23 And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.'”

24 And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown.

25 But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land;

26 and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.

27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

28 And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things;

29 and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff.

30 But passing through their midst, He went His way. (Luke 4:21-30)

And in John 8:58-59, Again Jesus while teaching in the temple he was reject by the church leaders. These leaders became so angry during his question-and-answer session, they again tried to kill him.

Read the entire Chapter of John 8 when you get a chance.

58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.”

59 Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple. (John 8:58-59)

The officials and church leaders and sometimes the common people misunderstood what he did, how he lived and his teaching. This misunderstanding led the very people he came save to hate and reject him.

If you are a parent with disobedient children, you may be able to identify with how Jesus felt. As parents, we understand that our children need help. And in most cases parents are willing to give everything to help their children. But some at time children despises the parent and rejects the person, who perhaps may be the only one who cares and can keep them from ruining their lives. The same can be applied to a co-worker, close friend or loved one as well.

This is similar to what Jesus faced on earth. If you have had a similar experience of rejection, then you perhaps understand how painful it must have been for Him.

Matthew 23:37 offers some insight into how Jesus felt about being rejected. But, different from us, when we face rejection, we feel sad for ourselves. On the other hand, knowing the end results of the ones doing the rejecting, Jesus’s bad feelings of rejection, were for the people rejecting him.

I am sure we have all felt rejected sometime in our life. Maybe you felt pain for the same reason Jesus felt pain in that you were hurt not because of what you were losing. But instead, you felt pain because you knew what the rejection would mean for the person rejecting you.

Now think about how Jesus must have felt when many of the Jews in his time hated and rejected him.

[The] scribes and Pharisees . . . were filled with envy because the people listened so attentively to the words of this new Teacher. They determined to break His hold upon the multitudes. They began by attacking His character, saying that He was born in sin, and that He cast out devils through the prince of the devils. ..The Jewish leaders criticized and persecuted Jesus.

Likewise, as we separate from the world and its customs, we shall meet with the displeasure of the world. The world hated the One who was the very embodiment of virtue, because He was better than they were. The servant is not greater than his Lord. If our ways please God, the world will hate us.

If the Majesty of heaven came to this world, and endured a life of humiliation and a death of shame, why should we hold back from doing good, because obedience involves a cross? If He was persecuted, can we expect better treatment? . . . Look at Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. He will comfort and sustain all who come to Him for help.—The Upward Look, p. 325. Adapted

Think about how Jesus must feel when we today rejected him. When Jesus came to this earth, he was fully aware of what He would face to save us. Yet, it pained him to experience rejection. However, His pain of rejection was not for Himself. Because he knew what they would lose, His pain was for those rejecting him.

By understanding how Jesus felt about rejection, how can this better help you cope with the pain of rejection.

If you thought the pain of rejection was bad. What do you think it must have felt like just before he was to be executed for a crime he did not commit. Find out in Day 4: Jesus In Gethsemane