Rejection Restored
Mark 3:31-35 NKJV
Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You.” But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”
Jesus Christ the One that Created all things comes down in flesh.
In that flesh He had the ability to experience everything that we have the ability to experience what it means to be human but without sin!
He knows what it’s like to be lonely and left out. He too has gone through pain, sorrow, physical hurt, emotional burden. He can see our afflictions and have compassion because He knows what it feels like!
This is something that we must remind ourselves daily, He is a Savior that understands.
He is willing to walk before us, behind us and alongside us in the journey through this hard world into an Everlasting Eternity, if we choose to repent, believe the Scriptures and then Follow.
His love, mercy and grace must be the force that leads and guides us through the Power of His Holy Spirit to an understanding of His compassion.
He is the Savior of the World! He Is the Way, the Truth and the Life!
Even with all that being said there will always be division.
Divided families.
Divided churches.
Divided hearts.
Division always brings rejection.
Rejection brings sorrow.
Sorrow brings hopelessness.
Jesus grew up in a home of imperfect people.
We Read the Gospels about the life of Jesus.
We hear about the miracles and the healings.
We hear about the restoration and salvation. He is the Son of God!
Often we forget Jesus had a family.
He had Joseph as a step father. He had Mary, His mother. He had brothers and sisters. He had Close friends. John the Baptist was His cousin. He had the same type of relationships as you and I. None of them are perfect. Sinful in their nature living with the Sinless Son of God!
He Had His Disciples, His closest friends and followers.
We have all been put in family units by the providence of God.
What does that mean?
Providence is God’s Divine will, His Divine and perfect interventions.
He had put our families together for a reason and a purpose.
God chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus. He chose Joseph to be his step father. His brothers and sisters were all chosen by God for a reason and a purpose.
Jesus would know what it was like to be a son, a brother, a cousin, and a friend.
He will know what it is like to have unconditional love.
But He also knows what it’s like to have conditional acceptance.
We are all given a set of parents. Brothers, sisters. We don’t choose them. Sometimes we can barely tolerate them.
Sometimes the situation that we end up in may not be very good.
There can be chaos and animosity.
Instead of love there can be discontent.
Sometimes it is not the best match up.
Sometimes marriages fall apart. Sometimes children fall away.
Hearts and pride get hurt. Misunderstandings and misspoken words can lead to years, decades or even a life long separation from those that were considered to be the closest to us.
And it hurts.
Family life is hard.
For some reason this time of year it can be a reminder of how hard it can be.
We all want a family that can live in peace.
We all want to be united to the ones we love.
Unfortunately at times this may not be feasible. We are called to be peacemakers and peacekeepers. But that peace, even when extended out in love, can be rejected.
There are so many things that rips families apart at the seams.
Let me ask this question.
How can we still serve God no matter what kind of family we have?
No matter the division and separation?
The Lord gathers His children.
If He is gathering, what is He gathering for?
To be part of a new family. A Holy and Righteous family. A family that will do the Will of God.
For what? The purpose of the Kingdom.
There is a new family that God has created and is still creating. He invites all of us to be part of this family by this same Jesus Christ. Salvation, Redemption, Restoration, free gifts through the Blood of Jesus Christ!
We gain more than that.
Yes Eternal life!
But there is more!
What about our Heavenly Family?
What about the brothers and sisters in Christ that are closer than a brother?
What about those that will stand by your side to serve the King of Heaven!
Those that will lay a hand on you and come to the Throne of God on your behalf!
Those that help carry your burdens.
Those that rejoice with you.
Those that weep with you!
Are these not your brothers, mothers and sisters?
Are these not the ones that the Lord has gathered to you?
Those that will do the Will of God and serve Him alongside you.
Even with the rejection of His own family Jesus says this,
“Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”
It is by The wisdom, the practicality and the promises of God that we will see how the Lord brings us to Himself to be partakers in the Heaven Family!
We all know what it’s like to hurt over a broken relationship. We have all felt the emptiness of loss.
But God tender in mercy will be the One to fill the holes and the gaps.
It is His promise of the Holy Spirit to comfort and hope! He will always give you a brother, a sister, a mother that will love you with the love of Jesus, with the Heavenly Father as the head of His Holy Family!
For some of us our family is a heart-wrenching unpleasant thing to experience. Maybe it is even nonexistent.
That’s OK.
Who was at the Cross?
Were any of His brothers?
His mother, the other Mary, His Disciple John.
As He hung there He prayed for all of them.
The lost, the unbelieving, the ones that came against Him.
“Forgive them for they know not what they do”.
For some of us, following Jesus has been, and will be costly. There will be many things to give up. There will be loss and sometimes that loss can be the closest to you, but we must take comfort to know that, in Christ, we have a family.
He doesn’t leave us or forsake us. He will always provide comfort in times of sorrow.
We pray for those that have hurt us, rejected us, shunned us. We forgive them as we have been forgiven. We show the same mercy that we have been shown. Then we allow God to change the hearts and minds of those. We allow the Lord to restore, who better to do it!
Then we pray again!
Then we thank Him for allowing us to be part of His Heavenly Family and giving us those brothers and sisters and claim them for yourself in the name of Christ!
Bonded together not by the blood in our veins, but by the Blood that was shed!
Pastor Ed