The Rejection
Matthew 27:27-37 Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company of soldiers around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand. Then they knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail, king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and struck him on the head again and again. After they had mocked him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him away to crucify him.
As they were going out, they met a man from Cyrene, named Simon, and they forced him to carry the cross. They came to a place called Golgotha (which means "the place of the skull”). There they offered Jesus wine to drink, mixed with gall; but after tasting it, he refused to drink it. When they had crucified him, they divided up his clothes by casting lots. And sitting down, they kept watch over him there. Above his head they placed the written charge against him: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.
I remember being rejected in minor and even some major ways. They were not violent, but cost some time, effort and emotional discomfort. The rejection of Jesus was officially very total: first the leadership of the temple and Jerusalem clerics and then the Roman leadership took the toll. Then He was turned over to the official law force for punishment of a crime of being!! This was total. That these people were capable of doing what they did to Him would be unbelievable except that it is happening in homes in America, in nations all over the world and even in prisons in all places. The denial of human (OK – divine) value is horrible looking back, but terribly normal in many systems in our human race. The winners destroy the losers. This is even true in politics. Sports take joy in seeing losers defeated. Families engage in destroying members emotionally, physically and sexually. And He took the cause of all to be our King. Lord, let me not be one who added to Your rejection, but your affirmation as King and Lord and Savior.
For your prayers, Syria