Sermon Title: From Rejected to Rejoicing

Sermon Text: Matthew 21:33-46

Sermon Date: October 9, 2005

In the lectionary readings right now we are urged to read about the parables Jesus used in his ministry, the early early church’s sermon illustrations. You already know this. A preacher can tell you about the passage and what it means but most likely what you remember when you leave are the illustrations, the stories that make a point…or perhaps even the children’s message where the point is simple and short.

Jesus used the parables to make a point. Today’s parable is in about rejection.

There is no pain more familiar to many of us than the pain of rejection. We remember those terrible younger years when we were searching for our identity, and acceptance by our peers was so important. Whether it was being the last one chosen for the ball team or standing on the sideline watching another being crowned homecoming queen, most of us know how it feels to be on the outside looking in.

There were those terrible dating years and those tangled feelings of hope and hurt. A lady wrote to Reader's Digest to tell about a friend of hers whose dorm sisters had a system for dealing with the problem of what to do when the wrong fellow calls asking for a date. "It wasn't hard to say no in my dorm," she claimed. "I put together a list of ten excuses and taped it next to the phone. That way we could decline an invitation without fumbling around for an excuse. It worked like a charm." Except for the time one flustered girl was overheard saying, "I'd love to go out with you, Tom, but I can't because, because Number Seven." So if you have ever been ‘number sevened,’ this is for you.

We all face rejection. I heard about a football coach (not Purdue’s Joe Tiller) in one of our Southern football factories, who was experiencing the horrors of a losing season. By the middle of October the Alumni were in a state of near mutiny. The first week in November, after a particularly embarrassing loss to a traditional archrival, the coach received a telegram which read as follows: "The last train out of town leaves Sunday at noon. Be under it!"

Or as our favorite philosopher Snoopy once said in a Peanuts cartoon, "It doesn't make any difference whether you win or lose until you lose." (www.esermons.com)

Nothing hurts quite like rejection. Broken bones can heal, but broken hearts can take years to mend. And sometimes they never do. No one understood rejection like Jesus. Rejected by his own family, threatened by his townspeople, crucified by his own nation, in particular the leaders of his religion. Jesus knew what it was to be rejected. He knew what it was to be on the outside looking in. Yet his rejection was turned to rejoicing.

He quoted the words of the Psalmist: "The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner..." (Ps. 118:22) Later Simon Peter would quote these words to the rulers and the elders in testimony concerning the good news of Christ(Acts 4:11) and again he would cite those words again in his epistles. (I Pet. 2:7)

I’ve never understood the depth of that passage until preparing for this week’s sermon.

There was a legend that was well known in New Testament times that in the building of the temple of Solomon most of the stones were of the same size and shape. One stone arrived, however, that was different from the others. The builders took one look at it and said, "This will not do," and sent it rolling down into the valley of Kedron below. The years passed and the great temple was nearing completion, and the builders sent a message to the stonecutters to send the chief cornerstone that the structure might be complete. The cutters replied that they had sent the stone years before. Then someone remembered the stone that was different than all the rest that somehow did not seem to belong. They realized that they had thrown away the cornerstone. They hurried into the valley to retrieve it. Finally under vines and debris they recovered it and with great effort rolled it up the hill and put it in place so that the great temple would be complete. The stone that had been rejected had become the chief cornerstone. Jesus, who had been rejected now reigns at the right hand of God. (esermons.com)

From rejection to rejoicing.

Now it really makes sense. Now you know that those religious leaders knew what Jesus was talking about, not just some imaginary building that needed a cornerstone. They would have known such a legend too and have “gotten” the message. In doing all they could to stop Jesus from sharing his message, by plotting to end his ministry, by refusing to follow him, once more they have thrown away what is precious and necessary.

A man wandered into a church looking for the pastor for some spiritual guidance. The pastor asked him about his religious background. The man replied, "I went to Sunday School as a child, but I can remember only one verse from the Bible, John 3:16: `God so loved the world that he gave his only FORGOTTEN son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'" The man had substituted the word "forgotten" for the word begotten. The sensitive pastor picked up on that and asked the man, "Do you know why God forgot his son?" The man replied, "No." The minister said, "It was because he wanted to remember you." Christ was rejected that we might be remembered.

Because he knows what it is to be rejected, he can help us with our feelings of hurt and despair. How do you deal with rejection?

IN THE FIRST PLACE, WE DO NOT GIVE UP THE FIGHT.

We do not drop out of the race. We do not crawl off and hide under a rock. We remember the Apostle Paul who also knew what it was to be rejected. Still he wrote, "One thing I do, forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ..." (Philippians 3: 13,14)
After Harry Truman retired from the presidency and was back home in Independence, Missouri, he was at the Truman Library one day talking with some elementary children. An owlish little boy in glasses asked, "Mr. President, were you popular when you were a boy?" Truman looked at the boy and answered, "Why no, I was never popular. The popular boys were the ones who were good at games and had big tight fists. I was never like that. Without my glasses, I was blind as a bat, and to tell the truth I was something of a sissy. If there was any danger of a fight, I took off. I guess that is why I am here today." The little boy started to applaud and soon the others joined in. It hurts to be rejected, whether you are seven or seventy-five, whether it is by your peers or by your own family. It hurts, but there is a man hanging on a tree, God's "forgotten Son," who says to us, "I saw so much possibility within you that I gave my life for you. Don't give up. I know you are hurting, but your rejection will turn to rejoicing if you hold steady to your course and trust in me."

When we are rejected, we don't give up.

Preacher King Duncan says: INSTEAD WE ALLOW CHRIST TO USE THAT REJECTION TO HELP US GROW IN MATURITY AND TO MAKE US BETTER MINISTERS TO OTHERS WHO ALSO FEEL REJECTED.

You and I may question why it was that Christ had to suffer and die. After all, wouldn’t it have been much easier if Jesus had been born into royalty and could command that people believe and accept? But that ruler wouldn’t be able to understand our fears, our pain and our rejection. After all, who is going to reject what the king says and live? Sure it would have been easier for Jesus but harder for us. We wouldn’t have a savior that could minister to us in our rejection. We wouldn’t have a comforter that could understand when we have broken hearts. If he had not been rejected, he wouldn’t be able to understand us when we are.

I have a new hero. Her name is Lauran Bethell, a colleague I’ve never met. Lauran Bethell, a global consultant for ministries with at-risk women who serves with American Baptist International Ministries, and whose work with women trapped in prostitution has received worldwide attention.

This past summer she received the Baptist World Alliance’s Human Rights Award. Given every five years at the BWA’s congresses, the award was presented to Bethell by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, himself a former recipient.

Lauran has a passion for the rejected people among us, in particular those lured and forced into prostitution in Thailand and now in Prague. “Praise be to God, Who is with us now and Who will continue to guide and lead and give us wild, wonderful, surprising visions for the redemption of ‘the least of these,’” she said.

During her first term as an International Ministries missionary, Bethell helped to found the New Life Center in Thailand, a ministry to Hill Tribe girls tricked or sold into prostitution, or at risk of suffering that fate.

Today she lives in Prague and serving as a consultant other like-minded ministries around the world. As she launched this new phase of her work, Bethell began a prayer walk through the streets of Prague, literally looking for a way to connect to others walking the streets for a different reason. She talked with some of the young women on Prague’s streets and found that many of them were from Bulgaria, working to support children or elderly parents back home.

Many women sacrifice themselves in prostitution because they have no other way to support themselves or their families, she said. And many of women she works with in Prague have been trafficked to the West from an Eastern European country; most are married, have children, and come from Christian backgrounds.

“We don’t ask the question, ‘Do you want to leave prostitution?’ That’s God’s work to do,” she said. “Seeing with new eyes means trusting that, in fact, God is at work in this world. We don’t have to do it all for him.”

“What everyone can do,” Bethell said, “is to see those in prostitution--see anyone we’d rather not see--with new eyes, whether they be the homeless, the outcast, the terrorist, those who irritate us, our enemies. And each time we see them, repeat to ourselves that we are seeing a precious child of God, beloved by God, for whom Jesus died out of great compassion and love.”

From rejected to rejoicing.

He was despised and rejected for our sakes. And yet, "the very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner..." It is possible that you aren’t getting a lot out of this morning’s sermon. Maybe you haven’t never been "number sevened."

But for most of us the pain of rejection is all too real. Jesus wants us to hang in there, to keep on going. And to remember that there are those who need you to be their wounded healer just as Christ has ministered to you.

(Thanks to www.esermons.com and Collected Sermons, King Duncan)