Rejected and Resented

Luke 15:30 (New King James Version, NKJV).

But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

You and I have been raised in a culture that places emphasis on winners and losers. We even call those who we think have no chance of winning underdogs. Under – dogs? Really?  I mean, does that term represent someone who is lower than a dog? Anyway, the gist of this message today as I believe God would have me focus on is rejection. Losers are rejected by the majority of winners. Other terms like success and failure are also associated with winners and losers. Our culture goes even further and distinguishes between rich and poor as being winners or losers. Some even think what you look like determines whether you are a winner or a loser; or else we would not have beauty pageants. It is all about acceptance and rejection. Most of us like to be accepted. We did not want to be chosen last to be on a team. We generally do not want to be looked upon as uneducated or ignorant. A person’s worth should not be determined by categorizing them as a winner or a loser. Jesus went right to the heart of rejection by men in His parable of the rebellious son, the resentful son, and the father that loved them both.

“My brother does not deserve all this attention. You are making him out to be some kind of hero. Have you forgotten he took money out of your bank account and wasted it? Now he comes crawling back smelling like a pigsty and you make over him like he is royalty! He made his bed, let him lie in it! He chose his path, leave him to walk in it! He’s a loser!” That is what the resentful son is really saying to the father. Jesus drew a contrast between the love of God for sinners and the love of man for them. The resentful son should have felt the same way about his brother coming back as the father did; if he really loved him.

What a story. This is a story of acceptance and not rejection. A story that many need to hear today. They have been rejected and resented by everyone from parents, to siblings, to neighbors, to schoolmates, to coworkers, and yes, even by churches. They are the wrong ethnicity, or the wrong gender, or they dress wrong, or they smell wrong, or they are to smart or to dumb, or they have tattoos, or body piercing, or they have blue hair or gray hair, or they are not pretty, or they are to pretty, or they are to old, or they are to young, or they come from the wrong side of the tracks, or they are to fat or to skinny; get the picture? Jesus wants them; He accepts them; and so should we if we love them as He does.