Facing Rejection Like Alien Abductees

Suggested Reading: Luke 2:25-35

In the late 90s, Will Smith starred in a movie called Independence Day. In the movie, aliens invaded Earth on July 2, wiping out major cities and claiming the planet for themselves. As the movie began, the audience was introduced to a father, a drunkard who couldn't hold down a steady job because he constantly flew his crop-duster over the wrong fields. His children were ashamed of him, and they cringed whenever he mentioned his own “alien abduction” several years earlier. But on July 4, as the militaries of Earth were striking back against the alien invaders with whatever pilots happened to be left, this drunkard of a father found himself sobered up and sitting in the cockpit of a state-of-the-art fighter jet, streaking toward an alien vessel. Out of missiles, the squadron’s leader called the retreat, but this father had one missile left and fired it, only to discover that it was jammed. Taking one last look at a picture of his children, this father took aim at the primary weapon of the alien ship, radioed a message to his children, and crashed his plane into the alien vessel, destroying the vessel and eliminating the threat. This father knew he would die, but he flew into the enemy vessel anyway because it was the only way to save his children.

Simeon was an elderly man who prophesied over the infant Jesus when his parents brought him into the temple complex to be redeemed as the firstborn child of his family. Having announced that Jesus had come to upset destiny, Simeon declared that Jesus had come to be a sign that will be spoken against (Luke 2:34, NIV). Jesus had come as the Savior of the world, to save the world from itself, yet he would be spoken against. He would be rejected. Having read the rest of the story, we know that Jesus’ rejection would lead to his torture and to his death. As the eternal Son of God, Jesus knew the pain and hardship he would endure. Yet Jesus came anyway. Jesus knew he would be rejected, tortured, and killed, but Jesus also knew that his rejection and death were necessary to save us. So Jesus came anyway, willingly enduring rejection.

We have heard this story over and over again. The idea that Jesus had knowingly come to die is not new to us. The idea of sacrifice, like the father from Independence Day, is not new to us. And yet, while we often aspire to maintain an attitude of self-sacrifice, being willing to lay down our lives if necessary, I wonder how often we are willing to be rejected. Torture and death are one thing. We can steel ourselves against them, knowing there will be an end to them. But rejection is different and hurts on an entirely different level. Rejection is something that hurts our hearts.

Are we willing to be rejected? Are we willing to do what is necessary to help people, even knowing those people won’t understand and will probably turn on us? Are we willing to help people who will never thank us for stepping in to save the day? Are we willing to risk broken hearts as willingly as we risk broken bodies? Are we willing to climb out on a limb for someone, knowing they will probably chop it off behind us? Jesus was. Jesus did. And he calls us to follow his example.

Giving Aliens a Yeast Infection

Suggested Reading: Matthew 16:5-12

In the Will Smith movie, Independence Day, aliens invaded the planet, intent on wiping out the human race so that they could have the planet and its resources all to themselves. Armed with superior technology and massive city-killing ships, these aliens seemed unstoppable. Until a computer genius who worked as a cable repairman came up with the idea to create a virus that would infect the alien ships. Somehow, they flew a downed alien craft onto the mother ship and downloaded the virus. The virus moved out from the point of infection and eventually infiltrated the entire alien fleet, making their ships vulnerable to attack. 

In Matthew 16:6 Jesus warned his disciples, "Watch out and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (HCSB). The disciples were confused and thought Jesus was talking about bread, which they had forgotten to bring with them on this particular trip. Only after Jesus scolded them did the disciples realize that Jesus was concerned about the teachings of the Pharisees and Sadducees. But why did Jesus use the term "yeast" to describe their teachings?

Well, the Pharisees and Sadducees had a lot of things right in their teachings. They both taught that God's commands should be taken seriously and obeyed. They took the scriptures very seriously and taught that honoring God was important. But they both had some problems with their teachings, little things that had a habit of ruining and infecting everything else. Little things like the idea that following the letter of the law was more important than mercy and justice or that God is under an obligation to prove himself (both groups had just demanded a sign from Jesus in order to prove himself). Both groups had a lot of things right, but they had a couple little things wrong and those little things spread throughout the rest of their teachings and infected the whole, just like that computer virus and just like yeast.

We have to be very careful as we live day to day not to get "infected" with little things that can spread and grow and turn into massive problems, like the idea that God is obligated to us or that we have a clear understanding of the big picture; these are small attitude problems that affect the way we treat people or the effort with which we attempt our daily tasks. Every day we must keep ourselves centered in both the Word of God and prayer in order to guard ourselves against the little things that lead us astray, against those misconceptions and little conceits that have a way of poisoning the good in our lives.

When was the last time you examined your beliefs and attitudes? Are there some major problems in your life that seem to have come out of nowhere? Those "sudden" problems often spring from very little ideas and attitudes whose effects have been amplified by the passage of time. We can never take for granted that we've gotten everything right along the way. And if we never take the time to examine ourselves against scripture or the time to be still and listen to the Spirit speak to us, we might very well have some little ideas that could threaten our growth.

Little problems become big problems if we don't deal with them. Are you dealing with yours?