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.

Changing Terminal Boundaries Into Mile-Markers

Suggested Reading: John 11:1-7, 17-27 (unabridged John 11:1-27)

When I was a kid, I used to love to ride my bike up and down the block we lived on. Each year as I grew older, I was allowed to travel farther and farther away from our house in each direction. At first, I was only allowed to ride two doors down in either direction. That eventually expanded to as much of the street as was visible from our house (our street was slightly curved). But by the time I got my driver's license those former boundaries were simply mile-markers along a much longer journey.

John chapter 11 tells a story that reminds us that our boundaries are simply mile-markers for God. Lazarus is sick and his sisters, Mary and Martha, send for Jesus so that Lazarus can be healed. But Jesus delays. From the beginning, Jesus' plan is to allow Lazarus to die so that he can demonstrate God's power over death itself.  So Jesus tells his disciples in verse 4, "Lazarus's sickness will not end in death." (NLT)

Now, I'm pretty sure Jesus' disciples assumed that Jesus meant to heal him so that Lazarus never died. For the disciples, like most of us, death was a boundary that couldn't be moved. Death was the end of the line, a place from which it was impossible to return. But Jesus wanted the disciples to understand that the boundaries we set for ourselves are only mile-markers for God. Death is not final. So he allowed Lazarus to die so that he could raise Lazarus from the dead and prove, once and for all, that no boundary limits our journey when God is involved.

What final boundaries have you been facing lately? Perhaps it is the death of a career or a relationship. Perhaps the death of a dream or a marriage. Perhaps you find yourself before a barrier which it seems impossible to cross and you feel your hopes fading to nothingness. Whatever barrier you may be facing today, God wants you to know that barrier is only  a mile-marker when you factor God into the equation. No death is final. No brick wall is impassible. No chasm is  unbridgeable. If you are willing to trust God, those boundaries can become nothing more than mile-markers along the way.

When you face those boundaries, you will probably experience pain and loss. You will probably feel like you've reached the end of the road. And it is to you that Jesus says, "I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-27, NLT)