Rejected by His Own

(John 1:11)

Mike Johnson

John 1:1-18 is considered the prologue of the book of John.  A prologue introduces a literary work, providing background information about the characters, setting, or events.  The rest of the book then explains and backs up what is in the prologue.  Unlike the other gospel accounts, John proclaims Jesus to be the son of God in the beginning.

Verses 1-2 point out that Christ was present at creation and separate from God; we learn He is divine and created the world.  In the course of time, He came to the earth as the “light” (8-9) so people could become children of God and receive salvation (1:12, 29).  However, the world generally rejected him (10).  More specifically, verse 11 says, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.” 

Speaking prophetically, Isaiah spoke about Jesus, saying, “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him” (Is.  53:3).  Specifically, the Jews (“His own”) turned their backs on Him, not believing He was the promised Messiah.  They got the Romans involved, who put the Lord to death as a common criminal.  Due to their previous teaching, the Jews should have been better prepared to receive the message of Jesus than anyone else (Mt. 10:5-6).  Even later, when entering a new city, Paul would first go to the synagogue to the Jews.

Consider the opposition more specifically.  The Jews looked down on Jesus because He was from Galilee (Jn. 7:41, 52).  Concerning the specific town He was from (Nazareth), some asked if anything good could come from there (Jn. 1:46).  Jesus performed many miracles witnessed by the two major sects of His day (the Pharisees and Sadducees) who still refused to believe Him (Jn. 12:37-43).  They tried to kill or have Him arrested many times (Mt. 12:14; Mt. 26:3-4; Jn. 10:30-31).

The Jews also rejected Jesus because of misconceptions about the nature of the kingdom that He would establish.  They thought the Messiah would lead them in overthrowing the Romans.  After the miracle of feeding the 5000, certain ones were going to take him by force and make Him king (Jn. 6:15).  However, at His trial, Jesus responded to Pilate saying, “My kingdom is not of this world.  If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here” (Jn. 18:36).

Jealousy was also an issue among the many Jewish leaders.  Pilate even knew that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because of “envy” (Mk. 15:10).  The feeling of the Jewish leaders that Jesus might cause them to lose their status and power played a role in their rejection of Him.

Jesus was even rejected in His hometown of Nazareth (Lk. 4:16-30).  People in the synagogue drove Him out from there and were about to throw Him off a cliff, “when He passed through the midst of them, He went His way” (Lk. 4:30).  At first, even Jesus’ brothers did not believe in Him (Jn. 7:5).

If Jesus’ “own” did not receive Him, imagine the reaction of those who did not fall into this category.  Sadly, the majority of the world does not accept Him today.  There are various reasons for this rejection.  Consider, however, Jesus’ statement in John 3:19-21.

And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.  For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.  But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.

Yet, despite Jesus mostly being rejected during His time on the earth, many did receive Him (1:12-13) as He continued His efforts.  Further, after His resurrection on Pentecost, Jesus’ apostles preached the gospel for the first time.  There were 3000 baptized in one day (Acts 2:41), and the church continued to grow (Acts 2:47; 4:4; 5:14; 6:1, 7).  This growth resulted from people spreading the message of Jesus locally and throughout the world (Acts 5:42; 8:1-4; Col. 1:23).

How do we handle rejection?  What do we do when even “our own” refuse to listen?  People we view as the best prospects may turn away from us as we try to teach them, as they did with Jesus.  But, we must continue our efforts and even expand our range.  Prospects are among those who are morally bankrupt (Acts 24:1-26; Jn. 4; 1 Cor. 6:9-11), rich sinners (Lk. 12:13-21; 19:2-10; 1 Tim. 6:10, 17-19),  ignorant and poor (Acts 3:14-19; James 2:1-4), highly prejudice (Gal. 1;13-14; 1 Tim. 1:13), and involved in religious error (Acts 17:22-23).  As with Jesus and the early disciples, rejection should not stop us from teaching others!