Despising Jesus

I have to wonder if Jesus were with us in literal flesh today if we would give him the time of day. My best guess is . . . no.

After all, as Isaiah 53 tells us he was a mere tender shoot, a suckling which most people pick off the branches, because they take away from the growth of the tree. Of course, the irony is that this one sprig, Jesus, would establish a kingdom that would grow large enough so that the birds of the air (all the nations) can find shelter in Him. See Ezekiel 17:22-23.

He was a poor carpenter from a family of no means, unlike his cousin John the Baptist, who had a priestly pedigree and a more reputable family. Thus, the baptizer often faced the questions regarding whether he was the Messiah. To Jesus they kept saying, "you are just the carpenter son of that poor family right?"

Isaiah 53:2-3 tells us: "he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows,and acquainted with grief;and as one from whom men hide their faces; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."

The poor fisherman disciples of Jesus, faired no better, in the book of Acts as the trained Seminary folk realized they had not been to Seminary . . . yet they were so wise and smart. This didn't add up then, just like it did not add up when the young shepherd boy was chosen to be King of Israel over those more deserving in the eyes of man.

It is likely Jesus would have been rejected in most middle class (and higher) churches. From these things we can take away some practical lessons which I take from a pastor in the 1600's named Thomas Manton:

1. God accomplished his greatest plans using the most unlikely of people and plans.
2. God shows up and delivers his people at the most unlikely of times.
3. Something with a poor and small beginning may grow up to be something glorious.

Is it any wonder then that God still chooses the weak, the poor, the outcasts of society to do the greatest kingdom work. Let us take from this both encouragement for weak selves and a warning about how we look at others in the kingdom of God. It may very well be that Jesus would fit in better with the local Rescue mission crowd than the church folk. No wonder Isaiah implies that not many believe the gospel message that is proclaimed about Him.