REJECTED

Jesus brought the Good News to His townmates. Being too familiar with Him, they began to question His credibility and consequently the Good News He brought with Him: "Is this not the son of Joseph?" Though they were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth, their prejudices and biases prevailed over the glad tidings He announced to them. They rejected Him, as their townmates rejected other prophets. They attacked His personality more than the validity of His arguments. In logic, this is called an ad hominem fallacy; an assault on the character or circumstances of an individual who is furthering a statement or an argument instead of seeking to refute the truth of the statement or the accuracy of the argument. In another gospel account (Mt. 13:56), His town mates would even dare to include His relatives: "Isn’t His mother’s name Mary, and aren’t His brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Aren’t all His sisters with us as well? Where then did this man get all these things?" Eventually, the rejection of Jesus would culminate with His passion and death, instigated by people before whom Jesus preached and performed miracles. Why would the Nazarenes and Israelites reject Jesus?

More than their bias towards Jesus' background, they rejected Jesus because of the message He brought with Him. The people were not ready to hear such words, or probably did not want to hear those words (As Jesus may seem to compare Himself with the people's most revered prophet as he said: This day, this prophecy fulfilled). Perhaps, they preferred to hear another thought that could be of great relevance to their current struggles (not that of Jesus' conviction against their evil intents). Or most possibly, His townmates were simply envious of Him. All that Jesus preached and did was for the good of people, for that He was rejected and crucified.

We too encounter rejections in our life, though like Jesus, we may simply desire the good of others. We are misunderstood and even ignored sometimes for the good news we bring. How are we to deal with rejections, particularly rejection of the good intentions we may have towards other people? We can learn from St. Paul in his first letter to the Thessalonians (4:13-18). He admonished them to hold fast to the truth of the resurrection of the dead and be consoled by this Good News. Jesus, too, teaches us how to deal with rejections. As His townmates planned to hurl him down the hill, he simply passed through their midst and went away. We are not to be overcome by the rejections we receive. We can maintain our composure and self-possession, confident of the Good News we bring. 

When faced with rejection in proclaiming and living the Good News, we are to hold fast and not give in to the renunciations and discouraging results. The Good News we preach and live is itself our consolation.