Jesus is Not Wanted Here

Just what will people do with Jesus?

Many believers claim that if we were more like Jesus, people would accept us and like us and listen to what we have to say. Well, yes and no. That claim is often based on two faulty assumptions. One, they usually mean by that the following: we all should be a whole lot nicer, much more non-confrontational, and really run with tolerance and acceptance.

That is, they think we should be just like the world – especially the secular left world. They think if Christians stopped talking about sin and hell, if they got the focus off the holiness and righteousness of God, and simply tried to be nice and affirming about everything and everyone, we Christians would be embraced and loved a whole lot more.

Well, sure, if you never call out anyone’s sin, and never affirm the high demands of Scripture for a holy and God-fearing life, and never speak of denying self, and so on, then your message would be a lot easier to sell, and likely a lot more readily received. But that is NOT the gospel and that is NOT what we find being commanded in the Bible.

Two, folks who speak like this clearly know little about the actual life and ministry of Jesus. The truth is, he was not always embraced, welcomed and applauded. More often than not he was rejected, hated and falsely accused. Indeed, he was disliked so much by so many, that he was treated like a common criminal and died a cruel death on a cross.

That Jesus was routinely rejected and despised is a truth found throughout the gospel accounts. Indeed, it was even predicted that this would happen. Recall the great messianic passage found in the book of Isaiah regarding the Suffering Servant (Is. 52:13-53:12). In Is. 53:3 we find this:

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.

And what we read in the four Gospels fully bears this out. People were always getting mad at him, upset with him, offended by him, and incensed by him. Yes, many received his words with gladness, but certainly not everyone. Many incidences of him being despised and rejected can be mentioned here, but let me focus on just one.

Consider the case where Jesus casts out demons from a man as mentioned in all three synoptic gospels: Matthew 8:28-34; Mark 5:1-20; and Luke 8:26-39. There are some differences between these three accounts.

Matthew’s version of events is around half the length of the other two. And Matthew speaks of two men being set free from these demons, while the other two speak of just one demon-possessed man. But one thing all three accounts agree upon and emphasise: he was not welcomed there!

“And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.” Matthew 8:34

“And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.” Mark 5:17

“Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear.” Luke 8:37

Why the rejection and angst? Recall what happened in the story: When Jesus performed the exorcism, the demons left the man and entered a herd of pigs. They then rushed down a steep bank and drowned in the water below. Questions arise here.

Pigs were unclean to the Jews, so either these were gentiles who had the large herd (Mark said there were 2000 pigs), or compromised Jews. So it may have been the loss of property, and the income derived from it that was upsetting them so.

Also, in all three accounts, the story of Jesus calming a storm precedes the story of the exorcism. In both cases the power and majesty of Jesus is emphasised, and that was enough to cause anyone great fear and concern. In his commentary on Matthew, Daniel Doriani writes:

We would expect the people to thank Jesus for bringing the wild man under control. He made the whole region safer. Still, they did lose the pigs, and perhaps they were afraid of any power that was great enough to tame the demoniac. Local authorities had never brought him under control. Jesus did, so what kind of power did he have? Perhaps they had become accustomed to the demoniac. But who is Jesus? Is he safe or not? The pigs are dead, after all. Jesus solved their problem, but they do not trust him.

 

Perhaps they understood that Jesus is not tame. He battles evil, he inaugurates the kingdom, and there is no telling where that may lead, even before the final day, when he finally defeats all evil powers.

And since R. C. Sproul has expository commentaries on these three gospels, let me share a bit from each. In his commentary on Mark he says this:

Here is yet another parallel to the previous narrative about the storm on the Sea of Galilee. The disciples were frightened by the storm, but they were even more afraid when Jesus calmed the storm. Likewise, when these people of Decapolis recognized this man who haunted the mountains in the tombs in his madness, seated, clothed, and in his right mind, they were afraid. Like the disciples in the boat, these people were confronted by the presence of the holy. When the Holy One is manifest in the midst of unholy people, the only appropriate human response is dread. So, they began to beg Jesus to leave. They simply could not stand to be in His presence.

 

In great contrast, the man who had been demon-possessed, changed as he was, did not want to be separated from the presence of Christ. Just as the demons had begged Jesus not to torment them, just as the people had begged him to leave, this man begged to be allowed to go with Him.

In his Luke commentary Sproul offers this shorter and powerful remark:

As we have noted, nothing terrifies a human being more than being in the presence of the holy, and these townspeople realized that they were in the presence of One who was holy and they were not. They wanted Him to go away from them. Some wonder why Jesus was killed. He wasn’t killed because He was bad. He was killed because He was holy, and He had to be done away with.

And lastly, he makes these comments in his volume on Matthew:

I honestly do not know why they asked Him to leave. It may have been that they were angry over what had just happened to their economy. There were “many swine” in the herd. . . . However, I think it is more likely that the people recognized in Jesus the same thing the demons saw there, and they wanted no part of Him. When Jesus manifested His holy character, people got nervous. They saw that the Jesus of reality was not “gentle Jesus, meek and mild,” which is the popular modern idea of Him. Rather, He was the Holy One of Israel. Confronted by that reality, they wanted Him to go away.

 

What about you? Do you push him away? Or do you welcome Him? Only when we know that we have been clothed by His righteousness can we be comfortable in His presence. Until we are so clothed, we will tremble before Him – just as the demons did (James 2:19).

There you have it: We will either run TO Jesus or run AWAY from him. There is no middle ground. Our natural response as sinners is to flee from him. But knowing that Jesus is our only hope, and coming to him being aware of our sin and our need of deliverance and forgiveness is the only way forward.

Many people rejected Jesus and preferred their own sin. Today when we share Jesus with others we will find the same reaction. However, just as some did bow the knee to Jesus, some will respond positively as we proclaim the gospel. So we must not be shy in sharing the good news.

And we dare not water it down, thinking more people will come to Christ that way. We must share the truth of Jesus just as he did, without compromise and without seeking the praise and applause of men. Some will react angrily to us just as they did to Jesus.

But some will respond in the right way, as the Holy Spirit convicts them of their sin and their need of a saviour.

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