The same skepticism about Jesus that existed while he was living as the man from Nazareth still exists today.
Some people are confronted many times over a lifetime with what we call the gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ came to save sinners, offer them forgiveness, and welcome them into his everlasting kingdom.
And they continue to reject it. Some because they refuse to believe that they need a Savior. Others because they find it implausible that God the Father would send his Son on such a mission of mercy. Influenced by materialism, their minds won’t accept the supernatural events of his life, death, and resurrection.
There are other reasons for stubbornly rejecting Christ. Fear, people-pleasing, relativism, arrogance. You may be thinking of others…
I’ve noticed a few very obvious examples of this rejection of God’s plan in Scripture, and some more subtle ones.
John the Baptist
John, a true prophet, was commissioned to baptize people in the Jordan after they repented and renounced their sins. He was a leader who, once Jesus appeared, encouraged his followers to leave him and follow Jesus instead.
Who does this? John did, because from the beginning he understood his calling and role—to prepare the way for the coming Savior. He knew all along that eventually, his influence would decrease and Jesus’ would increase as Jesus began to demonstrating that he was the One.
This makes this one of the saddest instances of doubting Jesus, especially considering that Jesus was John’s dear friend and cousin. It may have been only momentary, and is understandable at a human level. After all, he had been imprisoned unjustly by Herod and had time in captivity to entertain fears and doubts. The text reads:
When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matt 11:2-3).
Should we expect someone else? No, John. You had it right at the start of your ministry, back when you were roaming the wilderness declaring him the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
Jesus tells John’s messengers,
“Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor…” (Matt. 11:4-5).
It’s hard to argue with miracles and testimonies.
The crowds and the Pharisees
Just after this, some followers–
…brought [Jesus] a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”
But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” (Matt 12: 22-24
The miraculous healing of blindness and deafness by driving out demons brought two contrasting responses.
The multitudes who had begun to follow Jesus wondered if this miracle was convincing enough evidence that he was the Messiah. They’d never seen anyone like him. Not even close.
The Pharisees, on the other hand, couldn’t afford to consider this possibility publicly. It would have been a direct threat to their power and authority. We don’t know exactly what they thought of Jesus when no one was watching.
Publicly, they accused him of working for the devil. Jesus demolished this accusation with logic: why would Satan cast out himself?
As we read on, we discover that their accusation was more than false. It was a grievous, unforgivable sin. It was blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Their rejection of Jesus and attributing his power to demonic activity may have utterly doomed their eternal souls.
The king’s banquet
In the final week of Jesus’ life, he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey with crowds shouting loud praises. He entered the temple courts and drove out the merchants to the shock of everyone. He cursed a fig tree, and it shriveled up instantly.
In the temple courts, with the priests and teachers in attendance, Jesus shared several parables of the Kingdom of Heaven. In one of them, he painted a picture of a king preparing a lavish marriage banquet for his son.
When it was time for the party to start, the king sent his servants to beckon his guests.
“…but they refused to come” (Matt. 22:2)
“…but they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business” (v.5)
“…the rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them” (v. 6)
Those invited refused to come, some of them violently. Instead of cancelling or postponing the festivities, what did the king do?
“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. (v. 8-10)
Our Father doesn’t change his plans when people reject them. He persists. He pursues. He finds those who want to come into his household and enjoy his company, even if they had previously been ensconced in their sins.
Once admitted, he begins the process of transformation away from sin and toward godliness. The wedding guests were given white, spotless garments. This is a picture of the perfection of God’s kingdom, and this is a redemptive theme repeated so often in Jesus’ parables.
At the Cross
Roman soldiers mocked Christ on the Cross, saying, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.” (Lk.23:37 Apparently, they understood that the Messiah would have the power to save himself, which indeed he did. But their mocking was conditional; they had not yet been fully convinced he was the One.
The executioners had placed the title, King of the Jews, on the wood above Jesus’ head. John’s gospel records the reaction of the chief priests, even at this last moment revealing their determination to publicly reject the Anointed One:
The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.” (John 19:21, emphasis added).
One of the criminals hang on a cross next to Jesus “hurled insults at him: ‘Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’” Again with a snarky tone of mocking and unbelief.
Another who hung there, according to Luke, had a different attitude.
“Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” (Luke 23: 40-41).
Jesus assures this second man that he will be with him in his glorious kingdom. There is no explanation for this offer of grace other than his declaration of belief that Jesus was the One.
