Here is why Christ was rejected by the leaders of the people, and why we too recoil from Him today. These are our mistakes – which make us spiritually lost. Here also, is what we gain when we see who Christ is, and what He has done for our souls.
‘After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee, for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.’
And our subject is ‘why people refuse Christ,’ why we perhaps refuse Christ. Why was it that the leaders of that nation, of the Jews in the days of Christ so hated him? Why was it that they rejected him? On the surface it would seem to be a mystery. Why were they so antagonised by him? The answer is important, because the answer throws light on our rejection of Him.
He was a compelling teacher. He was fascinating in his teaching. There was never a teacher like Christ, and it is recorded in the Bible that people said so on every hand. His method of teaching was remarkable and entirely unique – so unusual. His method of teaching could sometimes be so simple. His parables, they were remarkable and yet so profound, can so deeply be searched.
He was a most appealing person in himself. He wrought tremendous miracles, not just a few but thousands of them, sometimes healing all the sick in entire regions. His healings were dramatic, for the most part instantaneous, done at a word or at a touch, and the most difficult cases were healed and restored. And indeed people whose limbs were withered and wasted would be restored to wholeness in a moment. And people looked on and they saw this. It was extraordinary to see limbs fill out and repair before their eyes. So his miracles were astounding.
But furthermore he was the hope of the nation. He was the very person who had been promised by God in their ancient scriptures and had been prophesied about for centuries. And the Old Testament books describe such a man as he was, a divine person, God who would become incarnate in this world and how he would conduct himself.
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