EXAMPLE OF SPIRITUAL FOOD

Messages like the following can bring healing to those who are experiencing the pain of stigma. Followers of Christ could deliver similar scriptural messages to those who feel rejected by the world. Think of Jesus. Wrap your head around what it must have been to be him, giving his all for us and how he suffered despite it. Can we, with our feelings of rejection, identify with him—even a little? It would help us feel close to him. And in that closeness we’d know we’re not alone.

Giving spiritual support means to assure people who are hurting that Jesus understands. Some of the best spiritual messages involve looking at Jesus. What he did. What he said. How he treated those the world wanted nothing to do with. His great love for us all—no matter who we are or where we come from.

He was despised and rejected by mankind,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces
he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

Isaiah 53:3

It was a long time before I understood—fully understood—what the Bible meant when it said that Jesus died for me. Maybe I’d heard the message so often that it had lost its meaning. You know how that happens. Maybe you weren’t ready to hear it the first time and it didn’t sink in. Later in life, when it might have been more meaningful, the message had become stale and you were no longer interested.

The story of Christ’s suffering on the cross is one such story for me. I couldn’t understand what his dying had to do with my sins being forgiven.

But I have been paying more attention over the past few years. Having experienced rejection myself and the suffering that came with it, I have come to a better understanding of what Jesus went through than I might otherwise. With our sinners’ eyes, let’s have a look at what Jesus our Savior went through as a rejected man.

Have you ever been deeply hurt by the rejection of a best friend? No longer counted as a friend. No longer greeted with a smile or hello. Do you remember how that felt?

Now think of how Jesus must have felt to be rejected the way he was at the end of his life. Not by one, but by thousands. Look at how Isaiah above describes it. Although he was God in human form, he was considered less than a man, no longer belonging to mankind. He was treated as though he had no human feelings and was not entitled to human fellowship or sympathy. Imagine being treated so inhumanely. Maybe some of you can.

Jesus died an excruciatingly painful death on the cross, sacrificing himself to relieve us from the guilt of unforgiven sins. In his death he brought us freedom from that burden. Greater love has no one than this! (John 15:13)

Lord, you came to Earth to love us and to show us how to love. You were a man in whom there was no blame. And yet you suffered so much.

Oh, Lord! What have we done to you?

marja