OF SUBSTANCE AND SPIRIT
It was Mark Amand who argued that rejection doesn’t mean we aren’t good enough. He said that the other person who rejected us actually failed to appreciate what we can bring to the table. In fact, the Platonic philosopher Atticus would even say “I’ve never met a strong person with an easy past.”
Unlike South Africa’s Nelson Mandela who ultimately became president of his country, the Philippines’ Claro M. Recto who served as congressman, commissioner of education, 1934 Constitutional Convention president, Supreme Court associate justice and senator, never made it to Malacañang. He was uncompromising in his statesmanship and patriotism. If he were alive today, he would certainly take up the cause against China’s incursions into the country’s islands and maritime zones in the West Philippine Sea. Considered a gadfly, a maverick, a Great Dissenter of the status quo and our mendicant pro-US foreign policy, he lost to Carlos P. Garcia in 1957. It was by no means a good measure of the man. And like Jose W. Diokno, he could have been a great president of the Philippines.
This should not be surprising because even Jesus Christ was rejected as early as when he was still in the womb of Mary who, together with Joseph, sought a room in the inn, but there was none. The Messiah was destined to be born in a manger. Imagine the couple hiked more than 112 kilometers from Nazareth in Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea, only to find out they had no place for the night.
No, God is not ruthless with His begotten Son as to allow Him to be delivered in a stable. There was a grand purpose in this because if God was able to summon a giant star to guide the shepherds and the Magi, He was more than powerful to create a room in the inn.
We can think of a few reasons why Jesus had to associate Himself with His creation during His birth. Such modest circumstance of His birth easily established His connection with the poor and the oppressed. It also reminds us of what we should expect when we decide to be His disciples, and that is to carry our cross and follow Him. It also fulfills the prophecy in Isaiah 53 that He would “be despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with sufferings.”
Prophetic fulfillment confirms the authenticity of His genesis as God Himself and His destiny to be crucified as man so that our sins may be forgiven, and to be raised to life again to give hope and assurance that His creation would spend eternity with Him.
From the first Christmas to Christmas 2023, we have been rejecting Jesus in more ways than one.
We rejected Him in Bethlehem because His parents in the flesh appeared impoverished, devoid of any royal trappings. We rejected Him in favor of Barabbas even if we knew He was sinless and Barabbas was a convicted criminal. In fact, we crucified Jesus when He claimed He was the Son of God. To this day, we continue to reject Him whenever our prayers for healing, for job, for promotion, for some breakthroughs are not answered. We continue to reject Him when we give in to our own busy schedule instead of spending time in prayers and meditation. We continue to reject Him every time we blame Him for everything that is not right, never realizing that what ail us today are due to the failure of character.
Irony of ironies, we deny Him room in our hearts, He who came to redeem us, promising that in His Father’s house are many rooms, that He would prepare a place for us. For those who believe in Him, we are strengthened by His promise that where He went, we would also go.
The angel tipped the shepherds about the sign, that they would find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths in a manger. No one opened the door to Jesus in His mother’s womb. When we reject Jesus in our life, we put Him in a stable with the animals, we give Him the littlest that we can spare in terms of our time, talent and tokens.
We would not have permitted either Bill Gates or Steve Jobs even a single break as chief executive officer of our big corporates if they appear in their sweaters and cheap wristwatches for interview.
Unlike us, the shepherds, when they heard the message, convinced themselves that they should go over to Bethlehem and see for themselves the sign cited by the angel. Rather than keeping the good news only to themselves, they “made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.” (Luke 2:17)
This was the first evangelism after Jesus was born in the flesh.
Yet the people who heard it remained skeptical. Something beyond the ordinary, people would not believe. Today, we would even be reluctant to share our testimony of how God has touched our lives.
Somebody wrote that until today, we deny Jesus as our Ark door, even if He is the only way to find justice and mercy; as our Passover door, even if His blood secured the forgiveness of our sins and our cleansing from all unrighteousness; as our Temple door, even if He is the only way to holiness; as our Shepherd door,even if He cares for us like a shepherd, offering us green pasture in Him; and as our tomb door even if only He has the power over life and death.
When we deny Him, as Peter did, we deny Him a room in our hearts. Let Christmas 2023 be the last time we would reject and deny Him, as He has been knocking at our door. As Revelation 3:20 assures us, “if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come and dine with Him, and He with me.”