For over 50 years, one after another rejected the material developers had provided and abandoned the project. Each claimed it was poor quality, flawed, full of cracks, and damaged from previous efforts. Then came a young artist. In the scrapyard, he examined a piece of leftover stone from a long-running decorative project. In this rejected block of marble, Michelangelo saw a figure. The next day he began extracting the statue of David chipping away everything that didn’t belong. Today, artists consider it “one of art history’s major masterpieces”, “the most renowned sculptures in the world”, and “the most recognizable statues in the entire world of art”. After years of rejection, in the hands of a master, this piece of marble became “the masterpiece of Renaissance”.
This is what a man accomplished. Think of what God can do with us. For we are God’s workmanship (Eph 2:10). It doesn’t matter who has rejected us or for how long. Yes, we are flawed and poor quality in the eyes of the world. But God sees in us a masterpiece. Through Christ, He understands rejection. We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all-all but the sin (Heb 4:15 MSG) Jesus prepared His disciples for what would happen to Him. He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed (Mk 8:31).
Later He told them, the stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief cornerstone (Mat 21:42). The world rejected Him; the Father made Him the chief cornerstone of the Church. A cornerstone in ancient construction served as the foundation and standard upon which builders constructed the structure. The building would conform to the angles and size of the cornerstone. If removed, the building would collapse. Christ is the cornerstone of the building of believers. Without Him, everything will collapse.
Isaiah in chapter 53 prophesied what Jesus would experience for us and in our place. Verse 3 says, He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. One aspect of Bible study goes beyond merely reading. Stop and imagine yourself experiencing what the writer is describing. Get into the mind of the character. From this verse, think of how you feel when people reject you? The word for rejection means to disapprove or declare useless because after testing you didn’t meet their specifications. Jesus didn’t meet the standards the elders and the chief priests and the scribes had for the Messiah. If that were you, what would your emotions be and how would it affect your self-image? Rejections for us can begin on the playground when no one will choose you to play baseball. Friends reject us. Spouses, family, and employers join the list because we don’t meet their expectations.
Rejection hurts, but Jesus identifies with us and understands. If rejection weren’t painful enough Isaiah adds, He would be despised. Rejection means others refuse to accept Jesus. Despised intensifies rejection to the point others regarded Him with contempt and scorn. The religious rulers not only rejected Him and His teaching, they hated Him. Imagine or remember how you felt when someone despised you. The Message Bible captures the pain He experienced. He was looked down on and passed over, a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand. One look at him and people turned away. We looked down on him, thought he was scum (v3). Why did Jesus do this? So, He could sympathize with our weaknesses and we can draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb 4:15, 16).
Maybe others have discarded you to the scrap yard. One after another people reject you as useless because you don’t meet their expectations. When others see you, they turn and walk in another direction. Yet, remember this, God never looks away. Maybe you have given up and see yourself as leftover junk. He sees what He needs to clip away that doesn’t belong. As a woodcarver, some of the best items I have carved came from wood on a scrap pile or laying in the woods rotting. Some of my best students were looked at as hopeless. Others saw an ugly flower bud, but I saw in them a beautiful rose that needed help to blossom. One difference we have that a block of marble doesn’t; we have a free will to choose. The Master is looking down on rejected people waiting for them to make a choice and allow the Holy Spirit to begin work and bring out a masterpiece. A block of rejected marble in the hands of the master became the world’s greatest sculpture; Jesus, the most rejected man in history by His peers, the nation, and the world He had created became the chief cornerstone. He came to his own people, and even they rejected him (Jn 1:11 NLT).
Sustaining Word for the Week: Are you a reject? What will you become in the Hands of the Master? He can do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us (Eph 3:10 NIV).