Getting past rejection

Good News ReflectionMonday of the 22nd Week in Ordinary TimeAugust 31, 2009
Today's Readings:1 Thes 4:13-18Ps 96:1, 3-5, 11-13Luke 4:16-30http://www.usccb.org/nab/083109.shtmlUSCCB Podcast of the Readings:http://ccc.usccb.org/cccradio/NABPodcasts/09_08_31.mp3
Getting past rejection
The scripture from Isaiah that Jesus read in today's Gospel passage is very near and dear to my own heart. Back in 1989 at my first public speaking engagement, the parish leader who had invited me to evangelize his youth group gave me THIS scripture to read during the opening prayer. And he knew nothing about my lack of experience.
I felt humbled and honored that God our Father would choose to start my public ministry with the same scripture that he gave Jesus to read at the start of his ministry. Thankfully, my beginnings were much easier than Christ's: He was immediately rejected, I was appreciated. Maybe that's because I wasn't speaking at my own church – my Nazareth – and therefore nobody had pre-conceived notions about my abilities.
That came later.
If spiritual growth is important to us, we never stay the same. Yet, people judge us by the past. If today we do the works of the Lord that in the past we had been unready to do, it's "outside the box" of what others assume we can and cannot do. So they reject us or misunderstand us or try to handle us the way we no longer need to be handled.
What did Jesus do about this problem? He walked away from it. He never tried to force the Nazarenes to accept him as the Messiah. Certainly he was saddened by their rejection, but he moved on. He went to places where doors of opportunity opened for him, where he was free to share what he could give, where his gifts and talents could shine – in other words, where he could make a difference because hearts were responsive to him.
If it's the people in your home who are rejecting you, God's not going to ask you to shirk your responsibilities and leave them (unless they're dangerously abusing you), but it is necessary that you find a place, a community, a prayer group, or a new circle of friends where you are free to be whom the Lord knows you to be. There are others who believe the way you do, who share the same faith, and who appreciate the gifts and talents and wisdom you can offer.
We should not fear rejection; we should expect it and walk right through it, just like Jesus did. If we run away because it hurts, we go backwards or off in the wrong direction, away from God's plans. But if we take hold of Jesus' hand and walk confidently and quietly through the midst of our oppressors to the places where we're accepted, we find ourselves in places where God can work through us powerfully.
No one can thwart what God wants to do through you to make a difference in the world. What seems like a roadblock becomes merely a stepping stone to a new opportunity to serve the Lord with your unique and valuable gifts, talents and wisdom.
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