So why did the crowd reject Jesus? There are two reasons why they rejected Him, and these are the exact same reasons why people today continue rejecting Him. I believe that by going over this it will help us understand why people reject the gospel message we proclaim. It will also encourage us to persevere in times of rejection…
The first reason is that they are disappointed in Jesus. They expect Him to do something or be someone He isn’t. Let me explain… The Jewish people back in Jesus’ day were being oppressed under the Roman Government; the Jews hated being ruled by pagan Romans. They loathed paying taxes to support the despised government and their gods. Most of the Roman authorities who had to settle Jewish disputes hated the Jews in return. The time was ripe for a rebellion. So their idea of the Messiah was someone who would uprise against and defeat Rome. They wanted to be liberated. Do you know why they called Jesus the Son of David? It was because David was a great warrior, and their view of Messiah fit their picture of “the son of King David, the great warrior” perfectly.
I always thought how interesting it was that just five days before the Crucifixion, the same crowd of people hailed Him as King, yelling “Hosanna” (which by the way means “save us”; a cry for help). But when they discovered Jesus was more concerned with their salvation – that He wasn’t an earthly conqueror – they turned on him, became a mob mentality and yelled “Crucify Him!” Simply put, Jesus didn’t meet their expectations. They didn’t want a king that says, “You need to address the sin in your life,” or ”You need to be obedient to me.” And to a lot of people today… same thing. Jesus is just not what they’re looking for. They want Christ to give them what they want; maybe they prayed some sort of prayer or made a profession of faith because they wanted Him to take away their depression or feelings of anxiety, heal a broken marriage, heal their bodies, etc… they want Him to fix some kind of problem. When He doesn’t do it, they walk away. They had a need for immediate satisfaction – not salvation, and when they didn’t get it – “Who needs this Christianity stuff?” They want a god to make them feel good, but it has to be on their terms.
Oh yes, there are many false teachers out there who will tell people what they want to hear… they will spout all kinds of rotten doctrine… they will water down the gospel to make it more attractive and palatable. Beware. If you don’t know the Truth, you will fall for anything.
The second reason is simply fear of the disappointment of authorities or peers. The Religious leaders back in Jesus’ day put fear into the hearts of the people. Same thing happens today…Think about families that disown members when they take a stand for Jesus. I can also remember times when people have said to me, “Well so and so has been doing this for years, so they can’t be wrong.” The fact is that some just go along with the crowd and don’t think for themselves (what other people think is not necessarily a good measure of truth). The words of Jesus teach us to think for ourselves and not to be intimidated by anyone. Think for yourself or you will fall into mob mentality.
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