Did Jesus Ever Reject Anybody?: Twelve Instances Where Jesus Rejected, Turned Away, Left Alone, or Promised Rejection for His Audience
I’ve seen a couple church billboards saying something to the effect of “Jesus never rejected anybody. So neither do we.”
This seems to beg the question: Is that true? Did Jesus ever reject anybody? How would we know? We’d have to look at the Bible in order to find out.
For the sake of time and space, this article has been limited to just 12 case studies which examine possible instances where Jesus rejected His audience in various ways.
The following 12 instances or case studies are taken from the gospel of Matthew chapters 7-19:
- Matthew 7:21-23:
In Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount,” He talks about a day when He will tell others “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” Isn’t Jesus telling many, “Depart from me; I never knew you” indicative of rejection? Is not Jesus rejecting and ostracizing people from His presence for all eternity on their day of judgment as a result of how they lived their lives despite their claims to have known Him?
The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
–Matthew 13:41-42 NASB1995
- Matthew 8:10-13:
As Jesus heals the paralyzed servant of a Roman centurion who comes to Him with faith, He teaches that “many will come from the east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Since Jesus is the King of the kingdom of heaven, does this imply that He shall reject those “sons of the kingdom” who “will be thrown into outer darkness” where “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth?”
- Matthew 8:18-22:
Many times, when there was a large crowd desiring an audience with Jesus, Jesus sailed away from them in a boat. Is this a type of rejection? Before Jesus got into the boat in order to leave the crowd in this instance, various people expressed a desire to be with Him as His disciples.
However, Jesus told them that they would have to meet certain sacrificial requirements in order for such a commitment to be possible. Such would-be disciples made excuses or would not pay the price of commitment that Jesus demanded. Yet Jesus did not compromise on His requirement for total commitment. Is that a form of rejection?
- Matthew 10:5-6:
When Jesus sent out his twelve apostles on a ministry assignment, He instructed them to “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
Now certainly there were times when Jesus ministered to Gentiles and to Samaritans during His ministry (see John 4; Matthew 4:24; 15:21-28; etc.), yet Jesus came to bring salvation to His Jewish audience first before the Gentiles (see John 4:22; Romans 1:16).
Could such exclusivity be taken by the Gentiles as a rejection? Nevertheless, after Jesus rose from the dead, He made a way for the Gentiles to be accepted and included as members of God’s household (see Ephesians 2). Jesus expressed His desire to bless all nations and hinted at His plan in John 10:16 and elsewhere. For Gentiles who came to Him in trust, surrender, and obedience, Jesus met their needs as He healed their loved ones.
- Matthew 10:13-15:
Jesus instructed His disciples to let their “shalom” peace rest on the house of those who welcomed them hospitably into a town. Yet if no one in the town would receive them, accept them, or listen to them, then they were instructed to “shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town” to the effect that “it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.”
Sodom and Gomorrah were ancient cities that were destroyed by fire and brimstone from heaven. The proud, narcissistic residents of Sodom accused a man (Lot) of toxic judgementality when he wouldn’t grant them permission to rape his guests (see Genesis 19; Jude 1:7).
Could it be concluded that Jesus is pronouncing a sentence of rejection on the towns that reject His disciples whom He sent on assignment? See also Matthew 11:20-24; 12:41-42.
- Matthew 10:32-33:
Shortly after Jesus tells his audience to fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell in verse 28, He continues: “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”
Is not Jesus’ promise to deny whoever denies Him another way of expressing His rejection of the person who hates and rejects Him? See also Matthew 16:24-27.
“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. 38 And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. 39 He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.
–Matthew 10:37-39 NASB1995
- Matthew 12:30-32:
In this passage, Jesus says that “whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” He goes on to say that whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
In other words, those who reject the Holy Spirit’s internal witness that Jesus is the One True God to whom you must submit your entire life, beliefs, emotions, heart, behavior, habits, time, lifestyle, and destiny, then you forfeit God’s forgiveness, eternal security, and protection for your life here and for eternity. Does this not imply that Jesus rejects those who despise His commandments, ways, and leadership?
- Matthew 12:46-50; Mark 3:20-21, 31-35:
What about that time when Jesus’ family came to interrupt and to potentially “talk some sense into Him” or remove Him from ministering? Jesus responded by saying “Who are my mother and my brothers? Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”
Was this a rejection of his mother and brothers? Certainly Jesus was in no way disowning his family or permanently severing his relational ties with them. But He was setting boundaries and preventing relational enmeshment from taking place as He prioritized doing His Father’s will over what His earthly family wanted him to do.
- Matthew 13:57-58:
And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.
–Matthew 13:57-58 NASB1995
Jesus’ power to perform miracles was short-circuited by the unbelief and rejection of His audience. As reflected in an earlier parable of that chapter, the hard, unbelieving hearts of those who were “overly familiar” with Jesus could not produce miraculous, healing, or transformative results in their lives due to the “soil” of their hearts. According to the law of sowing and reaping, is rejection a spiritual principle for those who reject Jesus, His teaching, His commandments, and His ways? See also Galatians 6:7-8.
- Matthew 15:21-28:
Jesus appears to be rejecting a Gentile woman who finds Jesus and pleads with Him to deliver her daughter from a demon. However, after the woman’s faith, repentance, and submission to His Lordship is made evident, then Jesus grants her the desire of her heart. Before this passage, Jesus calls the Pharisees “hypocrites” and refers to them as “blind guides.” Is that not a form of rejection? In light of all these passages, might one arrive at the conclusion that Jesus only accepts those who give Him the honor that He deserves when they humbly submit to His teaching, commandments, and/or leadership?
- Matthew 18:5-6:
“And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; 6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.”
–Matthew 18:5-6 NASB1995
In this passage, Jesus says that entering the kingdom of heaven isn’t inevitably guaranteed for everybody on earth, but is conditional upon a person humbling himself like a child (see Matthew 18:3). It is an established spiritual principle that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (see 1 Peter 5:5; James 4:6).
Jesus tells a parable at the end of Matthew 18 that describes how His heavenly Father will deal with anybody who harbors unforgiveness by delivering him to “the torturers.” Anybody who will not get rid of all bitterness remains subject to demonic torment, depression, anxiety, and guilt, as if trapped in a spiritual prison until they learn to forgive by the power of God’s grace.
- Matthew 19:16-30:
In this passage, a rich young ruler comes to Jesus and asks him what good deed he must do to have eternal life. Jesus exposes the idolatrous motives of his heart when He invites him to sell his possessions, give to the poor in order to have treasure in heaven, and then come follow Him. Rather than rejoicing and submitting himself to Jesus’ instructions and leadership, the man walks away sad, because he had great possessions.
Is Jesus rejecting this man? He isn’t trying to negotiate with him, lower His standards, compromise, or meet the ruler on his own terms. Jesus doesn’t say, “No wait! Don’t walk away sad. I’m sure we can work something out. Just give my ministry $1,000 and donate another $1,000 to charity, and then you can go to heaven and be my follower.”
Rather, Jesus lets him walk away and seems unwilling to change His standards of kingdom citizenship regardless of whether the rich young man feels rejected or dejected.
To clarify, Jesus’ standards for entering the kingdom of heaven is not necessarily selling all one’s possessions and giving them to the poor. The only person whom Jesus told to do that was this particular rich young ruler. Jesus did so in order to reveal that money and possessions–not Jesus–was this man’s [g]od in whom he trusted.
Salvation (or entrance into God’s kingdom and family) is a free gift that comes from submitting one’s total loyalty, identity, lifestyle, heart, and intellect to Jesus’ leadership. In other words, Jesus “calls all the shots,” we obey His orders, and we adopt His perspectives, not the other way around.
How does a person experience God’s acceptance? What does it look like practically to enter into a relationship with Jesus? How can a person receive His unconditional love and acceptance?
This article provided a few case studies where Jesus rejected people, didn’t chase them down, or promised rejection to those who didn’t change their priorities concerning Jesus. For more information on what it looks like to surrender to Jesus’ leadership and to experience His acceptance, see “Four Spiritual Laws about God’s Acceptance.”