John 1:9-13 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Have you ever been rejected? pushed aside? not welcomed? not wanted in a room? Imagine how that feels. Now imagine - you belong to a people… and those people dont recieve you.

verse 9-

Jesus came to a land which was peculiarly God’s land and a people who were peculiarly God’s people. He ought, therefore, to have been coming to a nation that would welcome him with open arms; the door should have been wide open for him; he should have been welcomed like a traveller coming home; or, even more, like a king coming to his own—but he was rejected. He was received with hate and not with adoration.

John says that the word came to his own home and his own people gave him no welcome. What does he mean by that? He means that when God’s word entered this world, he did not come to Rome or to Greece or to Egypt or to the eastern empires. He came to Palestine; Palestine was specially God’s land, and the Jews were specially God’s people. The very titles by which the Old Testament calls the land and the people show that. Palestine is repeatedly called the holy land (Zechariah 2:12; 2 Maccabees 1:7; Wisdom 12:3). It is called the Lord’s land; God speaks of it as his land (Hosea 9:3; Jeremiah 2:7, 16:18; Leviticus 25:23). The Jewish nation is called God’s own treasured possession (Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 7:6, 14:2; Psalm 135:4). The Jews are called God’s treasured people (Deuteronomy 26:18). They are called the Lord’s own portion (Deuteronomy 32:9).

God is preparing every man and woman and child in this world for some task that he has in store for them. A novelist tells of a girl who refused to touch anything unpleasant or dirty. When she was asked why, she said: ‘Some day something fine is going to come into my life, and I want to be ready for it.’ The tragedy is that so many people refuse the task God has for them.

There is all the pathos in the world in the simple saying: ‘He came to his own home—and his own people gave him no welcome.’ It happened to Jesus long ago—and it is still happening.

CHILDREN OF GOD

NOT everyone rejected Jesus when he came. there were those who did receive him, and to them Jesus gave the right to become Children of GOD.