Men and women are drawn to Jesus because there is so much he shares in common with them. The writer to the Hebrews put it like this: For we have not an high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are - yet without sin. Heb4v15.

Rejection is one of the of the hardest things to bear. I can remember being rejected for a teaching job that I applied for and also being rejected in love. On both occasions I felt desperately sick at heart.

I have just finished reading an interesting book about scientific discoveries entitled, 'Leaps in the Dark'. Ignaz Semmelweis is one of those who features in the book. In 1847 he discovered that if doctors washed their hands in a bowl of disinfectant before helping women to give birth the death rate among mothers in the Vienna Hospital was reduced by 70%. By 1865 leading obstetricians in Europe declared that hand washing was a waste of time and resources. Doctors could not bear to acknowledge that they, themselves, however unwittingly, had been responsible for their patient's deaths. Ignaz Semmelweis' great discovery was rejected. He felt rejected and it embittered him. Such was his anger and resentment at the criticism he received that he slipped into insanity.

We can be rejected by members of our family, by a friend and even by our church. I have received some e-mails lately from a man whose church membership was terminated because he preached a sermon on 'Unconditional Election'. He is understandably upset.

One of the most surprising and shocking events in the life of Jesus was his rejection by the people of Nazareth to the point where they intended to kill him. Jesus said to them: "I tell you the truth, no prophet is accepted in his home town." Lk4v24.

In the end Jesus was rejected by his own people. John wrote: He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Jn1v10. This was a fulfilment of Isaiah's prophecy: He was despised and reject by men ... despised, and we esteemed him not. Is53v3.

We will be helped to bear rejection by remembering that Jesus experienced it too. We can ask for his grace to handle rejection so that we, like him, are without sin. In the end God vindicated Jesus. Similarly, he will vindicated us if we have been rejected without due cause.