A STRANGER … AND AN ALIEN

Psalm 69 is quoted more frequently in the New Testament than any other Psalm, except for Psalm 22. It is without question a Messianic Psalm speaking to us of the suffering of the Lord Jesus. The verses in today’s reading point us to His suffering among men because of His righteousness, and because He did the Father’s will.

Isaiah 53 verse 3 says, ‘He is despised and rejected of men’. A. G. Clarke observed, ‘He becomes the object of causeless hostility on the part of countless foes’. But this rejection went further than the general population. It penetrated His human family. Prophetically, He says, ‘I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children’, v. 8. John’s gospel records, ‘For neither did his brethren believe in him’, John 7. 5.

The Lord Jesus Christ was not a mere spectator of human suffering. He experienced it personally. So Hebrews tells us, ‘For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin’, Heb. 4. 15. He knows the feeling of rejection by those from whom we naturally seek acceptance. If you are called to stand for righteousness against even your intimate circle, and face rejection, remember He stands with you and knows, experientially, what you are facing.

John writes, with pathos, ‘his own [people] received him not’, John 1.11. But, happily, John adds, ‘But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name’, John 1. 12. The subsequent spread of the gospel meant that while the Jew refused Him, in God’s purposes, the gospel went to the Gentile nations and many have received Him. Have you?

But even among professing Christians, do we reject Him? Not perhaps in the matter of salvation, but do we reject His fellowship day by day. Is there really a place in our heart for Him? Paul’s desire for the Ephesians was ‘that Christ may dwell in your hearts’, Eph. 3. 17. That is, that He may be at home. God forbid that He should ever be a stranger and an alien to us.