Luke 9:58
Introduction: In our text, Jesus is not speaking of Him living in poverty, but He is speaking of His lack of normal necessities for living such as companionship and acceptance into His society.
Jesus clearly is teaching His disciples and us, that to live Godly will bring persecution and oftentimes rejection upon oneself.
Let us see how Jesus was persecuted, rejected, and find Him to be the destitute One.
How was Jesus persecuted?
1. Jesus was persecuted by His lack of Acceptance.
A. In John 1:11-12, Jesus was not accepted by His own people, but those who will believe in Him will become the children of God.
B. In Luke 4:16-29, Jesus was not even accepted by the people of His own home town of Nazareth.
C. In Matthew 26:57-66, the Jewish leaders brought Jesus unto the high priest Caiaphas to question Him, and they fully rejected Him since they even sought false witnesses against Jesus to have Him declared guilty.
D. In Mark 14:27-29, Jesus foretold the time when the disciples would lose faith in Him and flee from His presence. In Matthew 26:56, the prediction of Jesus that the disciples would forsake Him was fulfilled as Jesus would be seized in the Garden of Gethsemane.
2. Jesus was persecuted by the lack of His Receptance.
A. In our text, Jesus did not mean that He had no substance with which to live on. As the scriptures make clear in John 13:29, Jesus and His disciples had a small treasury or bag of money in order to buy food. in John 4:8, while Jesus ministered to the woman in Sychar, the disciples had gone to buy food. This lets you know that they did have some substance or means to buy what they needed.
B. Jesus did mean that when He came to the various cities abroad, He was not invited to stay in the homes of those who heard Him. Customarily, someone in His position of prominence would have been invited to stay in one of the city homes. An example would have been the wise men that came seeking for the Christ child to worship. In Matthew 2:7-8, 12, Herod would have invited them to eat with him and even stay in a prepared place before sending them the next day to find and report the child's whereabouts. God warned them in a dream to depart back to their home countries rather than return and dwell with Herod after finding the Christ child.
C. In the Bible, examples of Jesus being received are limited. In Luke 10:38, Martha and Mary received Him into their home, and in Matthew 8:14, Peter had Jesus in his house. Other examples where Jesus is seen in a home are not because He was invited out of respect, but where He invited Himself or was a spectacle for public scrutiny. So was He in the house of Zacchaeus in Luke 19, and Simon the Pharisee in Luke 7.
D. Jesus was rejected to the extent that even when He would go forth and do great things, He was not received well. In Luke 8:26-37, Jesus cast out a demon named Legion in Gadara and the towns people came and asked that He leave.
3. Jesus was persecuted by a lack of Understanding.
A. In John 15:18-21, Jesus told the disciples to expect to be persecuted, since he first was persecuted for His ministry.
B. In Matthew 5:10, Jesus taught that persecution on Earth, will produce blessings in Heaven.
C. In II Timothy 3:12, Paul told Timothy that a Godly lifestyle would draw persecution from a word of ungodliness.
Conclusion: As you see, Jesus was the destitute One when it came to companionship. Jesus was not accepted nor received by those who should have trusted Him most. What about you, are you willing to be persecuted for your faith in Jesus Christ? Understand that you too will be rejected for Jesus' sake.
The End.
