Spit in my Face!

Has anyone ever spit in your face? In these “Covid days” it might actually be a crime. I’m not talking about someone that sprays when they talk, but intentionally spitting.

Years ago this issue arose (pun intended). It happened on my school bus. I sat in the driver’s seat watching the students board the bus after school. There was a line of students taking their turn to get on. Greg (about a fifth grader) was in the right front passenger seat with his window down. All at once, one of the high school girls about to board started to scream. She stepped into the bus and tried to get a hold of Greg. I stopped her. “That little brat spit in my face,” she claimed. Greg denied it. I did not see the spit leave his mouth. I saw him sitting back down from the open window. It took several days to resolve the matter. Greg finally did confess and got his “hack” (nowadays a federal crime in itself), from the principal. He also had to apologize to the girl. Justice was served.

There was no justice for Jesus the day they spit in His face. “Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others smote him with the palms of their hands” (Matthew 26:67). Following this, Peter denied Him three times. When I read this, it makes me cry. How could we do this to Him? How could we deny Him? Yes—We! Me! You! Spitters and deniers! Maybe you and I would never do it. But let me ask this, would we let the world do it to us?

The call to follow Christ is, among other things, a call to rejection. After giving three years of self-denying service, doing absolutely everything right, this world spit in His face. Peter denied Him. He couldn’t have done anything more. He was rewarded with spit, beating, a crown of thorns, mocking, and finally the cross. Truly rejected! 

Ever feel rejected? Ever give the best you have, only to be treated like dirt? Is that the time to shake the dirt off your feet and leave?

Let’s consider Paul for a moment (Acts 21-23). Paul had returned to Jerusalem from his third missionary journey. He had poured out his life to spread the Gospel. When warned not to go to Jerusalem, he said, “…I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13). Things did not go well. Instead of having Paul speak at a missionary convention, the multitude cried, “…Away with him” (Acts 21:36). In defending himself, Paul gave his testimony of how Jesus had appeared to him on the road to Damascus. What was the response? “And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said, Away with such a fellow from the earth: for it is not fit that he should live” (Acts 22:22). 

The true followers of Christ (Christians) will be rejected. It is part of the deal. The call to serve is a call to rejection. The call to witness is a call to rejection. The call to preach is a call to rejection. The world rejected Jesus. If we stand by Him, we will have to face rejection sooner or later. 

Are you still game? Many turn back at this point. I don’t want to be rejected. You don’t want to be rejected. Jesus was rejected for us. Can we be rejected for Him?

Paul was standing in fear for his life. Forty Jews had vowed to kill him (Acts 23:12), but Paul was not standing alone, “And the night following the Lord stood by him…” (Acts 23:11). He will stand by you, my friend. He will stand by me. Thank you, Jesus. With this assurance we can say, “SPIT IN MY FACE!”