John 1:11 Commentary and Bible Study

Now it gets even worse – ‘He came unto his own’, the Jews. You have got a picture almost of somebody out in the cold weather, and there is ice on the ground, and it is freezing. And you come into your home, your own home and hearth, as the old-fashioned saying goes. And there is your family, and you should receive a smile and a welcome and warmth. This is your home, this is your people, this is the family that knows you so well. And everyone is cold and ignores you and rejects you. It cannot happen, surely? But that is the picture here.He was in the world, the icy, cold world that did not receive him and did not want to know him. So he came to the nation who he had prepared to expect him, and down through the centuries he had protected and blessed, and he had given the miracles and great prophets and teachers and wonders, and helped and blessed them, and forgiven them innumerable times. He came to his very own, ‘and his own received him not’.Why was he rejected by the Jews? Because he did not fulfil their carnal, earthly expectation. They had changed the expectation of a Messiah who would save them from their sins, to the expectation of a political Messiah who would save them from the Romans, and make them prosperous and wealthy and comfortable, and give them world attention and status, and that is what they wanted. They did not want this Saviour, who came as a poor man and preached and worked mighty miracles.He came as a Saviour but they said, ‘We do not need a Saviour; we are descendants of Abraham.’ When there was word that he would bless Gentiles, they hated that even more. ‘We trust our priests, we trust our good works, we trust our descent from Abraham.’ They did not want a Saviour; they did not want repentance. They did not want to go on their knees before God and seek mercy and forgiveness.