The Prodigal’s Brother

I’m in my fifties, and one thing I wish I’d known about God when I was a teenager is that He understands perfectly what it is like to be popular and to be unpopular. Jesus experienced both during His ministry.

When Jesus was feeding people and healing them, crowds hung on His words and followed Him from town to town. Everyone was talking about Jesus. He often had to take off on a boat or head into the wilderness to get away from the crowds and find
solitude to pray. When He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey colt, people almost literally rolled out the red carpet for Him by spreading palm branches and their own cloaks before Him, calling out, Hosanna! “Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!†(Matthew 21:9). Jesus was at the height of His popularity then, but only days later, people turned against Him, calling for His death and choosing to free a murderer, Barabbas, from a death sentence instead of Jesus (Luke 23:18-25).

Popularity can change in a moment, but God never changes. His love is everlasting. He does not judge our worth by how many likes we get on social media or our ability to hang with a certain crowd. Through Jesus’s death and resurrection, His love frees us to pursue Him and His will for our lives, instead of having to bend every which way to try to keep up with what’s trending. What a comfort to know that our Lord even understands what it feels like to be hated. Nothing we experience is beyond His understanding or empathy. No matter how popular or unpopular you are today, God knows you. He loves you. And He longs for you to be in relationship with Him through Jesus. • Ronica Stromberg

• At this moment in your life, do you feel popular, unpopular, or somewhere in between? How might it be comforting to know that Jesus experienced both?

• In John 15:18-20, what does Jesus tell His followers is the reason the world hates them?

• If you’re a follower of Jesus, you may feel out of place in some situations, and that’s okay. When you feel like this, what are some ways you could remember Jesus and rest in His comfort?

“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me [Jesus] first.†John 15:18 (NLT)

Read Verses:

Luke.15.11-Luke.15.32|Rom.14.10-Rom.14.12|Ezek.36.26|Ps.107.35