View source for Rachel Weeping - The Pain of Rejection

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'''Theological Proposition/Focus: Though Christ came as Savior, His coming was met with rejection and hostility by some — a foreshadowing of the cross.'''

'''Christ Focus:'''

'''Homiletical Proposition/Application:'''

=Introduction=

==Image:==

==Need:==

We live in a world where hope often feels fragile. We watch suffering unfold, we experience loss, and we sometimes wonder whether God truly sees, remembers, or intends good for His people. Israel wondered the same. Shortly after the birth of Christ, Herod slaughtered children in Bethlehem, and I am sure the families of Bethlehem wondered the same as tragedy struck. And yet, Scripture reveals that even in grief, God is quietly and faithfully moving His redemption plan toward its glorious conclusion.

==Preview:==

Today we will look at two connected passages — [https://ref.ly/Je31 Jeremiah 31] and [https://ref.ly/Mt2 Matthew 2] — and we will discover that God's promises hold firm even when life feels broken. In [https://ref.ly/Je31 Jeremiah 31] we see the pain of loss, the promise of restoration, and the unveiling of a New Covenant that brings real hope. And in [https://ref.ly/Mt2 Matthew 2] we see how that promise begins to unfold through the life of Christ. 

We will walk through three movements in [https://ref.ly/Je31 Jeremiah 31]:

1. The Pain of Loss (vv. 15-17)
2. The Promise of a New Covenant (vv. 31-33)
3. The Hope of Full Forgiveness (v. 34)

Each passage will reveal one great truth: "God is willing to be rejected so that you can be restored."

==Text:== [https://ref.ly/Je31.15-17 Jeremiah 31:15-17], [https://ref.ly/Mt2.16-18 Matthew 2:16-18], [https://ref.ly/Je31.31-34 Jeremiah 31:31-34] read with each main point.

==Setting the Stage:==

[https://ref.ly/Je31.2-40 Jeremiah 31:2-40] stands as one of the most significant restoration passages in the entire Old Testament. Written to a people who were devastated, displaced, and spiritually discouraged, this chapter lifts Israel's eyes beyond judgment to a future filled with comfort and hope.

Jeremiah paints a sweeping picture of what God will one day do:

* National restoration: God will gather Israel and Judah back to their land.
* Emotional and spiritual renewal: sorrow will give way to joy, fear to peace, wandering to returning.
* Material blessing: vineyards planted, cities rebuilt, families thriving again.
* Universal reach: no one is too scattered, too wounded, or too insignificant for God to restore.
* A New Covenant: unlike the Mosaic Covenant — which Israel broke — this new covenant would be internal, written on hearts rather than stone tablets. God would give His people the inner capacity to obey, the intimate knowledge of His character, and the complete forgiveness of sin.

This New Covenant finds its fulfillment in Christ's substitutionary sacrifice and will reach its fullest expression in the coming kingdom of Christ. Even now, the church shares in its spiritual blessings as those united to the risen Christ.

But tucked right into the middle of this grand chapter — almost like a small but piercing lament — is a single verse of deep grief:

"A voice is heard in Ramah,  
mourning and great weeping,  
Rachel weeping for her children  
and refusing to be comforted,  
because they are no more."  
— [https://ref.ly/Je31.15 Jeremiah 31:15]

It is only one verse, yet it echoes through centuries. Matthew quotes it again in the account of Herod's slaughter of the infants — a tragic moment that seems completely out of place in God's redemptive story.

And that's the point.

This small prophecy is a window into something much bigger:  
the way God weaves sorrow into the unfolding of salvation, the way He works even in rejection, and the way He brings hope where none seems possible.

Today, as we look at Jeremiah and Matthew side by side, we will see how God turns tears into hope, how Christ fulfills what Israel longed for, and how the New Covenant offers us joy, confidence, and full forgiveness.

=Body=

==God's people are not spared from suffering and rejection ([https://ref.ly/Je31.15-17 Jeremiah 31:15-17]).==

===Israel is proof that there are times when God's people suffer immensely.===

Imagine what it would feel like to watch the nation you call home fall into the hands of an enemy regime. Imagine being told you must leave because this conquering power has decided that no one gets to stay, that everyone must be uprooted. Imagine being marched as captives into a foreign land, escorted by soldiers, watching the smoke of your city rise behind you in the distance.

This was the misery God's people experienced. We must understand that any promise of hope, prosperity, and deliverance would have been heard through the lens of a displaced people who had seen their homes destroyed by an invading army.

Jeremiah paints this vivid picture. "Ramah" was the city where Judean exiles were gathered before being deported to Babylon. Five miles north of Jerusalem, in the territory of Benjamin, this became the last place in the promised land many saw before being taken away.

He describes "Rachel," the favored wife of Jacob and mother of Joseph and Benjamin, weeping. Any parent of a rebellious child can relate. Judah, time and time again, chose idolatry over God, and now the consequences had arrived. Rachel is depicted as "unconsolable."

The reality we must grasp is that God's people do suffer. We face rejection, sorrow, and hardship. It happens. We will look at the prophetic nature of this passage in a moment, but for now I want us to simply sit in the reality of suffering and acknowledge that Scripture makes room for lament.

===But God is faithful and promises to care for His people.===

Verse 16 is a beautiful follow-up. Suffering is real — but there is hope. God calls His people to restrain their weeping and their tears. In this specific context, the repentance that would come in Babylon would eventually lead to restoration.

Even in suffering, God cares.  
Even in pain, God is near.  
Even when all hope feels lost, God is still caring for His people.

So God's answer to the people is to restrain themselves. I know, it is a hard answer, but this is what God tells the people. Stop crying and hold it together for now. It is going to get better.

Here God promises that Israel will return from exile.

===In fact, God promises that He will restore His people.===

In 538 BCE, a first group of Judeans, led by Zerubbabel, returned and began rebuilding the Second Temple. Additional groups followed. In 458 BCE, Ezra led a second group focused on spiritual renewal, and later Nehemiah led a third wave to rebuild Jerusalem's walls.

But here is the thing: while there was "partial" fulfillment, the restoration was not complete. If you read the fuller Scriptural witness about Israel's restoration, it becomes clear that although the people returned, the promises pointed to something greater — something still unfolding. We will talk more about that shortly. But before we do, I want to pause and reflect on suffering among God's people.

Life is hard. We need to learn to sit in that hardness, to lament, and to cling to hope.

===Image: The holidays are in fact a very hard time for many people.===

Have you ever heard the phrase "Holiday Blues"? It's a real phenomenon. For many, the holidays bring a mix of joy and stress — but still joy. For others, especially those already struggling with their mental health, the holidays can intensify pain.

According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, among people already struggling, "75% report that the holidays contribute to feeling sad or dissatisfied." Why? Several reasons:

* Many experience loneliness or grieve a loved one who has passed or is no longer in their life.
* 63% report feeling too much pressure.
* 57% say unrealistic expectations make things worse.
* Positive memories from the past can become painful reminders of what once was.

Why talk about this? Because you may be here today thinking, "Everyone seems so happy, and I'm not." If that's you, I want you to know: you are not alone. Truly — not alone. Others here feel the same way. But even more than that, "God knows your pain." We will talk more about that in a moment.

===MTR: As you wrestle with life, remember there is hope!===

In the midst of life's struggles, we must keep hope in view. Jeremiah wasn't writing to a people who were comfortable, settled, or thriving. He was writing to a people who felt abandoned, uprooted, and unsure of their future. And yet God spoke "hope" into that moment. Not hope built on circumstances changing immediately, but hope rooted in who God is.

Hope is not pretending everything is fine. Hope is trusting that God is faithful even when everything is "not" fine.

Hope means believing that the God who saw Israel's tears sees yours.  
Hope means trusting that exile is not the final chapter.  
Hope means remembering that God's promises are not undone by your pain.

And this is the heart of the message in [https://ref.ly/Je31 Jeremiah 31]: "your weeping is not the end of the story." God has a future for His people — even when they cannot imagine it.

So as you wrestle with life, as you sit in seasons of grief or confusion, remember:  
God has not forgotten you. God has not abandoned you. God still holds your story. And in Him, there is real hope.

==God does not spare Himself from rejection ([https://ref.ly/Mt2.16-18 Matthew 2:16-18]).==

===Herod, the King of Judea, rejected God.===

You may recall the story. Herod, upon hearing the phrase "King of the Jews," took it upon himself to investigate the identity of this newborn Jesus. Herod attempted to manipulate the wise men so he could locate and kill the child. But the wise men were warned in a dream, and Joseph likewise was told by God that he must take Mary and Jesus and flee to Egypt because Herod was seeking the child's life.

Think about it: you are poor, you have a young child, and in the middle of the night God tells you to pack what little you own and flee your country. That is complete upheaval — complete rejection. But it wasn't ultimately rejection of Mary and Joseph; it was rejection of "God."

Have you ever considered how shocking Herod's actions are? He takes Scripture, searches the Scriptures for where the Messiah would be born, receives that revelation — and then uses that information to attempt to murder God's promised One. This is ultimate rebellion and ultimate rejection. Herod's heart is so hardened that he proceeds without conscience, slaughtering every boy in Bethlehem and the surrounding region.

God truly knows what it means to be rejected.

===And with God, rejection does not catch Him by surprise.===

In [https://ref.ly/Mt2.16-18 Matthew 2:16-18] we see a striking statement. Matthew takes [https://ref.ly/Je31.15 Jeremiah 31:15] and shows us that what occurred in Bethlehem was not only a historical event, but also a prophetic echo of something God had already woven into His redemptive story. Matthew uses the word "ἀπληρωθῆ" ("fulfilled"), signaling that the slaughter of the children was not random but part of a larger fulfillment — a pattern that Scripture had anticipated long before.

God was not surprised by the rejection Jesus faced. It was foreseen. It was foretold. It was woven into the very fabric of redemption.

And here is something we need to recognize: God was not scrambling to figure out what to do when Herod rejected Jesus. God had already planned every detail. Nothing happened outside His knowledge or control.

We must realize that our suffering — our rejection — is never a surprise to God. He is never caught off guard. The pain of Bethlehem was not an interruption of God's plan but part of a prophetic pattern demonstrating that God brings restoration out of tragedy. If God was not surprised by the sorrow that surrounded Jesus' birth, then He is certainly not surprised by the sorrows in "your" life either.

===But God still allows rejection.===

Most of us will do almost anything to avoid rejection and the pain that comes with it. If we knew a certain choice or action would lead to rejection, we would simply avoid it. Yet Matthew tells us that Herod's actions "fulfilled" what was spoken by Jeremiah. This reminds us that God knew He would be rejected — and "He still came."

He came in love.  
He came knowing the cost.  
He came understanding that rejection was part of the road that would lead to our salvation.

And here's what we often overlook: "God uses rejection." In the life of a believer, rejection builds dependence, humility, courage, and clarity of calling. As you weather the storms of rejection and learn to lean on God, you begin to realize that you truly can trust Him in the midst of it.

God allows rejection — and even uses it. Rejection refines us, clarifies our identity, and draws us deeper into the heart of Christ, the One who was rejected for our sake. If Jesus faced rejection on the road to redeeming the world, then we should not be discouraged when we face it while walking faithfully with Him.

===Image: Rejection does not mean the end.===

I have heard stories — unverified but widely told — of people who experienced rejection before extraordinary success:

* Walt Disney: Fired for lacking imagination; went bankrupt before building Disneyland.
* Steven Spielberg: Rejected from film school multiple times.
* Colonel Sanders: Rejected over 1,000 times before someone finally backed his chicken recipe.
* Elvis Presley: Told he was "not going anywhere."
* Thomas Edison: Labeled "too stupid to learn anything," yet eventually invented the lightbulb after thousands of failed attempts.
* John Grisham: His first book was rejected 28 times.

Rejection is part of life. But in God's hands, rejection becomes a tool — a hammer He uses to build something greater. In fact, rejection was the tool God ultimately used to secure our salvation through Jesus on the cross.

===MTR: Step out and act without fear of rejection but rather with confidence in God's plan.===

Summary:

God's people are not spared from suffering, and God Himself did not spare Himself from rejection. Israel wept in exile. Rachel cried out in Ramah. Families in Bethlehem mourned unthinkable loss. And Jesus — the Savior of the world — entered a story marked by hostility from the very beginning. None of this surprised God. Rejection was woven into the pattern of redemption, and God used it as part of His saving work.

Because God knows rejection, understands rejection, and even uses rejection, you can trust Him in yours.

Explicit Action:

This week, take one faithful step — big or small — that you have been avoiding because of fear of rejection. It may be reaching out to someone, forgiving someone, inviting someone, apologizing, sharing your faith, or stepping into a calling God has placed on your heart. Take that step not with confidence in yourself, but with confidence that the God who faced rejection for you walks into that moment with you.

You don't have to fear rejection when you are held by the God who redeems it.

==But there is hope ([https://ref.ly/Je31.31-34 Jeremiah 31:31-34])==

We began today in [https://ref.ly/Je31 Jeremiah 31], and I want us to return there — this time to the end of the chapter — to see the deep and lasting hope we have in Christ.

One of the most significant themes in the Old Testament is the theme of "God's covenant" with Israel. The Mosaic Covenant, forged on Mount Sinai, promised blessing if Israel obeyed and judgment if Israel disobeyed. It was a covenant made with a specific people in a specific land. Their ongoing blessing depended entirely on their obedience.

And, of course, we know what happened. Israel failed time and time again, refusing to obey God. Eventually, God carried out the judgment He had promised and exiled the people from the land.

In [https://ref.ly/Je31.15-17 Jeremiah 31:15-17], God told the people to stop weeping because one day He would restore them to their land. But if we jump ahead to verse 31, we discover an even greater promise. God would not only restore His people physically; "He would make a New Covenant — one in which His people would finally be able to experience His blessings in full."

===The New Covenant promised by God is written on the heart (31-33).===

Notice a few key details about this promised covenant.

First, this covenant is made "with the house of Israel and the house of Judah." It remains a covenant promised directly to God's chosen people.

Second, unlike the Mosaic Covenant — recorded in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy — this covenant is "internalized." God says He will write His law on the hearts of His people. Rather than merely giving commands from the outside, God promises an inner transformation. In the New Testament, we learn that this work is accomplished by the "indwelling Holy Spirit," who empowers obedience from within.

Third, this covenant defines the relationship between God and His people: "I will be their God, and they will be my people." It is a covenant of belonging and identity.

Now, it's important to say clearly that Jeremiah names the covenant partners: Israel and Judah. However, we will see that this covenant has profound implications for us as followers of Christ today.

===The New Covenant while with Israel has blessings for you and me today.===

Imagine this: you marry a prince. The king decides to honor the prince with a massive celebration. The party is technically "for" the prince — but because you belong to him, "you get to enjoy the feast, the joy, and the benefits of the king's favor."

That's a picture of the New Covenant.

Christ, the true Son, secured the New Covenant on behalf of Israel. And because we—the church—are united to Christ as His bride, we share in the blessings He earned. The New Covenant was inaugurated at Christ's death ([https://ref.ly/Mt26.27-28 Matt. 26:27-28]; [https://ref.ly/Lk22.20 Luke 22:20]), and through union with Christ, we participate in many of the spiritual blessings promised to Israel ([https://ref.ly/Ro11.11-27 Rom. 11:11-27]; [https://ref.ly/Eph2.11-22 Eph. 2:11-22]), including those attributed to the New Covenant ([https://ref.ly/2Co3.6 2 Cor. 3:6]; [https://ref.ly/Heb8.6-13 Heb. 8:6-13]; [https://ref.ly/Heb9.15 Heb. 9:15]; [https://ref.ly/Heb12.22-24 Heb. 12:22-24]). <ref>Charles H. Dyer, "Jeremiah," in ''The Bible Knowledge Commentary, ed. Walvoord and Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 1172.</ref>

And consider this beautiful connection: at Sinai, Israel was called to be a "kingdom of priests" who would teach the nations about the true God. Israel failed in that mission. But in [https://ref.ly/Je31.34 Jeremiah 31:34] we read, "No longer will they teach their neighbor… because they will all know me."

Why? Because under the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit works in the heart of every believer — Jew or Gentile — and brings them into a genuine, personal knowledge of God. Israel struggled to teach their neighbors about God. Now, through Christ, "Israel's neighbors can personally know God."

===The ultimate blessing of the New Covenant secured through Christ is forgiveness.===

This is where it all comes together.

At the end of verse 34, God declares: "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

The exile was devastating. Herod's slaughter was horrific. Yet both events, along with countless others in the life of Christ, served to move God's redemptive plan toward its ultimate moment: "the cross."

In the Upper Room, during the first celebration of the Lord's Supper, Jesus announced the New Covenant in His blood. And on the cross, Jesus paid the price for sin once and for all. That is where the New Covenant was inaugurated.

This is the hope Jeremiah pointed toward — hope ultimately fulfilled in Christ.

===MTR: Make sure you are benefiting from God's willingness to be rejected by accepting Jesus as Savior.===

Summary:

God's people knew sorrow, exile, and rejection. Christ Himself entered a world marked by hostility and rejection from the start. Yet through His rejection — culminating in the cross — He secured the New Covenant, a covenant offering forgiveness, transformation, and a genuine relationship with God. That is our hope.

Action:

If you have never trusted Christ, trust Him today. Receive the forgiveness He secured through His rejection. And if you have trusted Him, live daily in the blessings of the New Covenant — walk by the Spirit, pursue obedience from the heart, and rest in the confidence that God remembers your sin no more.

[[Category:Sermons]]