Rejection turns Jesus away from a village, but not back from his mission, and not against the people who refused him.
Snapshot: We start where Luke starts the journey. Jesus fixes his sights on Jerusalem. In Luke’s own words he set his face to go there, and almost at once he gets turned away. A Samaritan village will not receive him. James and John are ready to torch the place, like Elijah calling down fire in 2 Kings 1 and Jesus rebukes them. And then verse 56 tells the whole story in a handful of quiet words. They went on to another village. Turned away but not turned back and not turned bitter. When the culture turns us away, and it will, we don’t turn back and we don’t call down fire. We keep our sights set, and we keep loving.