“If any household or town refuses to welcome you or listen to your message, shake its dust from your feet as you leave.” – Matthew 10:14
In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells his disciples to avoid investing a lot of time with those who are hostile toward him and his message of salvation. In no uncertain terms he says, “Shake their dust from your feet as you leave.”
The first time I read that, I thought, “Wow. This doesn’t sound like something Jesus would say.” But there it was in red letters. Those were his exact words. The sad reality is that not everyone was ready to become a follower of Christ, even those who had witnessed his miracles and experienced his kindness and mercy firsthand. And sometimes the truth of what Jesus said was considered harsh, if not outright blasphemous to some of those who listened.
“I am the bread of life,” Jesus declared one day while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. “Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” (John 6:35)
As Jesus continued speaking, some of his followers were taken aback when he said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” But this is really what got them: “This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.” (vv. 41b; 54-55)
(Forgive me for a moment of levity… we can almost envision Peter rolling his eyes and thinking to himself, “Not the ‘Eat my flesh and drink my blood’ thing again… We will never gain followers if he keeps preaching this!” )
Many of his followers walked away saying, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?” Jesus replied, “Does this offend you? Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before!” (v.61b-62) And as they left, he asked the Twelve, “You do not want to leave too, do you?” (v.67)
Jesus wasn’t harsh. But for some who were unwilling to accept him and change, his message most certainly was.
But throughout the gospel we read that Jesus is kind and approachable to everyone except the self-righteous. He’s not exclusive, he welcomes everyone. But when His Spirit is ignored and denied, there is little use in persisting to continue the conversation with those who find it impossible to believe in Him. Some people don’t yet realize that their lives are hopeless and meaningless without Christ. And unfortunately, some of those are people we love and care about the most, perhaps some who live under our very roofs.
And yet, how many of us were the same way before our own eyes became opened to the Truth? Jesus never gave up on us! So neither should we give up on someone else. The best we can do in those instances is to pray for them and be the best example of Christ that we can be, and wait for that opportunity to share Jesus with them to come around again. We never stop loving them.
And there’s another reason why Jesus said these things to his disciples. In a roundabout way I think he was saying, “Why waste hours talking to a closed-minded person who denies my existence, when you could be investing that time with someone who is open to hearing the gospel?”
Not all fruit is ripe enough for picking. But some of it is. Jesus has commissioned us to go find that fruit.
Thought for Today:
Someone shared the gospel with me and my life was changed forever. Is there someone in my life who is searching for real hope, a life of meaning and purpose? Who I can share Jesus with today?
Former Blackout Artist 