Who's Jesus Talking About?

If any place will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave, as a testimony against them.
--Mark 6:11

Shake the dust off your feet and leave?

~~~You mean we don't stay forever trying to convince them?

Isn't that what we try to do. A pastor friend who was in a difficult situation DID stay and- after several years of threats and problems- did manage to survive and the church grew. Another pastor friend of mine DID stay and- after several years of conflict and problems- it only got worse. He left a defeated and saddened individual. Neither shook the dust off their feet. Both paid a heavy price while it was going on. One still is paying the price many years later.

But you know, I don't think that's the issue. There's something far more important to look at here, especially once I realized that this comes IMMEDIATELY after the story of Jesus being run out of Nazareth on a rail. He has just shown the way to handle it.

Dylan's Lectionary Blog put this into perspective:

Jesus not only ruled out retaliation against those who chased his followers out of town; he also sent his followers out with no bread, no bag, no money, no outer tunic. No tunic meant that sleeping outdoors was not an option; no bag meant that they wouldn't be able to collect enough in one place to survive on their own in another. In other words, Jesus lived out and passed on to his disciples not just engagement, but vulnerability. They were to go to people they didn't know and rely on them day by day for food and shelter from the elements.

That's radical dependence on God. I don't mean by that that Jesus or his followers were sure that everything was going to be OK by conventional reckonings. Jesus didn't promise safety -- especially not in the sense of static self-preservation. That's not God's job. God wants something better for us.

The whole section is a reminder of that radical dependence on God- even the fact that some will - or will not - listen to what's being said. As said above, Jesus didn't promise safety. Wow, does that go against the grain of modern Christian preaching. At least not the safety that we think of. He knew he couldn't promise it because there were going to be those who oppose what you say and do. The powers of evil, obviously. But also those stuck in the power of guarding the institutional gates and styles. Those stuck in the power of the wealth and success gospel. Those stuck in their own issues and problems and unwilling to listen to another way.

Oh, so who is it that's going to run us out of town or not pay any attention to us?

People like you and me who are stuck and don't know it or don't want to change or are just plain to comfortable with the way things are. May I be careful to not be the one to push away a disciple truly preaching and living the Word.