“And they went to another village.” Luke 9:56
If you were invited for lunch at a friend’s house and, because you were still sitting there at 10.30pm, one of your friends excused themselves, got up, went upstairs and reappeared in their pyjamas, with a teddy bear in one hand and an alarm clock in the other, said goodnight and went to bed, you would know you had simply overstayed your welcome and it was time to leave. But when Yeshua told the disciples to go and preach the gospel, He said if they went somewhere they were shunned and not welcomed, they should shake the dust from their feet and move on to the next town. That is a different situation. When James and John saw the Samaritans did not welcome Yeshua into their village, they wanted to call fire down from heaven to destroy them (Luke 9:53-56). Yeshua said no, and so they carried on to the next town on their way up to Jerusalem. Yeshua knew there was no need to call fire down on people; time would prove He was the Messiah, so He just, in a sense, kicked the dust from His feet and moved on with His life and mission.
Sometimes you may feel rejected, personally or because of your beliefs. Sometimes “your face (just) does not fit”, to quote today’s terminology. You may feel hurt, betrayed, even humiliated. But sometimes you just have to swallow your pride, accept the hard fact of life that you are no longer accepted in the picture others have of their future, accept the fact that you no longer fit in with those you thought you did. That is when you need to refrain from cursing those who now reject you, kick the dust from your feet, and walk away from them in order to meet those who will rejoice with and welcome you. Do not stay where you are tolerated – go where you are celebrated.