Next Play

If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.

- Matthew 10:14

The gospel.  What is it? For the disciples at this point in time, it was the message that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. They were given authority to back it up with signs of healing and deliverance.  But he warned them - that they would not always be received, in spite of what they had to offer.

Have you ever communicated the gospel, only to be rebuffed or blown off?  What was your reaction? Jesus' instructions enabled the disciples to "test the waters".  "Let your peace be on the place you enter."  In Hebrew, a traditional greeting is kinetic in nature: "Shalom aleichem", meaning peace be upon you.  If it is not received, let it return to you.

How then did Jesus encourage his disciples to react when they were rebuffed? They were to let their peace return to them, and in peace shake off the dust and move on.  Shaking off the dust, in peace, basically means don't let the rejection get on you; let the rebuff be like water off a duck's back.

In football, if a cornerback gets beat they can't afford to let it effect them; they' got the rest of the game ahead of them, and if they keep thinking about how they got beat that rest of the game will be like Nightmare on Elm Street!  They must be focused on the next play.

In the same way, we need to remain in peace and move on to the next opportunity to communicate the kingdom of heaven.  We must be focused on the next play. 

The stakes are too high not to remain at peace.