Luke 10:10-12 (NIV) “But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town that sticks to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God is near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.”
One of the great teachings of Jesus is that the rejection of the messenger of Jesus is rejection of Jesus Himself, and rejection of Jesus is a rejection of God Himself (Luke 10:16). Therefore, these emissaries of the kingdom were not to take any rejection that they experienced personally.
If a town rejected these men, they were to symbolize God’s own rejection of them by shaking the dust off their feet and clothes as a witness against that town. And lest their actions be misinterpreted, they were to speak two words to the people. The first was their rejection of those who rejected their message. The second was the dire pronouncement that the kingdom of God had come near them, and they had rejected it and turned away from it. And it really was a doom that was pronounced here, not merely an attempt to shame the people into accepting the message. To consciously reject God and His message, clearly presented with signs and miracles, was to do worse than even Sodom did, who had simply disobeyed the dictates of conscience that God had placed in them.
Notice that, whether the town received the messengers of the kingdom or rejected them, the message was the same: The kingdom of God has come near. (verses 9, 11 CSB) The mere presence of emissaries of the kingdom of God, of their power, their purity, and God’s presence within them, caused people’s hearts to reveal themselves, whether they were open to God, or whether they were closed tight. And the state of their hearts would determine their destiny.
Father, it strikes me that there are very few of us, Your people, today who so obviously embody the presence, the power, the purity of Your kingdom that our very presence lays open the hearts of those with whom we come into contact. Oh, Lord, we so need that; we so need to consciously embody the presence of Jesus, so that our lives are living testamonies of who You are, and of what You can do in a life. Do whatever work You need to do in my own heart to make me like Jesus, to fill me to overflowing with Your Holy Spirit, and to help me embody Your kingdom every day. Amen.