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Welcoming the Gospel (Mark 6:6-13)
The New Testament, especially the gospels, is a collection of witness accounts of the events surrounding the work of Jesus and the early Church. When Jesus called his disciples he had set them an example of ministry work, going around from village to village "teaching". He called them to do the same, saying, "Go into all the world and preach my gospel, or goods news". How did they know it was good news? Because they had been witnesses of his ministry and message.
In Acts 1:8 we read:
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all
Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
It is fashionable to think of this power as power to perform miracles, and certainly in our text there are clear accounts of miracles. However, this power was to equip them to witness to the world of the things they themselves had seen. Their message was that, in light of these events to which they had been witnesses, people should repent (v.12).
When Peter preached at Pentecost he witnessed that he and others had been witnesses of the fulfilment of God's promises in Christ and the response of the crowd in light if this witness was to ask,
Men and brethren, what shall we do?
To which Peter replied,
Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in
the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins (Acts 2:37-38).
Jesus' instructions to his disciples give a picture of how very important is the message to which they witnessed and the response of people to that message:
These were his instructions:
Take nothing for the journey except a staff
- no bread, no bag, no money in your belts.
It was expected that these disciples should be received with hospitality. Their message was so urgent and important that people should be glad to have provide for them because "the labourer is worthy of his hire".
Wear sandals but not an extra tunic. Whenever
you enter a house, stay there until you leave that town.
They were to be offered shelter while they worked and not made to go from house to house seeking charity. They were emissaries from the King of Kings and should be welcomed as such.
And 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.
If they received anything less than these things they were to shake the dust of that town off their feet. This was a symbolic act practiced by the Pharisees when they left an "unclean" Gentile area. It is a solemn warning against those who reject God's message brought by God's messengers, or witnesses. To reject this message was to be outside the will and favour of God and outside spiritual Israel.
How often do we pick and choose the parts of the message we accept when we hear God's word preached and taught? How often do we lack confidence in that message because so many appear to reject it when we share it plainly? The message of the gospel is the message of repentance. The same message Peter taught at Pentecost; the same message the disciples were instructed to take out into the world; the same message Jesus took from village to village. Let us not lose confidence in the message just because of the unfavourable reaction of the crowds. Rather, let us place upon it the same level of importance given it in this passage. It is a message so essential that people need to receive it with enthusiasm and hospitality.
I pray this week we will be found preaching/sharing the gospel of repentance with the expectation that there will be those who will listen and the sobering realisation that those who reject it are rejecting life.