Attitude Toward Rejection (Rabel)

(Back) Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth The Tradition of the Elders (Next)

Matt. 10:11-14, pp. 104-106 of transcript.

Following this, Jesus makes a statement which he will repeat later. He says, “The harvest is truly plenteous but the laborers are few.” This is found in Matt. 9:37, and on P. 97 H.G., He will take up that statement again later with more elaboration and that is where we will go into it.

Now on P. 80 H.G., Jesus is giving instructions to his disciples about what they will be involved in and what they will have to put up with and what their attitudes should be when they carry on His work after He leaves them. He was preparing them for that event, and He says many things to them. I think the most significant thing He said as far as we are concerned is right in the middle of that discourse, found on Page 80 of HG, Matthew 10:11-14.

In Bible symbolism a town, village, house, tent, or any of these dwelling places always stand for an individual consciousness and the immediate environment it is manifesting or producing. In this discourse, Jesus touches on a subject which is brought out very often in Truth teachings, but is vitally important to a human being’s feeling nature: this is the truth about the experience called “being rejected” – how you handle it. It is a thing that happens to all persons. It is a universal experience on this planet, in this type of family. The experience of discovering that I am being rejected is meeting with a “no” response when I want a “yes” response. It’s feeling that I’m not getting what I deserve to get from this crowd. Rejection takes many subtle forms. Sometimes it just takes the form of not being interested; sometimes it comes in a cruel and blunt form of being kicked out. It comes in variation of forms, like having someone that we have done a lot for and have earned their love and respect, suddenly given all of that to someone else.

Now the thing that is infuriating about rejection to some Truth students is that it does not come to the best, most attractive, most deserving of persons. Nobody fit that category better than did Jesus; yet, He was rejected again and again. Even today in our own Unity movement, I have heard it said, “Who needs Jesus? I’ve got God.” Or “Don’t give me that Jesus-stuff; I had enough of that when I was a kid.” Well, really what difference does it make what you had as a child? What matters is how you relate the Truth principle now. Since the build of what we teach as Truth principles came through Jesus Christ, I cringe when I hear this disparaging or willingness to dispense with Jesus.

Jesus tells His disciples when you come into a house or village, or when you come into any kind of involvement from the most casual to the most intimate with people, one person or groups, the first thing to do is to salute the involvement you’re entering into. Salute the fact that it has happened. Salute would mean a combination of things. Be willing to go through it and look for the good. “I salute you” carries a connotation of welcoming this contact and expecting good out of it. Jesus says this is the thing you want to do first when you enter a house, a situation.

Then He says, “… and if the house be worthy …” in other words, if this involvement or relationship is worthwhile, let your peace come upon it. Up till now we don’t have any challenges; but then He throws His little bomb shell…”If it be not worthy.” In these words He says something which we had better pay heed to: every involvement you and I enter into and every relationship that we form is not always worth keeping up. There may be developments which occur that will make us decide that it is not worth it, no worth putting up with certain things which have developed here which now change the whole picture. This happens in countless relationships, specifically in many marriages; those that are wonderfully worthwhile can then take a turn of events and change of character and disposition in which it becomes a struggle that is not worth it. The same thing is true in any kind of involvement. When you are the subject of rejection, Jesus says to let your peace return unto you. In other words, if you are going to change a relationship or an involvement because you have realized it’s not worth it, do it peacefully; do not lash out, kick or scream.

Then Jesus goes a step further, into the other side of the coin. Now it is not you who have decided it’s worth it, but the other person. Jesus puts it in these words, “Whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words.” In other words, you’re in a situation now where it has been made apparent that you’re not wanted; and He says, “…as ye go forth from the house.” In other words, don’t stay around people that do not want you; don’t make yourself intrusive where you are not welcome. Go away, but do not take that condition with you, or you will find that you are not wanted where you go, either. If you do what Jesus says, you will find that any door that closes behind you will simply open up three better ones in front of you. This is if you “shake the dust off your feet” as you leave a rejection. Now, the feet in Bible symbolism are symbols of the understanding faculty. The feet are not symbols in the TP.

The dust, or debris, mentioned in the Bible represents the clinging tendency of negative emotion. This fouls up your understanding. Get rid of ill will, vengeance, and then you will have an attractive functioning of your understanding. God will then open new doors for you, and your clean feet and happy demeanor will say, “Welcome!”

Text of the original transcript from the last two paragraphs of page 104 through page 106.
Transcribed by Rev. Sherri James on September 3, 2013.