"Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town." (Matthew 10:11-15)
Why does Jesus tell them to do these things as they preach?
Here Jesus is giving specific instructions to his disciples as they went out to preach.Jesus touched upon the possibility that no one in an entire town will listen to them. During that time, as still true today, the message of love for God does not interest many. This is because most of us feel we are the most important person. We don't want to love and worship God.
Most of us want to be the master. We don't want to accept that someone else is our master.
Most might believe in God only if He serves us. So we pray to Him only when we want stuff - as if God is our servant.
Jesus' message is clear: If someone rejected those teachings, it was their loss. This is the situation with every messenger who has been empowered by God to pass on the teachings of love of God. We can accept them or not. No one is forced to turn to the Supreme Being and give their love to Him.
This is the nature of love. Love requires freedom. So the Supreme Being gave each of us the freedom to love Him or not. Those of us who chose not to love Him were sent to the physical world and given temporary physical bodies to allow us the illusion of getting away from Him and acting independently.
We can also see from his statements that Jesus was not trying to elevate his position of being everyone's “personal savior.” Jesus’ life was focused on teaching a particular message. That message was love for God.
Jesus' message is clear: If someone rejected those teachings, it was their loss. This is the situation with every messenger who has been empowered by God to pass on the teachings of love of God. We can accept them or not. No one is forced to turn to the Supreme Being and give their love to Him.
This is the nature of love. Love requires freedom. So the Supreme Being gave each of us the freedom to love Him or not. Those of us who chose not to love Him were sent to the physical world and given temporary physical bodies to allow us the illusion of getting away from Him and acting independently.
We can also see from his statements that Jesus was not trying to elevate his position of being everyone's “personal savior.” Jesus’ life was focused on teaching a particular message. That message was love for God.
What does Jesus mean by 'peace'?
Jesus says about where they choose to stay:"If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you."What does this mean?
The word "peace" here is being translated from the Greek word, εἰρήνη (eirēnē). This word means, according to the lexicon, "a state of national tranquility" but also, "peace between individuals, i.e. harmony, concord" and "the blessed state of devout and upright men after death."
Jesus was not referring to peace as in a lack of war, or fighting between people. Jesus was speaking of contentment. Fulfillment. A person at peace is not seeking more. They are complete within themselves. That is because such a person has a relationship with God. They don't need anything else.
Such a state of consciousness can be communicated to others in words or actions. When someone feels complete in their relationship with God they do not need anything else from others. They do not need to use others. They can give of themselves without reservation or the need for compensation.
This is the "peace" that Jesus tried to give to his followers, and asked them to communicate this to others with action and words.
Can Jesus' teachings save us?
From Jesus' statement, we can understand that the teachings of Jesus have the power to save us.Those empowered by councils of men - deacons, bishops and other church officials - are not given this power and authority. Why? Because a political appointment by men into a position of teacher, priest, minister, or reverend makes that person a representative of men. Not a representative of the Supreme Being.
We can see from scripture what the authorized process is. We can see that Jesus was personally baptized by John the Baptist. We can see that Jesus' disciples were personally taught by Jesus and then asked to go out and spread those teachings.
From these events we can see how empowerment actually works: It works from a foundation of relationship - devoting oneself to following the teachings of God's messenger. This is one of the key elements of Jesus' teachings.
Institutions and their officials cannot replace these personal relationships. Why? Because the Supreme Being is ultimately a person. And the Person of the Supreme Being must be introduced.
This process has been repeated over and over in the scriptures when Joshua followed Moses. When Samuel followed Eli. When David followed Samuel. And when Jesus' disciples followed Jesus.
And what is the teaching being passed on? As both Moses and Jesus taught, and every other true representative of the Supreme Being has taught, it is about having a relationship with the Supreme Being:
" 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment." (Matthew. 22:37-38 and Deuteronomy 6:5)
