There are few things worse than those who force their ideas upon us. Which of us hasn't groaned in despair as we spot a door-to-door salesman working our street, or the distinctive dark suit and rucksack of the Mormon missionaries, or the approach of the Jehovah's Witnesses towards our front door?
We know what they're going to say before they start to speak and many times we really don't want to be bothered. But we know if we show even a glimmer of interest, we're going to be stuck on our doorstep for an eternity, listening to some pre-rehearsed speech until we finally get the opportunity to interrupt and excuse ourselves.
None of us likes being pushed to make a commitment against our wishes. We don't usually mind being asked to consider something so long as it's simply that - being asked to consider - and we're free at the end to make up our own mind. But if we're put under pressure or in any way badgered into making a decision, we understandably resent it. The result of such heavy-handed attempts to elicit a response is to make most of us automatically reject any approach without even listening to what is said.
All this may help us better to understand the words of Jesus in today's reading. "Wherever they do not welcome you," says Jesus, "as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them".
Those can be difficult words to take in: they can come across as rather sharp, suggestive more of the actions of an angry child that fails to get its own way, rather than the mission instructions of a life-giving Messiah. Does Jesus really want us to stalk off if anyone refuses to listen to our message? It seems hard to believe. Scholars suggest that Jesus is actually using a familiar device of a Jewish teacher of that time; he was using the technique of dramatic exaggeration to drive home the point he wants to make. In other words, he may simply be saying that we should not waste time forcing the gospel on people who do not want to hear it. The time does occasionally come when we need to move on.
Why should Jesus say that? Surely with something as important as faith we have to persevere for however long it takes? This is where the judgment call comes in.
Experience shows that, however well-intentioned we may be, keeping on at somebody beyond a certain point may put them off for good, rather than win them over to our point of view. Is that the concern behind the words of Jesus here? Is he warning his disciples not to push for a response where they are clearly not wanted, not to spend all their time and energy trying to convert those who are either not ready for, or not interested in, what they have to say?
That would seem to be his message, not only here, but in the parable of the feast recorded in Luke 14 (16-24). A man extends invitations to a sumptuous meal, says Jesus, but one by one those invited offer excuses for not being able to come. What does he do? Ask them to reconsider? Send out copies of the menu in the hope it might make them think again? No, he invites others instead - the poor, crippled, blind and lame - and when there is room even after this he extends the offer still wider. The parable has its own agenda, being concerned primarily with the rejection of the gospel by the scribes, Pharisees and religious elite of his day. If these won't listen, says Jesus, others will. Yet the point is clear: don't impose your message on those who aren't interested; learn to let go.
There is simply no point in ramming the gospel down people's throats; we will gain nothing by it and probably achieve quite the opposite. That is not to say we should abandon any attempt whatsoever, using a fear of rejection as an excuse to evade or ignore our call to mission; but we must offer faith freely and then leave it to people to make their own decisions. All too often, people have been pressurised, even bullied, into coming to church or making a commitment - a husband or wife, perhaps, pushed by their partner; a child, anxious to please parents; a brother or sister, doing anything for the sake of peace; a friend, worn down by a well-meaning friend. More often still, people are put off for life, wanting nothing to do with a religion that tries to force them into an unwilling surrender. In this sense, I suspect over-zealous Christians may unintentionally have done more harm over the years than the under-zealous.
It seems we are called to undertake a difficult balancing act. Like so much of our faith, there are no absolutes about our call to share our faith: we have to use our judgment. We may act from the sincerest of motives, a genuine longing to see our nearest and dearest come to faith in Christ, and we may feel that if they fail to believe we have somehow failed in our responsibilities. Yet there are times when we, like the Apostles, must learn to accept that God is able to work and speak through others apart from ourselves. There can be no hard and fast rules here. Some people need to be coaxed, challenged and gently helped to make a decision, whereas others will see such coaxing and challenging as an unwelcome intrusion.
This is not to say that we abandon hope, accepting that a person will never come to faith. It may even be that another opportunity will present itself to us later, when the situation may be different and our journey through life has changed our perspectives.
The secret of mission is being sensitive not just to when we should speak but also to when we should stop! We need to recognise that though we all have a part to play in witnessing to Christ, God does not depend solely on any one of us. God works through different people in a variety of ways, and just because we cannot get through to someone doesn't mean God cannot either.
Share our faith, yes; tell of what Jesus means to us when and where the time seems right; but Jesus himself warns us not to force our views on other people or try to coerce them into becoming Christians. He even calls upon us to judge whether we are making good use of our resources of time and energy, both of which are finite.
There is perhaps one absolute that we should hold in our minds: only God knows what is going on in someone else's mind, and only God, finally, has the power to change it.
Amen.
(Philip Jones)
This
sermon was first preached in the Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester.
Click here
for further information.