Shaking the dust from their feet

If anyone knows me even in the slightest, you know that I love understanding things contextually in scripture. It's funny because I never liked history growing up... but I love it now.  There is much truth in history... understanding it (especially in scripture) helps us to grow in wisdom and not repeat it.

I was very interested and my curious mind was grabbed by the statement in Acts 13:51 which says, "So they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them, and went to Iconium."

This is in reference to the Jews reaction to Paul and Barnabas sharing with the Gentiles (non-Jews/Greeks) that the salvation of Christ was even for them!  The Jews were going to have nothing of the sort!  So they stirred up people to persecute the two guys and drove them out of their region.  Their response to the persecution?  They moved on and shook the dust off their feet as they left.

My first thought was, "I must know more about this shaking of the feet business!" I assumed that it resembled the same action of when a dog goes to the bathroom and does that little feet movement where they are basically saying "I'm finished!" or when a person wipes their feet behind them which says, "Moving on!"  And that's kind of what it means...

Feet/Shoes are super important in the Bible.  It's interesting, really.  Did a little research... when you were punished in Hebrew culture they took away your shoes.  When you were mourning the death of someone, David went barefoot (most people did).  If you didn't go barefoot, they put stones in the bottom of your sandals so that you remembered that you were mourning.

Just some fun facts to build my case that this incident has meaning just the same: This was the response that Jesus taught the disciples to have when a group of people rejected them/the Good News (Luke 9:5, Luke 10:11, Mark 6:11, Matthew 10:14) because it symbolized that where they just walked was "unclean" and it also means that they aren't just rejecting man, but Jesus and the Father, too (Luke 10:16, Mark 9:37).

I wonder if the Jewish people knew what this meant?  Or if they even cared?

I think what bothers me about this passage is that it is referring to the Jews--God's chosen people--who knew the law and had a significant part in the scriptures.  And this wasn't the first time they were confronted with Jesus, the Good News or the apostles.  I thought, "Wow, they are so ignorant.  They blew it now."

Then, I asked myself this question, "Have any of my thoughts and/or actions ever warranted someone shaking the dust off of their feet?"  Have I ever thought my ways were so right but they were so far off from the Good News of Jesus?  Or have I ever been so selfish/ignorant/tangled up in legality that my actions do not reflect/represent the love movement Jesus is bring to the world?

Has any non-Christian or Christian ever shaken the dust off their feet after being in my presence?

Before I jump to conclusions, which happened to me this week incidentally, I must check myself.  Isaiah 55:8-9, "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."


I really can't always explain to you how I learn what I do when I read scripture.  But it is never a dull moment.


Pam