“Whatever place does not welcome you or listen to you, leave there and shake the dust off your feet in testimony against them.”

We all want to be loved and affirmed, or at least to be like and accepted.  We definitely do not want to be ignored and rejected.  We will sometimes rationalize reality or live a lie to get what we want.  That can lead to self-deception and codependency in our relationship with others, and inordinate attachment to things.  Jesus knew he was sending his disciples to preach the Good News to people who would criticize, ridicule, reject and attack them because the Good News made people aware of their need to change.  Jesus knew that our human nature resist change and rejects the person who call us to change. He cautioned his disciples not to diminish the truth or soften the Good News in order to be liked and accepted by those who refused to change.  He taught them that it was better not to be loved, than to be loved for the wrong reason.  The Good News calls us to change; to love Jesus for the right reason; to be loved for the right reason. How do we treat the person who brings us the  Good News and calls us to change?