The Perils of a Know All
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BLOWING AWAY THE DUST & LEAVING FAILURE BEHIND
Mk. 6:7-13
Palestine is a dusty land It has two seasons - a rainy one and a long dry one when the land becomes parched and dry. After a journey, travellers' feet are covered with dust and washing facilities are always at hand to have their feet washed.
Into that dusty country Jesus sent His disciples He told them that if a village accepted them, they should stay there and preach, teach and heal. If a community rejects them, they should step outside that village and shake the dust of that experience off their feet. In saying that, Jesus was telling His disciples not only how to treat an unwelcoming village, but also how to handle failure in their lives. "Shake off the dust," says Jesus.
We all get covered with the dust of failure by just walking through life. To live and to try is to experience some degree of failure. All of life is a mixture of hills and valleys, ups and downs, successes and failures. Behind every successful person is a surprising amount of failure. This was even true of Jesus. He hand-picked twelve apostles and one of them betrayed Him. He offered His saving message to His entire nation. John tells us the response of His people in the words, "He came to His own and His own received Him not." Life is like that. We have to be prepared for the possibility of failure, and if not, then we are unprepared for life.
Another way we get dust on our lives is by falling down. Sometimes we just make an awful mess of life. For some failures we are to blame, like being responsible for losing our job through laziness and bad time keeping. We fail in relationships through selfishness and neglect. There are other failures for which we are not to blame. We are made redundant or our business fails because our customers don't pay their bills in time. Failures like these can be a painful and humiliating experience, like falling on your face in the dust.
Sometimes we get dust on ourselves by sitting down in the middle of the road. We just stop trying. This is perhaps the most tragic failure of all. To have tried and failed is better than not to have tried at all. When we try there is always the possibility that we may succeed. We can never be blamed for not trying.
What are the effects of dust? It accumulates and collects on furniture, gathers under the bed, and if you walk the dusty roads of Palestine, it covers you. This characteristic of dust is a perfect analogy of how failures can accumulate in the corners of your life. If you let them, they will pile higher until they smother everything you do. You will begin to think of yourself as a born loser. When a person thinks like that, he has allowed the dust of failure to accumulate and obscure all possibility of success.
How do we deal with the dust of failure? We can harbour it, which is futile or we can do what Jesus tells us and that is to shake off the dust and leave it behind. Don't carry failure with you. Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Perhaps you may have made some blunders, but tell yourself they are not going to be repeated. Forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day, the first day of the rest of your life. So, begin that day well and serenely with a high spirit and not encumbered with yesterday's failures.
The most important part is that we mustn't give up. Jesus said, "If they won't accept you in one village, go to the next". Should we fail in one project, Jesus' advice would be, "Don't be discouraged. Try something else. Failure is not the end of the road. I have your concerns at heart. Be patient and ready to work for Me and I will provide work for you and see you through this setback." God sometimes uses failure for several purposes, to keep us humble, to test us, to allow us to grow through failure.
In our failures if we remain true to Him, He will always have something else lined up for us. He is not going to let us lie in the dust. All these sentiments are contained in Jesus' words, "Shake off the dust and go on to the next village."
Lord Jesus in times of failure may we follow your advice, “Shake off the dust and go onto the next village.” That is how we must handle all failures, begin that day well and serenely with a high spirit and not encumbered with yesterday’s failures.
The most important point is that we must never stop trying our best. Jesus said, “If they won’t accept you in one village, go to the next.” Should we fail in one project His advice would be, “Don’t be discouraged. Try something else. Failure is not the end of the world.
ur Friend and not a stranger,
I am a Capuchin Franciscan priest who wants to spread the Gospel of the Lord.
