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Jesus went to Nazareth, his hometown, and taught in the synagogue. The people were astonished at his teaching — and then they took offense. "Is not this the carpenter's son?" They knew his family. They had watched him grow up. Mark 6:5–6 records: "And he could there do no mighty work... And he marvelled because of their unbelief." The Son of God was rejected by the people who knew him best, and it moved him. Rejection of the gospel by the people closest to you is not a failure of your faith. It happened to Jesus in his own hometown.
Get These Verses Daily — Free“And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.”
Jesus was rejected by his hometown — the people who knew him best — and it moved him. He marvelled. And then he kept going. The rejection of the gospel by those closest to you is not a disqualification. It happened to Jesus in Nazareth.
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Faith, when it comes, comes from hearing the word — not from the quality of the human presentation. The rejection by someone you love is not a verdict on how well you shared. You cannot produce faith in another person. That is God's work.
“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.”
The division of labor is precise: planting and watering are human assignments. The increase is God's. The rejection of what you have shared does not mean the planting was wrong or the watering failed. The increase was never yours to give.
“And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.”
Jesus built rejection into the mission instructions from the beginning. The shaking off of dust is a formal gesture of release — releasing the person to God's jurisdiction and releasing yourself from the burden of their response. This is not abandonment; it is appropriate boundary.
“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear:”
The instruction is to be ready to give an answer — not to compel an answer to be received. The meekness and fear prescribed are the posture of someone who knows the outcome is not theirs to control. Readiness to share is the assignment; acceptance is not.
Romans 10:17 — "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" — places the source of faith outside human persuasion ability. You cannot produce faith in another person. You can speak, you can live with integrity, you can pray. But faith, when it comes, comes by hearing the word, not by the quality of the human presentation. The rejection of your faith by someone you love is not evidence that you presented it poorly. It is a statement about the condition of the soil, which you do not control.
1 Corinthians 3:6–7 draws the division of labor precisely: "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase." The conversion of another person is God's work, not yours. The rejection of what you have shared is not a verdict on your faithfulness. The planting and watering are your assignment. The increase is not.
Commentary is from a charismatic Protestant perspective, drawing on KJV text and public-domain sources including Spurgeon, Andrew Murray, and Matthew Henry.
Matthew 10:14 — "And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet" — is Jesus' instruction about what to do with rejection of the gospel. The shaking off of dust is a formal gesture of release — releasing the person and the situation to God's judgment, and releasing yourself from the burden of their response. Jesus built the possibility of rejection into the disciples' mission instructions from the beginning.
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