Have you ever looked at a pair of shoes and wondered how they somehow look cleaner than when you wore them previously? Like there’s some sort of magic eraser that caused the grass stains to fade or the mud to disappear overnight. Except there was no magic eraser and you didn’t clean them, but tossed them carelessly on the floor as usual after they faithfully completed that day’s activities.
As I looked at the pair of Nikes awry on my floor I had this exact realization.
I had bought them for a specific purpose. My family and I were finally vacationing to my dream location after years of begging and not so subtle hints. We were going to Utah, thus embarking on the picturesque trip of my dreams! I was about to walk in the shoes of some of my greatest photographer inspirations. The only problem… I didn’t have the right shoes in my closet. Any shoes really that would do the job. Platform converse were not going to cut it… although I did put them to the test.
In hindsight, I’m not sure waffle knit Nikes were really the best man for the job either but they did their best to grasp the smooth surface of the red rocks. The thing about this rocky landscape is you can’t touch it unscathed, without the amber colored residue marking you— evidence of all the places of collision. So you can imagine after the second or third hike across this terrain my cream toned shoes started looking a little dusty, a little more earthy-toned than intended. The reddish orange-color seemed to permanently stain them, as they made it across borders tucked safely in my worn carry-on suitcase, also marked by stickers of places I’d been.
Here’s the thing, after I got home and unpacked my suitcase—more weeks later than I’d like to admit— I thought those shoes had served their purpose. They were done now, stained by the ground I’d walked on. I wouldn’t throw them away… they were too expensive for that of course. But I would place them in the bottom of my closet, to still be pulled out on occasion for “work” days or my once in a blue moon working out phase. They were now–as many moms like to label such shoes that have fallen victim to the elements– “play shoes”. They were too tainted and discolored to be worn proudly.
One day something in me decided not to listen to the lies I’d been telling myself about these shoes anymore. I know this seems awfully deep to just be about a pair of shoes… but it’s really of so much more weight than that. My desire to wear them overpowered the reluctancy or embarrassment about the stain. I thought, “it isn’t that bad, just a few orange marks here and there.” So I wore them. Then I wore them again.
Then tonight I looked at them and realized I don’t even see the stains anymore. The marks. The lies. The comparison. The fear. If you can’t tell we aren’t really talking about shoes here.
The more I walked, the more steps I had taken, the more I had shaken the dust off of my feet.
Jesus told the disciples to shake the dust off their feet in Matthew 10:14. It’s because they had been stepping. Following.
I had quite literally SHAKEN the dust off my feet. But I had to go some places. I had to do some things. Reach new heights. Slowly, change had begun to take place and I hadn’t even realized. I’m really glad I didn’t let the stains or mountains and valleys of the past keep me from walking again. From tightening the laces one more time. We’ve all faced impact at places we wish we hadn’t been, encounters with obstacles and people we regret or wince at when the memory starts to resurface. It may seem like those instances permanently scarred you.
I’m sure the disciples sometimes felt discouraged after witnessing to the crowds for the hundredth time that day and being met with hatred, sometimes even persecution. Their message had not been received yet once again. Jesus knew this, which why this was he sent them out with this command.
Can you imagine if the disciples had chosen not to shake the dust off of their feet? The gospels would’ve taken a very different turn.
I can’t help but think Jesus is calling us to this same cleansing. To shake off the dust of the past, of people’s opinions and perceptions of us. Of seemingly failed attempts. You never know whether that word or seed you planted has taken root and it might grow at another time… when Jesus adds a little water.
I heard Rich Wilkerson say in a sermon lately something to the effect of if you take credit when you fall/in the valley, then be careful because you’ll also try to take credit when you rise/on the mountain. We aren’t defined by our failures. In the same chapter he gives them this command, he goes on to say in verse 20, “For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” (Matthew 10:20)
Jesus had just sent the disciples out to reach lost sheep, in some undesirable places and circumstances. He didn’t say it was going to be easy. I think sometimes we are also tempted to let where we’ve been define us, let the residue cling to us a little longer than it should. Perhaps that’s why Jesus gave the disciples this advice before they even officially started their journey.
In Mark’s account a very important follow-up is added to this command stating
“And whoever will not receive you nor hear you, when you depart from there, shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them.” (Mark 6:11)
As a TESTIMONY against them. I’m so thankful God is in the business of taking what was meant to harm us and turning it for good. He can use our rejection, our scars from the past as our very testimony to our enemies. In fact, he prepares a table for you in the presence of your enemies (Psalm 23:5-6)
If you continue reading Psalm 23:5-6 there is another parallel to Jesus’ command in Mark.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.
In Mark, after Jesus says tells them how to receive their haters or “enemies” the Word says they anointed the sick with oil and they were healed! I would say goodness and mercy were following the disciples, even when just as Jesus prepared them, them met skeptics or enemies, oil continued to run over.
But Jesus says it doesn’t matter what they said to you, or where you came from. Shake the dust off of your feet!!! He came to make us white as snow. Sometimes He just asks that we take that first step, he’ll do the rest of the cleansing. If I never put those Nikes on my feet again, I bet there would still be some of those red marks on them. But the more the rubber met the road, the friction and tension of movement, caused the dust to fade. The original color was restored.
Now there are some other marks on my nikes, probably from those short-lived workout phases I mentioned. They aren’t perfect. But I’ll take another step and shake the dust off once again. Rinse and repeat the cycle. Until I get where I’m going.
