13 “And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the Day of Judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.” (Matthew 10:13–15 (ESV)
Jesus gave His Twelve Apostles specific instructions when He sent them out to the Jewish people. Our task is to examine those directives taken from today’s text. In Matthew 10:8, Jesus told His Twelve Apostles what they were to do as He sent them to the Jews. In vs. 9-12, He instructed what not to do. In today’s text, Jesus told His apostles how to respond to people’s reception or rejection of the Gospel.
And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. What makes a household worthy? Jesus referred to the inhabitants of a dwelling place. Worthiness would be determined by the people’s readiness to hear the apostles and the Gospel and their hospitality. Those who rejected the apostles, and the Gospel message, were to be rejected.
And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. “Shaking the dust off their feet as they left an inhospitable place symbolized their rejection of the Jewish city as if it were a despised Gentile city, whose very dust was unwanted,” states Dr. John Walvoord. See Acts 13:51.
Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the Day of Judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. Rejecting the apostles and the Gospel would result in judgment; much like what God brought to Sodom (Genesis 18-19). Increased revelation results in greater blessing when received and greater judgment when rejected.
“For the most part, travelers in the ancient Near East could count on strangers to show hospitality and put them up for one night or longer. Jesus, however, anticipated that some would not receive His disciples (vv. 10–11). If they were rejected, the disciples were to shake the dust off their feet, an action that symbolized that the locale was unclean and subject to divine judgment. By rejecting the gospel, such towns, if they remained impenitent, sealed their doom,” explains R. R. C. Sproul.
Rejecting the Gospel means rejecting truth of God’s existence, sin’s existence, salvation’s existence and the only Savior and Lord’s existence. Repent of your sin and receive God’s salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, and in the person and work of Jesus Christ alone.
Soli deo Gloria!
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