"SPREADING THE MESSAGE" (An Article by Christian Henry) ~ 5/5/26

“And when ye come into an house, salute it. And if the house be worthy, let your peace come upon it: but if it be not worthy, let your peace return to you. 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. Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.” (Matthew 10:12-15)

Currently, in the book of Matthew, Jesus is preparing to begin a new phase of His ministry. He provides instructions for His group of twelve disciples to aid them on their missionary trip to the towns of Galilee in northern Israel. Their mission will be to preach His message that the kingdom of Heaven is near, while also healing, casting out demons, and performing other signs in His name. They must not take extra money or clothes with them; instead, they rely on the “worthy” folks in each town to give them a place to stay.

When they enter their host's home, Jesus commands them to “salute it” or "greet it." Luke quotes Jesus more fully in this instruction as telling the followers to say, "Peace be to this house.” (Luke 10:5) This was more than a polite greeting, since they were acting as representatives of Jesus; the men must carry His peace with them. Like players on a high school football team being told that their behavior reflects on the school, the disciples’ actions echo their Lord. They must embody the ideals and values of the one to whom they belong in being courteous and cordial house guests.

The ‘worthiness’ of a house has nothing to do with arbitrary things (race, status, employment, etc.); instead, it is determined by willingness to receive the message. If the family in the home appeared civil, friendly, and hospitable toward the disciples and ready to receive and embrace their words, it was “worthy.” As a reward for this show of generosity, the peace wished for in the salutation will come and abide on the family; the house will be blessed for their sake. However, if a household proves to be ungenerous, inhumane, and unwilling to accept the vessels, but is hostile towards the truth and unwilling to receive it, the prayers and well-wishes of the men will be in vain. They will be directed to another house, where they should find people more generous and open to accept.

They are encouraged to pack up and move on upon a family’s refusal to host them and hear their words. The phrase, “shake off the dust of your feet,” is likely a reference to how the ancient Jews thought the land of Israel so peculiarly holy that when they came home from any heathen country, they stopped at the borders to shake off the dust of it to keep the holy land undefiled. Therefore, the action here shows that those who had rejected the Gospel were on a level with the heathen and simply not worth wasting time on. Rejectors’ punishment on the day of final judgment will not only be greater than that of general sinners, but even worse than the wicked of Sodom and Gomorrah, who were consumed with fire and brimstone.

Christ gave the messengers the power to work miracles to confirm their doctrine, something that was no longer necessary after His ascension. They are directed to strange towns and cities because the servant of Christ is the ambassador of peace to whatever place they are sent. His message is for the vilest sinner, because He yearns to seek out deserving people everywhere. It becomes us to pray heartily for all, and to conduct ourselves courteously to all. They are directed on how to act towards those who refused them. The whole counsel of God must be declared, and those who will not attend to the gracious message must be shown that their state is dangerous. This should be seriously laid to heart by all that hear the gospel, lest their privileges only serve to increase their condemnation.

There is an important lesson for believers here when it comes to sharing the word: we must never let rejection get in the way of duty. Like the disciples, we were charged with spreading the message of Christ, and like the disciples, we may encounter some who would rather not listen. Even in those not-so-rare cases, we need to behave respectfully and not dwell on our failures. If we can reach even one more lost soul and share the good news of salvation, that’s a huge success in God’s eyes.