Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 10:11

"And into whatsoever city or village ye shall enter, search out who in it is worthy; and there abide till ye go forth." — Matthew 10:11 (ASV)

To settle into the house of a “worthy” (GK 545) person implies that the disciples were not to shop around for the most comfortable quarters. In this place “worthy” refers to someone willing and able to receive an apostle of Jesus and the Gospel of the kingdom. As the disciples entered the house, they were to give it their “greeting,” “Peace to this house” . But if the home turned out to be “unworthy,” they were to let their greeting of peace return to them (v.13); i.e., they were not to stay. The Twelve were emissaries of Jesus. Those who received them received him (cf. v.40). Their greeting was of real value because of their relationship to him. Loss of their greeting was loss of their presence and therefore loss of Jesus.

What was true for the home applied equally to the town (v.14). A pious Jew, on leaving Gentile territory, might remove from his feet and clothes all dust of the pagan land now being left behind, thus dissociating himself from the pollution of those lands and the judgment in store for them. For the disciples to do this to Jewish homes and towns would be a symbolic way of saying that the emissaries of Messiah now viewed those places as pagan, polluted, and liable to severe judgment. Sodom and Gomorrah faced catastrophic destruction because of their sin (Genesis 19) and became bywords of loathsome corruption (Isaiah 1:9; Matthew 11:22–24; 2 Peter 2:6;Jude 7). Although there is still worse to come for them on the Day of Judgment, there is even more awful judgment for those who reject the word and the messengers of the Messiah (cf. Hebrews 2:1–3).

Once again the Christological claim, though implicit, is unambiguous. As in 7:21–23, Jesus here insists that one’s eternal destiny turns on relationship to him or even to his emissaries. At the same time, even in this early ministry, Jesus’ apostles were to face the certainty of opposition. That opposition pointed to the greater suffering still to come (vv.17ff.) and also aligned the disciples of Jesus with the prophets of old (5:10–12) and with Jesus himself (10:24–25). Thus the disciples began to learn that the advance of the kingdom was divisive (vv.34–35) and would meet with violent opposition .