Whatever town or village you enter, search there for some worthy person and stay at their house until you leave. As you enter the home, give it your greeting. If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet. (NIV)

If you are a door-to-door salesperson, I am the house to which you want to come. It seems, and my husband hates this, I just can’t turn people away. I’ve let people in the door to sell me knives, windows, books, cleaning products and vacuums. I don’t always buy, but I patiently listen to the sales pitches because to me, door-to-door sales would be the WORST possible job. So, I want to honor the typically young person who is getting paid to walk the streets selling their product.

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In the verses just before our passage for today, Jesus has asked 12 men to go out and “sell” the Kingdom of Heaven, to preach to other Jews or “the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” They were instructed to heal the sick and cast out demons, not taking lots of extra stuff with them. Jesus tells them to rely on the hospitality of strangers to do this work. At night, they were not getting rooms at the local inn, but staying with “worthy” hosts. Hopefully, the disciples found many who welcomed them in like I welcome the Kirby vacuum salesgirl. But Jesus knew that many would not welcome the disciples. More than apathy, the men he had called and the message he had given them would likely be shown hostility. What were they to do then?  

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In verse 14, Jesus tells them to leave that house or city and shake the dust off their feet. Shaking the dust off your feet was something the Jews were instructed to do when leaving a Gentile city, symbolizing the leaving behind of the bad influence of the pagan people. According to my Bible’s notes, “When leaving Gentile cities, pious Jews often shook dust from their feet to show their separation from Gentile practices. If the disciples shook the dust of a Jewish town from their feet, it would show their separation from Jews who rejected their Messiah.” They would not expend further energy and time on those relationships.

The disciples were called to the obedient act of knocking on doors and sharing the good news; they were not responsible for bringing each household to saving faith in Jesus. They were to do their part in obedience but were not supposed to stay if abused and rejected. Jesus gave them permission to move on and be at peace with that.  

There is a spectrum of the Christian’s call in living out forgiveness. Sometimes, we need to lean into difficult relationships. That could mean not only forgiving in our hearts but also seeking to restore the relationship, staying in touch or in proximity with a challenging person. Jesus calls us to radical and repeated forgiveness. At the other end of the spectrum is setting healthy boundaries, walking away from abuse or toxicity after we have extended forgiveness. There is no one-size-fits-all for this.

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We like to be able to draw clear rules on boundaries, but you can’t simply say if a relationship is hard and takes your peace, that you should leave. Nor should we mandate staying in all relationships because that is the “Christ-like thing to do.” In this passage, the disciples get direct guidance on boundaries from Jesus, and today, we have the gift of the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, living inside us and instructing us in every moment.  

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Are you staying at a metaphorical house in any relationships you need to shake off the dust and leave? Allow the Lord to be the final authority on your relationships by asking the Holy Spirit to help you walk out forgiveness in difficult relationships, from loved ones all the way to strangers.

God of unending mercy and forgiveness, today we ask that you show us how to be discerning in how we live out forgiveness. We understand we are called to forgive others as you forgive us. We also know you do not desire that we stay in toxic or harmful situations, and that you are okay with us setting relational boundaries for our mental health and well-being. Guide us in how we love others well who have hurt us, while not further hurting ourselves. Grant us wisdom for hard conversations, challenging friendships, hearts bent toward grudges and navigating conflicts without tidy resolutions. We trust you, Father, and know you want us to live abundantly with joy, even through the valleys of life. In Jesus’ mighty name we pray, Amen.