When ye come into a house, salute it (Notes)

Saint Matthew - Chapter 10

When ye come into a house, salute it. J-J Tissot

[11] In quamcumque autem civitatem aut castellum intraveritis, interrogate, quis in ea dignus sit : et ibi manete donec exeatis.
And into whatsoever city or town you shall enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and there abide till you go thence.

[12] Intrantes autem in domum, salutate eam, dicentes : Pax huic domui.
And when you come into the house, salute it, saying: Peace be to this house.

When ye enter into a house, &c. This was the ancient method of salutation among the Hebrews, by which they prayed for the peace and prosperity of the master of the house and his family. The Hebrews understood it of temporal blessings, but Christ of spiritual. For Christ came to the world to make peace between God, man, and angels. Wherefore when He was born the angels sang, “Peace on earth, to men of goodwill” (Vulg.).

This is the seventh precept—that they should pray for peace for their host, and by their prayer discover if he were worthy and suitable. The Apostles, therefore, pray for peace for their host, first with God, secondly with his family and neighbours and all other persons. S. Chrys. says that this salutation of the Apostles was not a mere naked and verbal one, but real and efficacious, and had the power of conferring upon their host (if he were worthy) actual peace—that is to say, grace, faith, and salvation.

[13] Et siquidem fuerit domus illa digna, veniet pax vestra super eam : si autem non fuerit digna, pax vestra revertetur ad vos.
And if that house be worthy, your peace shall come upon it; but if it be not worthy, your peace shall return to you.

And if the house be worthy, &c. That is, if—as He had said a little before—the host be worthy, that is, a lover of peace and salvation.

But if it be not worthy, &c. If the host refuse and reject your salutation of peace, your peace shall return unto you—Gr. ἐπιστραφήτω, let it return, in the sense of shall return. For the Heb. often uses the imperative instead of the future. Note the personification. Peace is here introduced as a person rejected by a host, and going elsewhere, and carrying the Apostles with him. If the host rejects your salutation of peace, your salutation shall not therefore be unfruitful, for there shall come to yourselves what you prayed for him, that is, peace and all prosperity. Thus shall your peace, repulsed by this unworthy host, come back to you, and lead you to some worthy host who will eagerly receive you and believe your preaching. 

There is a similar mode of expression in Ps. 35:12, 13, to which Christ here makes an allusion: “They rewarded me evil for good,” &c.; “And my prayer shall return into mine own bosom.” So Eusebius, S. Athanasius, and Hesychius on this Psalm expound it. The latter says, “Into the bosom of Christ, i.e., the Church of the Gentiles, the prayer of Christ (turned away by the Jews) falleth.” This is what S. Paul said to the Jews: “It behoved that the Word of God should be spoken first unto you, but since ye reject it, and count yourselves unworthy of eternal life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.”

[14] Et quicumque non receperit vos, neque audierit sermones vestros : exeunte foras de domo, vel civitate, excutite pulverem de pedibus vestris.
And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words: going forth out of that house or city shake off the dust from your feet.

And whosoever shall not receive you, &c.… the dust of your feet. Luke and Mark add, for a testimony against them. Abul. says that the Apostles were to do this twice, once in the city and once outside the city. They were to do it by striking their sandals against the ground, or by knocking, or rubbing them upon a stone, to brush off the dust.

You will ask, Why was this? 

1. S. Jerome says, dust is shaken off as a testimony of labour, to show that they had entered the city, and the Apostolic preaching had reached it. And as Theophylact.: “They testify that for their sakes they had made so long a journey, and it had profited them nothing.”

2. Shake off the dust, as impious, on account of the impious inhabitants, that ye may signify that they are, as it were, anathema, and that ye will have nothing, not even their dust in common with them, as being doomed to eternal condemnation. So S. Jer. Theophyl., Ambrose, &c.


3. That this dust shaken off may be a witness in the day of judgment against their unbelief and wickedness. And this is why Luke adds, for a testimony to them, i.e., against them.

[15] Amen dico vobis : Tolerabilius erit terrae Sodomorum et Gomorrhaeorum in die judicii, quam illi civitati.
Amen I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

Totus tuus ego sum 

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam