And wherever they do not receive you and do not listen to you, when you leave there, shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them. Truly I tell you, for Sodom and Gomorrah it will be easier on the day of judgment than for that city.”
These words reveal the seriousness and consequences of rejecting the Gospel. If a place does not receive the messengers sent by God and does not listen to them, then that rejection is not merely discourtesy toward people, but opposition to the word of God. Shaking off the dust from the feet symbolized complete separation and a testimony that they had done their duty, and that the responsibility for that place now remains on the rejecters themselves. The mention of Sodom and Gomorrah is a strong warning. It shows that places that reject the Gospel may be worthy of a harsher judgment, because they have received greater light than Sodom and Gomorrah, yet have not accepted it. The greater the revelation given to a person, the greater also is the responsibility for it. Thus, hearing the Gospel is never a neutral event: it is either received and becomes a source of salvation, or it is rejected and becomes the basis for judgment.