Passage Read: Luke 9-10
Meditation Verses: 10:8-12
Thought
Jesus references Sodom first as comparison to the judgment the rejecting town will receive. Does He also have in mind the same reception/rejection that the angels received in Sodom? Is He telling his disciples that when they come to a town, first sit in the town square and see if there's anyone who will welcome them into their home and give them a place to stay? Or should they go into town preaching and see if there's still someone willing to receive them into their home? In Sodom's case, Lot welcomed the angels, but the rest of the men of Sodom came later to abuse the angels. There was one who welcomed them but the rest of the city rejected them and so the city was destroyed. That seems to break the pattern Jesus is laying down here. There is not so tight a connection between one man welcoming God's messengers and the whole town being honored. In fact, Jesus condemns all the cities where He had preached and done miracles even though some from each town surely believed in Him! Jesus may have desired to come quietly into every town, receive welcome by one man and then preach to that town. But He became too well known too quickly, so that all that was left was to lead with teaching and miracles, and if someone gave Him and His disciples lodging, they were generous and accepting of His message indeed! Nowadays, there is a hotel of some sort even in small towns. Maybe in some cultures there is still this kind of hospitality. If Jesus were requiring His followers to first find lodging before they taught the people, that would either be a simple thing or an impossible one. If a town was condemned just because no one was willing to open their home to a stranger passing through, that town might still deserve condemnation but it might also be an unfair judgment. Either way, making hospitality the deciding factor seems incorrect. Rather, it must mean a receptiveness to the message brought, that hopefully receives a welcome in at least one person's heart. But even then, the messenger may be invited to stay with someone who isn't really welcoming the message, but wants to virtue-signal or condescendingly wants to privately correct the messenger. Jesus Himself was invited into the home of at least one Pharisee who didn't honor Him. So not everyone who welcomes one of Jesus' servants is worthy of a blessing of peace, and God will sort that out.
Application
Ultimately the message must come first, so that those who welcome the messenger know what they're welcoming, and that is a better indicator of their reception of the message, though not a perfect indicator. If no one in town welcomes Jesus' messenger because they reject his message, that is worthy of a public declaration of condemnation! That means the only real way I can identify a "person of peace" is by preaching the gospel first and seeing who welcomes me with such a message. They may not truly be a person of peace, but that too will become apparent. Their true reception or ultimate rejection of the Gospel, and me its messenger, is the determining factor.