Foot obsession?

Matthew 10:14
And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.

Jesus’ words here imply that whoever it was that went in to preach the gospel stayed for a little while. They at least stayed long enough for the dust to settle. Have you ever wondered about Jesus’ fascination with feet?

This isn’t the only time He uses clean feet as a symbol. In John 13 Jesus cleans His disciples’ feet before dinner. So what is His deal? Why this, dare I say, obsession with clean feet?

Well, there’s the symbolism. Here, in Matthew, He’s telling the disciples to shake the dust from their feet before they go. It’s always presented as though He’s telling them to leave in a hurry. Dust off and go! But that’s not really the case. Jesus doesn’t say to leave immediately if the people do not receive the gospel; He says, “...when you depart...”, implying that the disciples could have stayed for some time. The implication is that we could stay for some time with people who aren’t willing to receive the gospel too.

In John, however, it’s always taught that the servant’s heart is being shown. Do for others, serve one another, serve the church. I’ve heard it before, “If Jesus was willing to be a servant, you should be too.” I’m not exactly sure this is an accurate interpretation. Sure, He tells the disciples that they should do for each other what He did for them. But why do we use this story as an example of church involvement? In truth it has nothing to do with serving in the church; it has to do with something completely different.

Well then, what is Jesus talking about? Could it be that Jesus’ fascination with feet has nothing to do with the feet and everything to do with the dust?

In Genesis, God curses the Devil in a very specific way. He says, “...on your belly you shall go and you shall eat dust all the days of your life...” (Genesis 3:14) If dust is the food of the Devil, that would explain Jesus’ obsession with getting it off of our feet! God and Jesus (being the same person) are using literal things to illustrate spiritual points.

Jesus wants you to know that when you are in an area that is unreceptive to the gospel, food for the Devil is present. If you stay for any period of time, you run the risk of picking up traces of the Devil’s dinner on you. Jesus wants you to dust off your feet, that is, renew yourself in Him, before moving on. The message is exactly the same when He washes His disciples’ feet. He doesn’t necessarily want us going from church to church with basins and towels washing one another’s feet; He wants us restoring one another with His grace-filled message of salvation.