University Presbyterian Church - Chapel Hill, NC

Preached on June 29, 2008

Matthew 10: 40-42:   “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.  Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous;  and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

Just a Cup of Water?

          Now I’m going to risk upsetting people.  You see I’m from Anderson, IN, well north of the Mason-Dixon line, and yet I’m about to preach about Hospitality.  I do so because I can’t help connect this gospel lesson to hospitality.  You are already engaged in offers of hospitality and support for disciples.  You have all been so warmly welcoming to me in the short time I’ve been here and I know of this church’s hospitality in the work you’ve done helping Chapel in the Pines begin its work in Chatham county.   Additionally, your offer of sabbatical to ministers is another important way you meet ministerial needs—that is also hospitality. 

I don’t know about you but as I hear and read this passage it flashes me back to when I was about 10.  It was summer and I was outside of a school where I had attended Kid’s Place, sort of like a missionary focused version of Bible school where we learned about a different country or region of the world each year.  My mother was one of the volunteers so we were there packing up craft supplies in the car when some neighborhood kids from the playground came over to us and asked if we would let them in the building so they could get a drink of water.  Just a cup of water.  These little ones wanted a cup of cold water.  Now the reason this story remains so vivid in my mind was because my mother took the opportunity to show how bratty I had been recently acting.  You see I must have been complaining about taking a water bottle to my little league games instead of Gatorade.  I loved Gatorade, still do, and I must have been complaining about just water.  So my mom says something to the effect that, “these kids just want a drink from the water fountain…and you dare to complain about water and only want to drink Gatorade or Pop.” 

          That’s why I remember this story but I also remember my mom connecting our little situation to a similar passage to this one this morning from Matthew’s gospel…25:35… Where Jesus says, “I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink…” 

          So needless to say, I have some personal experience with Jesus’ words about offering cups of water…but what of this reward language?  And looking back at our passage, I wonder…when will I have the chance to welcome a prophet? 

          How do we know when a person is righteous?  Maybe this passage isn’t so straight forward after all.  And to top it off, I’ve seen situations where passing out water or other items, as disciples, or in the name of Christ, has happened in abrasive and even abusive ways.  Sometimes I fear that my efforts to share water or any other sort of service are received with the perspective of, “Oh, there are those meddlesome and pushy Christians again.” 

          How about you…are you tentative about Christian mission?  Have you experienced mission gone bad often enough that you shy away from opportunities? 

          Do you wonder about the tension between doing mission without misrepresenting Christ…That’s a pretty daunting task…to represent a prophet, a righteous person, or especially to represent Christ…so that those who receive us have to experience of receiving or welcoming a prophet, righteous person, or Christ himself.  Sometimes we find ourselves not doing anything because we’ve seen things done in irresponsible ways.  Maybe you struggle knowing how to respond to the man at the stoplight in the orange vest holding the sign that says, “What if God was one of us?”

          Or maybe you experience mission differently.  Maybe you see the problems around you and become overwhelmed.  Or maybe you just don’t know what to say?  Have you ever been frozen because you don’t know where to start? 

          Finally, some of us find ourselves saying, “well, I pay my tithe so I’ll let the church deal with the rest…did my part.

          We all experience the opportunities in which we find ourselves in different ways.  For those of you who were here two Sunday’s ago when Carol Gregg spoke from Matthew with the message to travel light, you recall that this section of the gospel is often called the Missionary Discourse.  Our three verses this morning are the final piece of this section.  We see a few things going on that help to inform the way we understand Jesus’ words. 

          First we need to understand the concept of Emissaries or representatives.  In both Jewish and Greco/Roman culture messengers were to be received just as one would receive the person who sent them.  As the disciples respond to Jesus’ message to Go out into the world and proclaim the Kingdom of God, those who receive them and welcome them will receive the reward that comes with receiving the one who sends them.  It is a little different than the concept of entertaining angels unwittingly…this is more like receiving Jesus because he was the one who sent out the 12. 

          It is also important that we see in these words how we can find ourselves on both sides of the hospitality relationship.  Sometimes we find ourselves being the one sent on mission for God’s kingdom.  Other times, we are the ones who need to be receiving and welcoming.  We need recognize that we should think from both angles.  Both sides. 

          What then must we garner this morning?  First of all, we are reminded that we are to GO.  There is no need for being welcomed if we never leave these pews.  If I never leave my apartment, there will never be the opportunity for someone to welcome me.  Barbara Brown Taylor writes:

“In a world that can be hard and scary sometimes, it is tempting to think of the church as a hideout, the place where those of us who know the secreet password can gather to celebrate our good fortune.  As we repeat our favorite stories and eat the food that has been prepared for us, it is tempting to think of ourselves as consumers of God’s love, chosen people who have been given more good gifts than we can open at one sitting:  healing, forgiveness, restoration, resurrection.  Then one day the Holy Spirit comes knocking at the door, disturbing our members-only meeting and reminding us that it is time to share.”[1]

We must go! 

          Once we are convinced that we are to go and we respond to God, we are also reminded here that anyone can offer welcome.  And I would add that anyone can Go.  This passage was told directly to the disciples but as we are and continue to become disciples ourselves, we are also to go.  Anyone can offer hospitality, the literal or figurative cup of water.  Why, if our middle schoolers can go to Washington D.C. and serve meals, sort food, learn about Islam and homelessness, then why can’t I also do those things?  Or you?  Anyone can offer a cup of water.  You often don’t even need much money to share some water.  Maybe your chance to share water will mean stopping in the left turn lane on 15-501 and offering to take the person standing in the median to lunch.  Or asking if they would like you to bring them some water. 

          My college friend Jared reminded me of another opportunity to witness to the abundance and generosity of God’s Kingdom.  Jared took his first job as a waiter in college.  Now he and I are both pastor’s kids so we have a tendency to be naïve about some things.  One of his first days he said to his co-workers…I bet you love working on Sunday after church with all those Christians…I bet they give great tips.  He told me that he was met with a bunch of stunned faces.  They said, “Yeah Right…The church crowd is the worst.  They are the worst tippers ever!”  So apparently there is an opportunity for us even following church today to witness to the Kingdom.

          We can also read this passage as encouraging us to take care of some need for missionaries.  Jesus’ disciples were to travel without money or extra clothes so they required the welcome of others.  Often missionaries require support for special things.  From what I understand, the mission field can lead to random needs.  Maybe someone really needs a goat, or a motorcycle, or someone to watch their children while they are on furlough so they can have some time alone with their spouse.  Who knows what opportunities we will have to offer welcome and support other disciples in mission. 

          One further reminder.  The hospitality and the mission we encounter in the gospel is an embodied mission…and embodied hospitality.  First century Judean hospitality would entail opening up one’s home and table.  For us today we must remember that God calls us to an embodied witness.  We cannot simply throw money at causes, issues, or problems.  We must receive people.  Widows took in the prophets Elijah and Elisha, other people took in and offered hospitality to the disciples and many of you have received welcome and hospitality from others.  I know that you also have been offering hospitality.  Jesus reminds us here that those who offer hospitality and welcome will not be forgotten.  But let’s make this real.

          If we are truly seeking to orient our lives towards God and follow God’s call for us, then we must seize the opportunities we have to proclaim the Kingdom of God is near.  We see the Kingdom when we witness embodied hospitality.  We are offering a glimpse of the Kingdom when we share from our excess, when we take time out of our lives to treat someone who often gets ignored with dignity.  We are reminded that we don’t have to save the world to offer a witness to the Kingdom.  The Kingdom is visible when we engage in mission, instead of staying as an observer.  Maybe it means you will take a person to lunch and listen to their story, get to know them, instead of just handing them a $5 bill and driving on.  Maybe it means listening to that older relative and really paying attention to his or her stories and feelings.  Maybe it means spending part of your vacation time in service instead of only laying on the beach.  Or the Kingdom is visible when we take the time to learn about the people and work that is being done by our missionaries instead of just writing a check out of obligation.  There are limitless relationships that can be nurtured through embodied hospitality which all offer glimpses of the Kingdom.  These few examples may strike a chord with you, or you could think I am very cliché, but no matter how you look at it, God is active in this world so there are countless ways that we can seize the chance to witness to the Kingdom. 

          We read that we get a reward when we offer just a cup of water.  When we follow God’s command to Go and be laborers in the harvest, we do so with knowledge that God will always reward the work we do, even the little things…but we are agents and not spectators.  We are also not mercenaries either.  We are agents on God’s Kingdom mission.  We are not agents offering these cups of water so we “get ours.”  Stanley Hauerwas writes in his commentary on this passage, “…no one follows Jesus in order to “get ours,” but to follow Jesus means that we discover an “ours” that we could not have otherwise imagined.”[2]  As we engage in Christ’s Kingdom harvest and mission in the world we discover anew that we both welcome and are welcomed.  We witness to the Kingdom and experience the Kingdom. 

          We are also reminded by Jesus that it’s not about success.  Hauerwas points out that we don’t know how it ended for the disciples.  Neither Matthew nor Jesus tells us how the mission goes and we are reminded that we are to be laborers in the fields, proclaiming the Kingdom and participating with God’s Kingdom work but the success of our efforts is up to God.  It’s up to God, and when success is up to God, we realize that just a cup of water, given in the name of the kingdom, can change a life, and it might even change ours too.