Hospitality
Today’s Gospel comes after an extensive discourse on various episodes in Jesus’ ministry of teaching, healing, casting out demons, and raising the dead. At the end of chapter 9, Jesus looks at the crowds and has compassion on them because they are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. So, he tells his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest”.
Clearly, Jesus intends his disciples to be the answer to this prayer, for at the beginning of chapter 10, he sends them out to continue his ministry, proclaiming the same good news and performing the same works of healing that he is doing. Jesus’ further instructions make clear that the disciples are also to share in his poverty and homelessness, taking with them no money or extra clothing, and depending solely on the hospitality of others for shelter and sustenance.
He tells them that they will not be welcomed everywhere, and they can expect to experience the same hostility Jesus often does. They can expect to encounter persecution and trials, and they must also be prepared for painful division within families and be willing to put Jesus’ mission above even family loyalties.
In the ancient world identity was tied to family and community. It was understood that in showing hospitality, one welcomed not just an individual, but implicitly, the community who sent the person and all that they represent. Therefore, welcoming a disciple of Jesus would mean receiving the very presence of Jesus himself.
Finally, Jesus says, “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. “Little ones” (mikros) often refers to children, but Matthew uses it to refer to Jesus’ disciples, especially those who are young in faith or particularly vulnerable. The statement about giving a cup of cold water to one of these little ones points ahead to the parable of the judgment in Matthew 25. Here the Son of Man says to the righteous, “I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink” (25:35), and “truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (25:40). The word translated “least of these” is elachistos, superlative of mikros. The righteous who attend to the needs of the “littlest ones” are told: “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (25:34). The word “reward” (misthos) in Matthew 10 carries connotations of something earned, but this word is not used in the parable of judgment. Here Jesus says to the righteous, “Come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you…” An inheritance is pure gift. Those who welcome and care for the needs of “little ones” welcome and care for Jesus himself. To receive Jesus is to receive the one who sent him, and to become heirs to all that the Father has to give.
Sent by God, Jesus sends his disciples to participate in his mission of proclaiming in word and deed the good news of God’s kingdom drawing near. Matthew assumes that the church is a “sent” church, a missionary church There is growing awareness that mission is not just a program of the church; it is the defining purpose of everything the church does.
What does it mean for us to be ‘sent’? Not everyone is called to be a wandering missionary, depending on others for food and sustenance, in fact, most of us are not. But that doesn’t mean we are off the hook! All baptised people are called to be the embodied presence of Christ in the world., according to our gifts, out circumstances, and the needs of the world. We are all called to be that presence and to embrace that call with humility, vulnerability, and to be willing to risk rejection.
What would happen if we stopped expecting people to come on their own initiative through our church doors, and instead took seriously our calling to bring the gospel to them? What would happen if we truly believed that we bear the presence of Christ to every person we encounter, in every home, workplace, or neighborhood we enter? What would happen if we saw every conversation as an opportunity to speak words of grace, every interaction as an opportunity to embody Christ’s love for the neighbor? Amen.