Righteous

Matthew 10:40-42 “Those who receive you are also receiving me, and those who receive me are receiving the one who sent me. 41 Those who receive a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. Those who receive a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 I assure you that everybody who gives even a cup of cold water to these little ones because they are my disciples will certainly be rewarded.”

INTRO

We are now on the fourth Sunday of walking the path of discipleship. The last three Sundays have dealt with Jesus’ first commissioning of the disciples in Matthew’s Gospel. The first commissioning found in the gospel is not a commission to teach but a sending out of the disciples into the world to proclaim the healing presence of God. They’ve been told to brush the dust of their sandals and move on if someone does not accept the message. They have been given a stark warning about Jesus’ mission to upend and disrupt the status quo. We like the disciples, have been reminded that our calling to proclaim God’s love isn’t about our survival or prosperity; it is not about the numbers rising or the budget being sustained. These things aren't what the good news is about! The good news is not about our agenda or values, for they are turned upside down in Jesus Christ.

In our lectionary text for this morning, Jesus is still discoursing with the disciples about their commission to proclaim God’s love and God’s healing presence to the hurting world. Our text comes immediately after Jesus warns his followers that things won’t always go well for them. That their idea of security, their relationships with family members, and their hopes and dreams will sometimes cause a crisis of loyalty to Christ’s calling on our lives.

Our pride, ego, self-doubt, kinship, and need for security often mean that the connections we make, the relationships we build, and the people we associate with are for our own self-interest. Jesus said as much in last week’s sermon, which makes this week so interesting. We go from anticipating non-acceptance to anticipating acceptance, welcome, and hospitality.

Jesus, ending to his missional discourse and instruction, reminds us that God’s love is the center of our call, the center of our baptismal vows, the center of our vows to be loyal to Christ through the United Methodist Church, and this love calls us to be a people of hospitality. However, this kind of hospitality that we are called to is not superficial hospitality that seeks out persons of one mind, one belief, persons who look and act as we do, whereby we retain power and control as we only engage those whom we believe are a “good fit.”

Rather, true hospitality requires our ongoing repentance. We must turn from our familiar behavioral patterns that do not welcome others; we must give up our positions of privilege and embrace really hearing, listening, and forming relationships with the other.

One commentary notes, “What if the burden is not really on the one who responds (the one who welcomes you_ but on the one who seeks to present Christ to the world? What if Jesus is not giving the disciples a free pass on this hospitality thing, but is, in fact, significantly raising the bar?”[1]

Your task is not just to go out and invite folks to church but to be Christ, to represent God as you meet, greet, and engage in any and all conversations….as you offer the same hospitality that God in Jesus Christ has offered to you. To be hospitable is different from last week’s call to be a people of compassion. To have compassion is to be empathetic towards another, to feel for the other in the core of our being. To understand and walk in their shoes. To be hospitable is to welcome and assist the stranger by committing oneself and their resource to the other. In order to offer genuine hospitality, one must have and exhibit compassion. However, “Hospitality also implies mutuality between guest and the host. It is characterized by sincere graciousness between strangers. Henri Nouwen writes that hospitality is “the creation of a space where the stranger can enter and become a friend instead of an enemy.”[2]

In Matthew 10:42, Jesus tells us to offer a cup of cold water. The emphasis on “cold” is added for a reason. It is to indicate not only hospitality but sacrifice. To offer cold water, one must find a well that is usually miles outside of town, and draw the water from a deep well, then carry the bucket of water uphill fast enough that the water is still cold. This is a generous, sacrificial act on behalf of the believer, and according to Christ, this act is done not towards the prophet or the righteous but the little ones. The term little ones does not refer to children but rather “humble Christians: who are not leaders in the church. Humble ones are often on the fringes.

Here’s the point. Just before today's lectionary passage, Jesus tells us that our “blood” families are going to be divided, our security will be divided, and our hopes and dreams will be divided. Jesus then tells us to realign ourselves with those who receive us, for in their hospitality, they are also receiving Christ. Yet, it’s a calling towards mutual hospitality. Don’t just show them hospitality but sacrificial love! The kind of love you show only to your family.

In other words, the closeness and love we share with members of our own family members ought not to bind us only to our loved one, but we ought to take that love for our family, the love of the closest community we know, and extend it. Welcome the stranger, welcome the one whose life you do not understand, and welcome the baptismal candidates, confirmands, and members who will be joining….love them as if they were your immediate family! Welcome them, not to change them but rather welcome them because they are beloved children of God!

To welcome means to be invited into a mutual relationship whereby we are changed by the other. I recently told some of the leaders here at Saint Luke’s UMC that our theme for this year has been “church hurt.” Church Hurt is the worst kind of hurt, it's the kind where you open yourself up to a community, and they do not receive you with hospitality, love, and grace. Many of the persons joining today have experienced “church hurt.” My prayer is that we will continue to love them, welcome them and learn from their experiences. That we’ll offer such a space of hospitality that our church will continue to grow in the diversity that is reflective of our community, that we might be able to experience the joy of that diversity and grow more fully in love with God through our love for the other.

Maybe you are thinking…I don't know, pastor! That’s a lot to swallow. I am not ready for change, to listen, or receive new perspectives. Might our commission found in our baptismal vows remind us that God has begun a good work in us and will see it to completion? Might we reaffirm our baptismal vows alongside the confirmands who confirm theirs? May we be strengthened with the power to live in the faith we profess as we accept God’s freedom. May the words “the Holy Spirit work within you, that having been born through water and the Spirit, you may live as a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ.” speak to our souls. Might it confirm that God's grace has already gone before us as we open our hearts to receive and offer God’s grace to each other. However, we must remember that this requires sacrificing our need to be right, our security, our hopes, and our dreams as we cling to God’s vision of a more just world where those who are hurting find God’s loving embrace through you and your love.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

[1] Discipleship Ministries [2] Michael Downey, The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000), 515.