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.
It may seem odd for a farewell sermon to focus on a text that within the span of three verses refers to ‘welcome’ six times. But as I step down as your parish priest the idea of welcoming and offering hospitality to God’s servants remains critically important for all of us.
Monken Hadley Church is a welcoming church. Gabi noticed that on her first, incognito, visit. Being truly welcoming to visitors can be one of the strengths of smaller churches. But being welcoming on Sundays is not the same as welcoming people into our lives. In relation to this we have perhaps a more mixed record.
We have strengthened a welcoming and hospitable atmosphere over the last decade with the installation of our glass doors, with Open Church music, and with community breakfasts. The last did not survive Covid but will hopefully be revived once the new Church House is up and running, alongside perhaps a Wellbeing Café.
I said a few times before that hospitality is an important Christian value and is not the same as entertaining. We, the middle class in the southern part of England, are arguably better at entertaining than we are at offering hospitality. The latter is opening up our homes for people to drop in, sharing meals spontaneously without much if any additional preparation. In other words, sharing our lives rather than organising an entertaining evening.
What does Jesus mean when he speaks about welcome in this passage? Let us first note how closely Christ identifies with those who belong to him. Last week we saw some of the challenges involved in being a disciple of Jesus:
(1) they cannot expect to be better treated than Jesus himself (vv 24–25) which is rather worrying given that Jesus was crucified in the end;
(2) they must be prepared for hostility even from within their own households which is sadly a regular occurrence in many societies today;
(3) they must make their relationship with Jesus the top priority, above even love for their parents or their children.
But with that set of challenges comes this amazing statement about welcome. Jesus addresses his first disciples, the apostles:
Whoever welcomes you welcomes me and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
Those who offer hospitality to Christ’s apostles, those who make space for them, actually welcome Christ, and those who welcome Christ welcome God. The very disciples of Jesus who so often messed it up, especially before Christ’s death and resurrection: Jesus recognises them here as his representatives and so God himself is welcomed when the apostles are welcomed.
I think this means that we can test the health of our relationship with God by the welcome we give to the apostles. Are we on good terms with God? We can find out by exploring whether we make room in our lives for the apostles, Jesus’ first disciples and ambassadors.
But how so? The apostles have died. We cannot welcome them in person today. How do we offer hospitality to the apostles today? We have the teaching they left as a deposit of their apostolic ministry. And so the first take-home lesson for us today is that if we accept the teaching of the apostles, we let God himself into our lives. You don’t need me to welcome God into your life, to have authentic fellowship with Him. But you do need the apostles. You do need Holy Scripture.
Jesus expands on this with a more general saying that uses two familiar OT designations:
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;
Now Jesus no longer addresses his first disciples specifically; he speaks more generally about welcoming someone in their capacity as a prophet or because they are a righteous person. We can receive a reward appropriate to the importance of the person we welcome. And we are not looking for their title, their status in the world, their wealth. We make space and extend hospitality to those who are authentic spokespersons of God and those whose lives reflect God’s righteousness.
During the interregnum you will meet more ministers than usual. Hopefully, they will be preaching God’s word faithfully and will be people of integrity that reflect God’s righteousness. (Some of them will be ordained clergy but not all; some will come from other churches around us but there will be prophets and righteous people from within the Monken Hadley community as well.) Offer a warm welcome to God’s servants. Honour them, most of all by listening attentively to the word of God they preach and by imitating what is good and right about their way of life.
Try not to let visiting preachers leave with a simple ‘I enjoyed that sermon’ – they have not come to entertain you. Tell them what specifically struck you, what you have learned for the first time or seen afresh, or what puzzles you, or ask them how what they said related to this or that part of God’s word. These would be ways of welcoming them in their capacity as prophets, God’s spokespersons. In this way you can reap a reward for yourselves. In other words, it will do you good.
Do the same with righteous people. In the Bible righteous people are those who are in faithful relationships with God and neighbours, who care for the needy and marginalised, who do not pursue their own advantage but seek the welfare of others. Look out for such people, make them welcome, appreciating and imitating them. It will do you good.
So (1) make sure that you accept the apostles as Christ’s representatives because this is how you welcome God in your lives. (2) Offer hospitality to those who faithfully teach and live as God’s representatives today because Christ promises a reward for those who recognise and make space for prophets and righteous people.
But then note how Jesus proceeds:
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.
In a sense, giving a cup of cold water is really nothing special. In the culture into which Jesus speaks this would have been basic decency. Yet Jesus is talking about people doing this because someone is a disciple of Jesus. There are places in the world in which showing basic kindness to a Christian is dangerous because you might be identified with them. Not so in Monken Hadley – thank God!
What are our opportunities to show a bit of kindness to a Christian because he or she is a Christian? What does creating a space of hospitality for someone because they are a Christian look like? I’m not entirely sure. And in a sense, we perhaps need not worry too much about that. As those who belong to Christ we are called to love one another as Christ has loved us – that is a clear enough challenge, I think. (If we ask whether helping out on the coffee rota is the equivalent of giving a drink of cold water, we have rather missed the point.)
But this text also reminds us that ‘the way the gospel is known is by one person being for another person the story of Christ.’ (Stanley Hauerwas) By God’s grace, some people do come to faith simply by reading the New Testament. But most people need to see what this means in the lives of flesh and blood people. Jesus summons us throughout this chapter to a life that is so shaped and infused by Him that we too become His credible representatives, his ambassadors.
He tells us that being a Christian cannot be something incidental or even something that is a significant element part of our lives, something alongside things like being British, being a pianist, or whatever…If we are people that are known to be Christians first of all, then acts of kindness extended towards us have a fair chance of being done ‘in the name of a disciple’, which is to say because we bear the name of Christ. At its most beautiful, people want to be close to us, want to make space for us in their lives and extend kindness to us because there is an aroma of Christ about us that intrigues them and to which they are attracted. In meeting and welcoming us people should be able to encounter Christ. If they do, they can show love and honour to Christ by meeting and welcoming us.
Does this sound like something that applies to big saints only? Well, I think Jesus uses the designation ‘little ones’ deliberately. He’s not talking about people with big shoes to fill and big achievements to their name. Just like children can get all excited (for a while) about dinosaurs, fairies, dolls, football or whatever, so each one of us can become saturated with Christ by spending time with Him, thinking about Him, following Him. If our hearts and minds keep returning to Christ, it will become more obvious to others that we are His disciples, Christ-people, Christians. And this gives others the chance to get themselves a little reward by doing us good just because we are Christ’s disciples.
If there is some good in even just giving a cup of water to one of the little ones, how much more rewarding must it be to do good to a whole community of Christ’s disciples! Alas, I cannot claim that I have consistently served you in Monken Hadley because you are Christ’s. I trust that many of you will have seen something of Christ in me but you will have seen also some shortcomings and weaknesses – and there are many more that (thank God) you have not seen!
If at any point I have not taught the apostolic message faithfully, I beg your forgiveness. In welcoming the apostles, in letting the apostolic teaching shape your lives, you make space for God in your life. Few things could give me more joy than knowing that my preaching has helped you welcome apostolic truth. Where instead my preaching has been a hindrance I am truly sorry.
William Perkins in his 1592 work The Art of Prophesying notes well: ‘There are two parts to prophecy: preaching the Word and public prayer.’ I have made both a priority in my own ministry and I know that some of you are grateful that the daily office was said in church morning and evening every day of the week. But here too I must admit to shortcomings. I wish I had aided and assisted you better by praying more consistently for everyone on the Electoral Roll by name. And I regret not having kept up for longer the discipline of praying for the different streets in the parish. I am not putting myself down. I am just saying. I did some things well but not as well as they could have been done and I ask your forgiveness for that. I could have handed out more cups of cold water by way of naming you individually in my prayers.
I hope I have never impeded your labours for Christ in other ways but I know I could have done more to cheer you on. Most of you will know that I find it easier to spot the things that need setting straight than to look out for the things that ought to be commended and applauded. It’s not good enough to blame my temperament or personality. I apologise that I have not fought my natural tendencies harder. Again, I am not putting myself down. By God’s grace I leave Monken Hadley a better place than it was when I arrived but I know that I have not perfectly sought God’s kingdom and His righteousness.
I pray that my successor will do better than I and I like to think that I would be very happy if that were to happen. But in fact I hope this is the ambition of every one of you
- to welcome God by welcoming apostolic teaching
- to find a reward in recognising prophets and righteous persons for who they are
- to be such people that others see and honour Christ in us
- to leave Monken Hadley a better place than it was when we arrived. Amen.
