July 2, 2017 — Pentecost + 4A

“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…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.” Matthew 10:40-42

“What a little thing, don’t you think, to give a cup of cold water? Jesus emphasizes the same by his use of the word “even.” We often imagine discipleship as requiring huge sacrifice or entailing great feats, and sometimes that is exactly what discipleship comes to. But at other times, Jesus seems to say, it’s nothing more than giving a cup of cold water to one in need. Or offering a hug to someone who is grieving. Or a listening ear to someone in need of a friend. Or offering a ride to someone without a car. Or volunteering at the local food bank. Or making a donation to an agency like Luther World Relief or Kiva. Or…you get the idea. Discipleship doesn’t have to be heroic. Like all the small acts of devotion, tenderness, and forgiveness that go largely unnoticed but tend the relationships that are most important to us, so also the life of faith is composed of a thousand small gestures. Except that, according to Jesus, there is no small gesture. Anything done in faith and love has cosmic significance for the ones involved and, indeed, for the world God loves so much. You probably know as well as I do Loren Eiseley’s story of “the star thrower” — the one about the guy tossing starfish after starfish into the sea. When asked why, he replies that if they don’t get back in the water soon, they’ll dry out and die. Looking at a beach strewn with thousands of starfish, his interlocutor responds that he can’t possibly hope to make any difference. To which he says — and this is famous closing line — “To the ones I throw back, it makes all the difference in the world.” Exactly. Because Jesus has promised to come in time to redeem all in love, to fix all damage, heal all hurts, and wipe the tears from every eye, we can in the meantime devote ourselves to acts of mercy and deeds of compassion small and large, not trying to save the world — Jesus has promised to do that! — but simply trying to care for the little corner of the world in which we have been placed. And so even a cup of cold water can make a huge and unexpected difference to those to whom we give it and, according to Jesus, such acts have eternal and cosmic consequences. Can you imagine that..? That each and every act of mercy rings through the eons and across the universe imbued with Christ’s love for the world, a love we can share anytime and anywhere with gestures that may seem small in the eyes of the world but loom large in the life of those who witness them? There is no small gesture…” (David Lose, working preacher website, No Small Gestures, June 24, 2014)

If we admit it or not, how we appear – our facial expressions and our body language will immediately tell someone if they are welcome. Most of the time we are unaware of the signals that we send to others yet these responses can be very telling, and very powerful. After all if we are willing to admit it or not, we are not always in a good mood. We do not always feel good. And, we do not always want to talk to people. We do not always want to be in the place that we currently are, and that can put us in a bad mood. Is it possible to always be welcoming – in our lives, and in the life of the church? The church of course is to be a welcoming place – a place where everyone is welcome – and where we want to feel welcome. To achieve this, it takes work. We have to work very hard, no matter what mood we are in, and no matter what mood strangers are in.
In terms of who is doing the welcoming, here Jesus is telling his disciples that they are not always going to be welcomed by those to whom they are sent. And as we all know, especially those of you who have tried to go door to door in this community to hang door hangers or even to talk to people about the church, when one goes out in the name of Jesus Christ, you are not always welcomed. In fact, you often will get a door slammed in your face, or someone will turn a cold shoulder toward you. And that, my friends, is hard. But take heart, because there are a lot of disciples who have gone before us, who have been rejected, and persecuted, and have paved the way of the faithful disciple. And they have given us words to live by, and to encourage us. Paul says, in the text from Romans: “For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater… iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.” In other words, as Christians, who have been saved by grace through faith, we need to be slaves to righteousness, and slaves to doing the right thing, even when we are rejected – and to be rejected, and not welcomed, well that can be painful.

Speaking of pain – we all know pain – pain that can cause us to turn inward. There is so much in this life and in the life of the church that can cause us pain – that can make us feel un-welcomed. And we never really know what pain people might be transferring onto us at any given moment, because they are hurting. But remember, the way of the cross is not easy. Faith, my friends, always requires much of us – even if it makes us uncomfortable, makes us feel unwelcome, or even makes us feel rejected. We don’t do it for our sake – but for Christ’s sake.
We all are welcome in G-d’s house, and we need to live out that welcome by sharing the good news. When we meet others, whether in the community, or strangers in our churches, we extend an open palm in welcome. And we also welcome others by reaching out to people who are lonely, oppressed, rejected, or even in pain; not because it is easy, but because it is what we do – because it is what Jesus wants us to do. And often, the things that we do are more influential than the things we say. The truth is, no matter how hard we work at it, people are not always going to think that we are welcoming – but we continue to try. After all, if Jesus sent the disciples after the “lost sheep”, then we can certainly say that he is concerned for all people – the lost, the found – the welcomed and the un-welcomed.

But that leaves us with one more comment – the “reward” that Jesus is speaking of. As Lutherans, we believe that our faith results not in a reward, but in a gift – the gift of Grace. God determines what reward we “deserve” – but the criteria is not “works” – it is God seeing what we cannot see, knowing what we cannot know, deciding what we cannot decide. So, all we can do is decide to start small – extending a cup of cold water to the thirsty, a meal to the hungry, a place of love and welcome for the lonely – and we do it not because they “deserve it” or have “earned it”, but because Jesus commands us to do it.

Pastor Dave