Matthew 10:40-42
“Sharing a Cup”
June 28, 2020
Jesus, as he’s finishing up the instructions to the disciples he’s sending out to share the message of God’s love, is the opposite of the models of a leader and motivator that we are so accustomed to seeing. Imagine coaches before the big game or corporate supervisors before asking the sales team to do whatever it takes to make the sale. That’s not Jesus and he’s not looking for grand gestures. Instead he wants them to be carriers and receivers of compassionate welcome. They are to be bearers and recipients of hospitality out in the world.
Hospitality is all about making a welcoming space for the other. The theologian Henri Nouwen points out that in Dutch, the word for hospitality, gastrvijheid (gast-vrij-heid – hast-fry-hide) translates into “the freedom of the guest.” It’s the idea that hospitality is not only about creating a physical space but an emotional spaciousness where that stranger gets to be themselves and can become an ally rather than a threat.
Jesus has been on the receiving end of such compassionate hospitality in all those homes of strangers who invited him in, fed him and offered him a place to sleep. He’s also been on the giving end when he chose the reviled tax collector or the woman who was shunned or the sick one and generously treated them with the respect that others had withheld.
Jesus is creating an expectation that it is in the small gestures that they will open the hearts and minds of the people they encounter. They are to travel modestly and they, too, will be reliant on the kindness of strangers. That way of living must be two-way. They are going to be doing the work of Jesus and therefore Jesus wants them to be able to see him in all those they will encounter.
It was Mother Teresa who said, “We can do no great things – only small things with great love.” Small, daily acts of devotion are not for nothing. These are what count.
Last Sunday afternoon, Father’s Day, I got to spend some time with my parents and my dad told me a story that I had never heard about a small act, a sharing of a cup of water act, that he still remembered from almost 60 years ago.
At the time we were living in North Augusta, South Carolina as my dad had been in the Army reserves and was called to active duty. It was 1962 and I was 3 years old, my sister was 2 and my brother was 1 and mom was pregnant with my brother Bob.
For the only time in my childhood, my parents had someone who came into help clean the house and take care of us. Her name was Claudia and she was Black. On one of her first days it was lunch time and after feeding all of us, Mom made a sandwich for herself and one for Claudia and put them down on the table in the dining room and invited Claudia to take a break and have some lunch with her.
Claudia thanked my mom, picked up the plate with the sandwich on it and went into the kitchen to eat it. My mother said c’mon back and eat with me. Claudia said she really appreciated the offer but couldn’t do that because she knew our family would leave within a year and if any of the other white women in town heard that she’d eaten with my mom she would never get another cleaning job. My mom was not a threat, but she also learned the reality of Claudia’s life. How does compassionate welcome operate in a world shaped by oppressions and inequalities?
Jesus was a realist. He knew that oppressions and inequalities would be present in the world they were being sent out into. They were living in an occupied land. There was a huge divide between those with wealth and everyone else. Anyone with a disability or who happened to be born female was definitely at the bottom of the pecking order.
He also knew these were the folks who most needed that cool drink of water in the form of compassionate welcome that he wanted to be the disciples’ calling card. Every one of those they would encounter was treasured by God and it was going to be their job to make sure they knew it.
Think of a time when you were extravagantly welcomed into a new place – a neighborhood, a job, a classroom, a family – remember that feeling. That is what Jesus is talking about.
Right now, when we aren’t able to physically lay out the compassionate welcome mat to our church sanctuary, we must look for opportunities to make others feel included, just as they are, able to be fully themselves, and know they are beloved children of God.
Back to Mother Teresa who ministered to the poorest and sickest in India. When asked the question “How do you stand it when you have to serve some truly despicable person?” she sighed and answered, “I look deeply into their eyes and say to myself,
“My Jesus, what an interesting disguise you are wearing today.”
Hold tight to his words, “Whoever welcomes you, welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” Amen.