07/02/23 - Cups of Water - Matthew Winkler - Westminster Presbyterian Church Westminster Presbyterian Church | Serving God and others with open mind, hands and heart - 07/02/23 – Cups of Water

07/02/23 – Cups of Water – Matthew Winkler

CUPS OF WATER

July 2, 2023
5^th Sunday after Pentecost
Gen. 22:1-14; Romans 6:12-23; Matthew 10:40-42
Dr. Matthew Winkler

Since Pentecost, our gospel readings have challenged us to think about mission, and what missional behavior is. We have received the Holy Spirit, and now the question becomes: what does it look like to use this gift to help the Father’s kingdom come and for His will to be done? In Matthew’s tenth chapter, we have been reminded to follow the apostles into the world, to proclaim the Gospel in word and deed, to move into the fields ready for harvest, and to pray for more workers. We have been warned that we will not be treated well on our mission and that following God may well create division even in our own homes.

In today’s section of our Gospel reading, we learn that our role in the mission is not only as one who is sent out, but also as one who receives others on the mission. The focus is on welcoming. Jesus uses the word “welcome” six times in this brief passage of only three verses and points us to the importance of hospitality in furthering Jesus’ Kingdom. We are, therefore, called to consider more deeply what it means to welcome one another.

On reviewing the reading, we see that this welcome can and ought to be practiced at any time, no matter what circumstances or sorts of crises we find ourselves in. We also see that our welcoming need not necessarily consist of grandiose, heroic acts. Any simple, basic act of kindness we offer as genuine welcome for one another is what God promises us is an act that comes with a heavenly reward. All we need do is look around to see who is in need and discern what our simple, basic act of kindness may be.

This theology of hospitality perhaps reaches its fullest Christian expression in the final parable Jesus tells in Matthew’s gospel – the one most of us remember as the parable of the Sheep and the Goats. In that parable, Jesus reminds us that we are charged to feed the hungry, slake the thirst of the thirsty, invite in the stranger, clothe the naked, nurse the sick, and visit the prisoner. This reads like a list of the meek on the Earth. Here we are explicitly told to show love and kindness to the poor and the pariahs among society. Thus does Matthew’s gospel reminds us that righteousness goes well beyond some sort of one-on-one relationship with God. Whether we are deemed righteous, when the Son of Man comes in his glory, as Christ himself puts it, has a great deal to do with how hospitable we are toward one another here on Earth, especially those who are most vulnerable among us.

Indeed, as people of faith, we are called to promote a compassionate welcome that challenges us to trust, to be open, and to share, in a world that fosters a “me, me, me” attitude. At the same time, we need to exercise caution to avoid a short burn on our efforts to be hospitable in God’s sense of the word. We may set out with good intentions to form caring relationships, yet when left to our own devices, we sometimes fall short of sustaining the kind of relationships that help us to become the people God has called us to be. Oftentimes, pride, ego, self-doubt, or other sentiments get in the way and keep us from connecting with others with openness that fosters true trust. We need God’s grace to help us with living into compassionate welcome with one another and extending genuine hospitality.

Like all the myriad small acts of devotion, tenderness, and forgiveness that go largely unnoticed but strengthen the relationships that are most important to us, the life of faith is also made up of many small gestures – gestures like making a phone call to ask how a friend or stranger is doing, helping with yard or housework for the elderly or homebound, reaching out to the lonely and most vulnerable among us. This language of “small” acts, though, is our own human way of thinking of things. According to Jesus, there is no such thing as too small a gesture. A cup of cold water is the simplest of gifts – a gift that almost anyone can give. But a cup of cold water is precious to a person who is desperately thirsty – in some cases, the gift of life itself. In today’s world, where the quarterback – the hero – is lionized, it seems, rather, that Jesus’ heart leans more towards the water-boy or water-girl. In our passage, Jesus does not specify the nature of the reward for those who help little ones, but in the kingdom of God, the smallest service brings with it eternal reward for the giver.

When the Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde was sent to prison in 1895, it was the ultimate humiliation for him. In his day, he was a true celebrity – and those of you who have come across his work will know that it was well-deserved – but all of his public esteem vanished once he was convicted. When the prison authorities moved him in public, he was spat at and jeered. On one such occasion, when the crowd was not doing a good job of showing Christian charity to the imprisoned, a friend of Wilde’s appeared and made a simple gesture of friendship that silenced the crowd. What was this simple gesture? As Wilde passed by, handcuffed, and looking at the ground, his friend simply raised his hat to him, a show of respect and fondness – the very picture of a “small” act.

Later, Wilde wrote, “the memory of that lowly silent act of love has unsealed for me all the wells of pity, made the desert blossom like a rose, and brought me out of the bitterness of lonely exile into harmony with the wounded, broken and great heart of the world.”

The smallest of good deeds: a little thing was done in love. The cup of cold water is the symbol of that kind of act. It really doesn’t take that much to be hospitable, welcoming, and accepting of other people. A cup of cold water replicated in a host of other simple, small deeds. And Jesus tells us that every single one of those small deeds is important – indeed, even eternally significant. Every one of us can achieve these things, and every one of us can make that difference. We can find God in those smallest of good deeds.

In the Kingdom of God, the roles of those who welcome and those being welcomed are interchangeable. We are all called to be Christlike to each other. Jesus sends us forth to share the Good News: to alleviate human suffering, to meet real needs of real people, to work miracles of love and healing through acts of kindness… our little cups of water. We are called to remember that we, too, are to go as people willing to receive those same acts of kindness, for in doing so we also bring glory to God. When we welcome one another, we discover the reward that comes from the deep hospitality found in God’s welcome of us.

Whoever gives you even a cup of cold water… will most definitely not lose their reward.

All honor, power, and glory be to our Triune God.

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