This Sunday, the lectionary invites us to ponder Matthew 10:40-42. The English Standard Version supplies the text with a one-word heading, “Rewards.”
Jesus began his public ministry after being tempted by the Devil for 40 days. At the end of Matthew 4, we read that Jesus travelled. And taught. And healed people. People who even came to him from neighbouring countries. He also told everyone, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Jesus was speaking and acting at a time when his homeland was under occupation. Under occupation by Romans. By Romans who used spies, sedition laws, and soldiers to impose the laws of Caesar’s kingdom. A kingdom within which Jesus spoke of another kingdom.
The word “kingdom”[1] is political. It evokes the dream of a state of justice and righteousness, with no exploitation of the poor by the powerful. A state in which everyone is treated with equal dignity – just like when prophets like Nathan, Isaiah, and Jeremiah held kings to account.
Jesus used political language. Used dangerous words. Including the word “repent,” which means “change your ways.” Which means “don’t choose what will keep you safe from the state, choose what pleases God.”
Preachers often say that Jesus’ directed his command to repent at those whom he healed or released, those whom he saved. Mostly because it’s hard to shake off the belief that personal sin is the reason for personal suffering. It’s hard to accept that the greed of a factory owner, and the complicity of his workers, neighbours, and the authorities, may be the cause of a child’s cancer, not the sin of the child or it’s parents.
It’s true that some suffer because they sin, because they choose wrong paths. For example, Jesus, after he restored a paralyzed man, and after he saved an adulterous woman from stoning, told them to “sin no more.”[2]
It’s also true that Jesus called all mankind to obey the command, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul. And love your neighbour as yourself.”[3] This command applies even to Caesar and his servants. Jesus was also calling them to repent!
After chapter 4, in chapters 5-7, in what we call the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew outlines Jesus’ ethical teaching. Then, from chapter 8, Matthew tells of Jesus casting out demons; conducting healings; multiplying bread and fish and feeding thousands; calming a storm.
Then, in chapters 9-10, Matthew interrupts his narrative. Interrupts his account of Jesus’ prolific work of healing and casting out of demons. Prolific and headline-making. Like the headlines you would read if every patient who comes to register in the General Hospital in KL today was instantly healed. This is why last week I said the impact of Jesus’ ministry of healing was like the impact of Falun Gong on the Chinese government.
Matthew tells us Jesus appointed the Twelve and sent them out to meet the needs of the people. Last week I asked, but didn’t answer, why Jesus didn’t have the people come to him. I’ll answer now: I think Jesus wanted to avoid drawing attention to himself.
Today’s text is at the end of Matthew’s summary of a seminar Jesus gave to the Twelve before he gave them power and sent them as his ambassadors, to act and to speak for him. As I said last week, Jesus warned them to expect trouble when they preached the Kingdom of God.
Today’s text informs us that Jesus told the Twelve they should expect a prophet’s reward. I wonder what questions the Twelve put to Jesus after they heard him say this. Because often a prophet’s earthly reward is torture and death. As the writer to the Hebrews put it:
“They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated.”[4]
But Jesus did speak about joy which they could also expect. He told them that as they fulfilled their mission of casting out spirits, commanding, healing, and teaching, they would enjoy hospitality.
Matthew didn’t think it necessary to tell his readers that Jesus told the Twelve they’d be filled with joy and awe as God’s power worked through them. But he does say Jesus added that those who welcomed the Twelve and treated them well would also receive the prophet’s reward.
That is the reward which disciples of Christ can expect. Jesus summed it up in the words, “Take up your cross and follow me.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in the book which he titled “The Cost of Discipleship,” summed it up in the words, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”
Today’s text reminds us that one of the key features of life in the kingdom is hospitality. One of the results of following Jesus is that we look for opportunities to host others, to show them hospitality. Just as we, in the words of Psalm 23, rejoice in the table God “prepares for us in the presence of our enemies,” we rejoice in preparing tables for others.
How hospitable are we?
Peace be with you.
[1] When Jesus taught a model prayer, he included the word “kingdom” in it. It’s known as “the Lord’s Prayer.” Matthew 6:9-13. In BLC, we repeat it after every worship service.
[2] John 5:14 and 8:11. See also John 9, which I discussed in A Delicious Irony in the Story of Jesus and the Man Born Blind, and John 10:1-10, which I discussed in When “We See” Becomes Our Blindness.
[3] Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30; Luke 10:27.
[4] Hebrews 11:37.
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