This morning’s gospel (Matt 10:40-42) is the profound, deceptively simple, concluding fragment of the larger story of Matthew’s 9th and 10th chapters which we began reading on June 11. Before turning to today’s reading here is a synopsis of those gospels.

Jesus was walking along when he saw Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him. As he sat at dinner many tax-collectors and sinners came and sat with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ When he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. …

Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, curing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless…

Then Jesus  summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.  

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go …to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.  

I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves… You will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, Do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents 

Have no fear of them… Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground unperceived by your Father. You are of more value than many sparrows.

‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.

Whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

**

The preceding verses are vital for understanding the theme of mission and, particularly, the brief gospel for July 2nd. Jesus had made his invitation and his message intensely personal…. follow me:… because of me:… take up the cross and follow me. The gospel for this day continues this identification with Jesus and his mission. It reads, in its entirety:   

‘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.’

Throughout the chapter Jesus had personified his message of teaching, forgiving, healing and compassion. He transferred the power to preach and cure in his name to his disciples so they could be like him and act of his behalf. In these three verses he summed up this embodiment of the teaching and the role of his disciples: Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.

A hinge word for the gospel is welcome. It is more than a verbal nod, ‘hello’. It is a wholehearted loving embrace of the person… and everything they stand for. The welcome is an enduring posture of openness and mutuality. It was to accept the person as the embodiment of goodness.

Moreover, when Jesus said whoever welcomes you welcomes me he was identifying himself with his  disciples. They represented him. In case they missed the import of his words, he paraphrased himself by saying Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. The title prophet carried weight as a holy person, sent by God. When Jesus likened his disciples to the prophets he was cloaking them in an historically sacred mantle. By identifying them with himself and referring to them as prophets he reframed their self-understanding. 

**

Jesus’ education of his disciples began with calling them, instructing them, having them work with him to do things like distribute the loaves and fishes, continued with giving them powers to heal and drive out daemons and sending them out to be his representatives. His call became sacramentalized at the Last Supper when he commanded them to do this in memory of me and he breathed on them the power to forgive sins. The arrival of his Spirit at Pentecost confirmed that he had breathed new life into them. The trajectory flew from engagement with him to profound identification with him.  

The arc of identification with Jesus was not smooth. En route to their state of oneness with Christ various disciples misunderstood him, corrected him, doubted him, denied him, betrayed him and fled in fear of being associated with him. 

Yet Christ remained constant in his hopes and aspirations for his disciples. He continued to give them opportunities to become their best selves…with a caution that this identification would come at a cost.

**

The invitation Jesus extended to his disciples throughout these two chapters, and indeed, the whole gospel, includes us. Teaching, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, curing and showing compassion are his continuing blessings on those who are harassed and helpless and he invites us to become one with him in addressing their needs.

The stumbles, misunderstandings, and outright failures of Jesus’ disciples are lessons for us too. Like them, we are imperfect representatives. Nevertheless, Jesus encourages us to pick ourselves up after each spill and resume the journey. His hopes and graces for each of us are unvarying.

**

Reflecting on our human frailties, a friend said, “It’s not a question of trying harder but resisting less.” These might have been Christ’s own words to us as we hesitate in our decision to follow me. We should welcome the invitation.

**

  • How do you wish to identify more closely with Jesus? Is it in teaching, praising God, healing, being compassionate? Something else? (Thomas a Kempis’s book The Imitation of Christ captures one approach to this quest.) 
  • How do you welcome Christ?
  • Consider your personal mission. What has Christ sent you into the world to do? How do you represent him? (It is a challenging question.)
  • Does a sense of inadequacy for the mission hold you back? Do you feel ‘I’m not good enough’ ,'I'm not trained properly’, or ‘I’m not so arrogant as to assume that I’m Christ’s gift to the world’, limit you? 

Peace
Michael