Kia ora and welcome to the St. Francis Church
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As a church, we are learning to faithfully follow
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among us, head to stfrancis .co .nz. Grace and
peace. Good morning everyone. I hope your week
has been good, because God is good, so he would
have been there with you. I hope you're feeling
well and fighting off or staying away from any
of the illness that seems to be. travelling rapidly
around everyone. But we come here now this morning
to worship God, to hear his word and to hopefully
be able to take something away from what I'm
going to share with you this morning. Three verses
this morning. That's what we get from Matthew
today. Jesus has been sending out His disciples,
just 12 ordinary guys, he gave them specific
instructions. He warned about the rejection and
the hardship and told they'll be like sheep among
wolves. The whole of Matthew 10 is one long commission
and it ends here with three verses that feel
almost like an afterthought, almost. Jesus' words
are never wasted, are they? They're even the
one or two that we get. So hear this again. Whoever
receives you receives me. And whoever receives
me receives the one who sent me. Whoever receives
a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive
a prophet's reward. And whoever receives a righteous
person in the name of a righteous person will
receive a righteous person's reward. And whoever
gives one of these little ones even a cup of
cold water because he is a disciple, truly I
say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.
Let's sit with that last image for a moment.
It's a cup of cold water. Not a miracle he's
talking us about, not a sermon, not a... a big
sacrifice, a cup of cold water given to a thirsty
person in Jesus' name. And Jesus says that that
will not be forgotten. All of us, through our
lifetime, we walk into rooms or spaces carrying
things, things like fear, loneliness, am I good
enough? Pride. Sometimes you might walk into
a room saying, look at me, or hopefully they'll
look at you. Or there's the other one of, I want
to hide. I have to be here, but I want to hide.
So what did you carry into this place this morning?
I'm not going to get you to name it out loud.
You already know what they are. I have another
question for us, though. And it's hiding in these
three verses in Matthew that I want to pull out
into the open for us. It's not complicated, but
it's more demanding than it's look. It's this
question here. Do you understand who you're carrying
when you walk into a room? Because Jesus is saying
something extraordinary here to us. He's not
just commissioning the disciples to go and do
good things. He's saying, when people encounter
you, they're encountering me. So when they encounter
you, Janine, or Dave, or Wendy, or Tony, when
they encounter us during the day, they're encountering
Christ as well. And when they're encountering
me, they're encountering the Father who sent
me. Now that's a chain of presence that goes
all the way back to God. And it runs through
you and through the ordinary, unremarkable, imperfect
you and I. That's a certainty in our lives. Today's
three readings all converge on this. How we show
up in the ordinary days, which is just day to
day living, matters more than we usually believe.
The cup of water, the door opened, the person
welcomed. Those ordinary things, simple things
are not peripheral to what God is doing in the
world. They are central to it. When you go back
to the beginning of Matthew chapter 10, Jesus
has been watching. He's been moving through the
towns and the villages. We heard that just a
couple of weeks ago. Teaching, healing, meeting
people at the edge of their lives. And Matthew
tells us that when he saw the crowds, he had
compassion for them. Remember that gut wrenching?
That's his compassion. It physically moved him.
They were like sheep without a shepherd. And
then he does something unexpected. He calls 12
ordinary guys, gives them his own authority,
now this is the authority you have in my name,
and he says, go and do what I've been doing,
go and heal, go and announce, bring the good
news. And by the end of chapter 10, he's telling
them, well whoever receives you as you go and
do these things, receives me. Sitting here, you
are not just people going out to do good things
for God. You are carriers of His presence. You
are a vessel where He dwells within you. That's
the extraordinary claim that we have, and it's
not reserved for the Twelve. The early Church
understood this. And they understood this to
apply to every follower of Jesus who goes into
the world. I think within some of our teachings
in the life of the churches since then, we've
lapsed on it. But this also connects to something
that Paul was saying in Romans 6. His whole argument
in this chapter is about what you yield yourself
to. He says this, do not offer any part of yourself
to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather
Offer yourselves to God as those who have been
brought from death to life, and offer every part
of yourself to Him as an instrument of righteousness.
An instrument. Wow. The word in the Greek is
huppun, which is a tool or a weapon. Paul is
saying that your body, your hands, your voice,
your presence, These are the instruments that
will be used in everyday life to share and tell
and show of God's love and life. The question
is not whether you'll be an instrument of something.
The question is what you'll be an instrument
of. Now an instrument can be used for a tool
or the same instrument can be used as a weapon.
This is the question he's asking us, what will
you be an instrument of? And Jesus and Matthew
10 are saying that each of us have the responsibility
of being an instrument through which people encounter
him. Not because you're impressive, not because
you've got everything sorted, but because you
belong to him. And he has chosen to make himself
present through the people who carry his name.
We are marked externally and internally with
His name when we are baptized in the name of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We
carry His presence which dwells within us. Teresa
of Villa is attributed with these things, God
has no hands but ours, no feet but ours. Ours
are the eyes through which he looks with compassion
on the world. Ours are the feet with which he
walks to do good. Ours are the hands with which
he blesses all the world. We do something like
this at the cathedral, every chrism mass, which
is held in Holy Week. One part of the service,
the bishop goes back to the front or back wherever
you're standing and looking at the church. has
the anointing oil that's just been blessed for
that time and calls us to come forward and marks
in our hands the sign of the cross with the oil
saying, God has no hands but these hands. That
brings it down that my hands are to do God's
work. My words, my life, my feet are to carry
me to do the things that God has called me to
do. And that is placed on each one of us. You
may not feel like as you go through the days
that you're actually carrying much but Jesus
says whoever receives you receives me and That
should change how you walk into a room So I wonder
if I send you all out today to outside the doors
there with these words still in your ears Whoever
receives you receives me and they should change
how you walk in true. How you would then come
into this room this morning if you really knew
that. If that was in front of your thinking instead
of tucked away in some corner of your mind. Now
look at where Jesus lands this whole discourse.
He doesn't land it on the dramatic, on the miracles
or preaching. He lands it simply on a cup of
cold water. And whoever gives one of these little
ones even a cup of cold water, because he is
a disciple of mine, truly I say to you, he will
by no means lose his reward. A cup of cold water.
Well, in first century Palestine, offering water
to a traveler, this was just a basic act of hospitality.
It wasn't remarkable, it wasn't spiritual, it
was just ordinary. It was just an ordinary human
decency towards someone who was thirsty. And
Jesus says, when that happens in his name, that
it doesn't go unremarked. It doesn't fall through
the floor of history unnoticed. God sees it.
If he knows they're here on your head, the numbers
of them, he'll see this as well. Think about
what that means for the texture of an ordinary
week. A drink made for someone or for a colleague
who looks like they're struggling. The phone
call that took 20 minutes that you didn't have
at the beginning of it. Or the door held open,
the name that's remembered by someone thinking,
oh, they won't know it. The moment when you choose
to stay instead of leaving. The second question.
when the first answer wasn't the real one. Those
are the cup of cold waters. These things feel
small. They get lost in the ordinariness of days
and we just think they're just things that happen.
We don't usually think of them as spiritual acts.
We certainly don't think of them as encountering
Jesus, but Jesus says they are. Thing that is
small register in the economy of God. The smallest
act of a genuine welcome done in His name is
not nothing. There's a story that illustrates
this, and you heard it as a first reading this
morning, Abraham in Genesis 22. He's asked to
give up the thing that he loves most, his son,
the promised son, the son that... everything
was supposed to flow through. And he goes, he
doesn't understand it. There's no record in scripture
of him arguing his way through the theology of
it. He just goes. And at the last moment, God
provides. God provides the ram that's caught
in the thicket. He hears the angel's voice. And
Abraham names a place the Lord will provide.
What strikes me about that story in this context
of the Matthew is this. Abraham's obedience to
that looked like one thing on the outside, a
man walking up a hill with his son, with some
wood. Unremarkable from a distance, just a man
walking out for the day with his son. But the
obedience was carrying the whole weight of the
covenant, the whole future of God's people. everything
that was to come. That tells us that sometimes
what looks small from the outside is carrying
everything on the inside. Mother Teresa of Calcutta
said this, we can do no great things, only small
things with great love. With obedience to the
command to go. The disciples Jesus sends out
of Matthew 10, we know they're not impressive
people, we've seen what their life's like, it's
written down there for us. They're fishermen,
there's a tax collector thrown in, and people
who will within hours of the crucifixion, they're
just going to run away. They're going to deny
Him. But they carry something that they didn't
generate themselves. And the cup of cold water
given in Jesus' name by the least of them, it's
not nothing. And Jesus says so. See, in just
these few verses, there's something else that
we shouldn't miss with it. Jesus is not only
talking about the people being sent, he's talking
about the people who are doing the receiving.
Whoever receives you, they receive me. Whoever
receives you, receives me. That means the act
of welcome. of opening your door, your table,
your attention, your life to someone who carries
the presence of Jesus, that act is also an encounter
with God. Welcome is not one directional. It's
not charity flowing from the generous to the
needy. Welcome is something that is mutual. The
person who gives a cup of cold water meets Jesus.
And the community that receives the person carrying
Jesus, will they meet him too? Paul, he picks
up the same logic in Romans 6 from the other
side, he says, but now that you have been set
free from sin and have become slaves of God,
the benefit you reap leads to holiness and the
result is eternal life. What you and I give ourselves
to shapes what you become. Because if you give
yourself to sin, sin shapes you. Now I have two
boys, sons, that are lifetime examples of this.
You've heard about it there. They've decided
to steal, steal in drugs, harm people. They've
given themselves to that, so they're in prison,
released from prison, go back into prison, released
again. It's a continual cycle. What you give
yourself to is what you will become. If you give
yourself to God, then God shapes you, not the
world. This is not a mechanical formula. It's
an observation about how formation works in life.
And it applies to welcome as well. That every
time you open yourself to someone in Jesus' name,
Something happens to you. You are being formed.
You are becoming the kind of person who recognizes
the presence of Christ in the unexpected faces.
This is why hospitality in the New Testament
is never just politeness. It's a spiritual practice.
It's a practice of staying, well, I'm open to
the possibility that the person in front of me
is carrying something that I need. the unexpected.
Henry Newman in his book Reaching Out says it
this way, hospitality is not to change people,
but to offer them space where change can take
place. It is not to bring men and women over
to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed
by dividing lines. Hospitality that is open and
welcoming. In Jeremiah 28, the prophet gives
us a darker version of this very same principle.
There's a prophet named Hananiah saying what
the people want to hear, that, hey people, peace
is coming, exile will end soon, everything's
going to be fine, so follow me. And Jeremiah
stands up and says, I hope you're right. But
the test of a true word from God is whether it
proves true. You can't always tell in the moment
which voice is genuine. Because we're wanting
to believe that peace is coming, exile will end
soon, and everything will be fine. And if someone's
saying that, we want it, don't we? The same is
also true of welcome. There's a discernment that's
required. Not every voice that claims to come
in Jesus' name does. Jesus himself warned about
this earlier in Matthew 10, just last week. Standing
at the back talking with someone and someone
came in, generally afflicted on the knee, crossed
themselves, got up, then crossed themselves again
and went out. I knew this person though from
many years from being here. So I had an eye on
them. And they walked out, walked around, and
walked down the hallway. So I excused myself
and then followed them. Spoke to the person.
He said, I'm just here for prayer. I said, well,
that's good. But you're not really here for that.
You're here for something else. And he walked
down. I followed him out of the church. My welcome
is to welcome them. But when they come stealing,
You have to discern. You have to be ready to
understand what's happening. As all of you are
talking and sharing in conversation, there are
walls roaming around as well. But with that,
because of that exchange and the many things
over the years with this person, the call is
not to close down and stop welcoming them. The
call is to be discerning and to keep the door
open. Because the risk of welcome is real and
Jesus calls us to it. It seems next time may
be the time that I reveal myself to them. Three
verses today. I said at the start they feel like
an afterthought, but they're not. They're the
hinge that the whole discourse turns on. Jesus
has been sending people out into the world and
they won't always welcome them. He's been honest
about the cost that they've faced. Sheep among
wolves. Don't be naive. And then he says, and
yet. Even the middle of all that, welcome is
possible. Welcome matters. And welcome carries
more weight than it looks like from the outside.
So here's something that I would like us, all
of us, to take home today. You're carrying something
bigger than yourself, not because of who you
are, because of whom you belong to. When you
walk into your street, your workplace, or cafe,
or anywhere, supermarket, your family gathering,
your neighbourhood, you are not walking in alone.
Jesus says, whoever receives you receives me.
Now that isn't pressure to be impressive. It's
permission to be present, to show up, to be open
and be available to those that you encounter
as they encounter you. Don't underestimate the
cup of cold water, whether that's a smile or
a welcome opening the door. The small thing done
in His name is not nothing. It registers. not
just with the person in front of you, but it
also registers with God. The conversation that
nobody else noticed that you had, the moment
of patience that cost you something, the welcome
that was inconvenient because you wanted to be
somewhere else. These are not peripheral to your
life of faith, they're the substance of it. And
remember that welcome forms you. Every time you
open yourself to someone in Jesus' name, you
become really a little more the kind of person
who can see Him in unexpected faces. And that's
not an accident. That's how formation works.
Paul says, offer yourselves to God as instruments
of righteousness. Don't offer Him just your big
moments. Offer Him your ordinary ones. The whole
life of the Christian life can be described as
learning to see, to see the face of Christ in
the face of our neighbour and to respond to what
we see. Ordinary time. That's what we're in.
We're 13 weeks in of about 28 of them for this
season of the Church's calendar, the season of
going deep and of growing up. And perhaps the
biggest and I think the most grown -up thing
Jesus calls us to is also the most ordinary thing,
which is to welcome, to give water to the thirsty,
to open the door for someone. But whoever does
that in His name, Jesus says, will by no means
lose their reward. Amen. Let's pause and pray.
Father, as we go and journey through our week,
that we learn to be attentive to the small things,
the cup of cold waters that you have named. Not
going in the door, pausing with someone, having
a conversation or just listening. Going deeper
with them. but welcoming them and receiving them
because you are in them. May we take notice and
have compassion as you did. May your spirit move
us to see those around us. May we be discerning
people as we welcome them. Amen.