Your love, O LORD, for ever will I sing; * from age to age my mouth will proclaim your faithfulness.
Back in my youth, the church I attended was located in NYC, and along with being a functioning church it doubled as an off-off-Broadway theater. Many members of the congregation were young, struggling actors, whose greatest claim to fame might be having their hands appear as those of a bar tender on an episode of a famous soap opera. When one of our young men actually appeared in a Nissan commercial, we all rejoiced exceedingly. Our clergy had some important Broadway connections, so that one Sunday our choir was actually made up of the cast of “Hair” – which dates me considerably.
Because I drove into the city from NJ, I always had at my disposal my trusty VW Bug, and I was thus the one appointed to bring, from her home on the upper west side, a torch singer who, though not world famous, was friends with Mick Jagger and Andy Warhol. She always sang “Sympathy for The Devil” at our Good Friday service – and Jagger often commented he envied her presentation of that song. Her persona was flamboyant, including eye makeup and a wig any drag queen would envy. However, at home, before she was made up and ready to go, she was a nice Jewish lady who always fussed about what I ate and what boys I was dating.
Thus, one day I found myself driving her to an art opening. She invited me to come along, both because she needed a ride, and because, well, she was something of a little Jewish mama, wanting to expose me to safer aspects of her world. When she entered the room at the art show, all eyes turned to her – she made a grand entrance – and I trailed along in her wake. It was what I had expected, folks rushing forward to greet her, almost fawning over her, delighted to see her.
What I did not anticipate was the reaction people would have to me. My glorious friend introduced me all around, not explaining exactly who I was or why I was with her, but as she drifted off into the crowd, I found myself to be almost as welcome as she. People wanted to chat with me, ask me questions, fuss over me, which both surprised and flustered me, though I did my best to hide this. They respected and adored her, and they extended this warmth and recognition to me. Whether they realized it or not, they were acting in the way Jesus describes to us in today’s Gospel.
Jesus said, "Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
These words, which at first seem to be directed only to the Apostles, are recorded by Matthew to give the Church instruction on how to treat the travelling preachers they might encounter in their daily lives – that is, those agents of God who came in Jesus’ Name to spread the Good News. Such missionaries weren’t uncommon in the early Church, and there must have been a range of responses to them within the Christian community. So, by recording these words of Jesus’, Matthew makes sure that those who follow Jesus understand what is expected of them. The instructions, as given by our Lord, are pretty much in keeping with the normal practices of the day.
In Jesus time it was accepted that as you welcomed a person’s relative, so you also welcomed that person’s entire family, even if the family wasn’t present. We see this today with British Royalty, as members of the Royal family make international visits on behalf of the monarch. Charles will send out family members as his agents, and they expect to be received with the same respect that the King himself would command.
Jesus words encourage His followers and thus the young Church to welcome those missionaries who, in His Name, come to their doors. The instruction sounds so simple that, at first, we can’t imagine how we, as the Church today, wouldn’t be able to do exactly as Jesus has bidden us. But then He says: Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. For Jesus’ listeners, and for us, this small bit of information changes the picture. Things are now more complicated.
The prophets, those who bravely spoke God’s words to the people, often did not find pleasant reward on earth. Jeremiah found himself continually harassed, beaten, put into stocks, and even throw into a pit. Hosea married a prostitute, and suffered the betrayal and pain that having married such a woman involved. His misery is reflected in the way he phrases God’s warnings to Israel. While a prophet’s reward in heaven would be great, Jesus doesn’t say that He means we will receive only the heavenly reward. Suddenly, the idea of welcoming strangers in Jesus’ Name looks less attractive.
What Jesus wants us to understand is that our kindness may not always be rewarded just as we would like. And not having everything go smoothly can quickly turn us from loving and giving people into rather unpleasant folks indeed. How many times have I heard someone say, “I did thus and so for them and this is the thanks I get? I won’t be so nice next time.” This is the sort of reaction that Paul warns us against. Instead of expressing anger he encourages us: just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.
We need to remember that anger, cruelty, rejection are all forms of iniquity – of behavior not sanctioned under the Law of Love that Jesus has given us. What seems perfectly reasonable to us, the rejection and/or fear of strangers, the refusal to accept with humility anything less than the best treatment in response to our kindness, would not find sanction with Paul or with Jesus Himself.
Perhaps it will help us to be the people Jesus calls us to be in these situations if we remember that we too are sent to spread the Gospel. While we may not go from door to door preaching the Word, Jesus expects us to always be prepared to be His missionaries on earth, and He wants us to offer to others the kindness we would like to receive if we stood in their shoes.
There is an old saying from the Rule of St. Benedict, “Let all visitors be received as Christ”. We need to keep that in mind when the doorbell rings, and we peer outside to see if we want to bother answering. It is definitely a day and age where caution is a must, but we slink silently away from anyone with a clipboard in their hands, and we vanish even more quickly if we recognize Jehovah’s Witnesses or Mormons. Yet, Jesus would have us answer the door and treat these eager missionaries with courtesy. We may not have the slightest interest in what they want to tell us, but we can say so while still being welcoming and polite.
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.
Our lives are daily filled with important choices, but paying attention to how we treat strangers isn’t something we generally put at the top of our list. However, for Jesus, how we treat strangers is one of the most important things we do. Exercising sensible caution, next time your doorbell rings and you open it to find someone with a clipboard or religious tract, think twice before you are unpleasant or even slam the door in that person’s face. You might instead greet them kindly, see if they need anything, and offer them the same hospitality you would reserve for God.
As Paul remind us, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
Let us pray:
Direct us, O Lord, in all our doings with your most gracious favor, and further us with your continual help; that in all our works begun, continued, and ended in you, we may glorify your holy Name, and finally, by your mercy, obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.