13th Sunday in Ordinary Time
2 Kings 4:8–11, 14–16a
Psalm 89:2–3, 16–17, 18–19
Romans 6:3–4, 8–11
Matthew 10:37–42
An adage advises that you should always treat strangers kindly because you might be welcoming angels unawares. The Scriptures clearly hold to this wisdom and offer an incentive: If you welcome a prophet or a holy person, you can also expect to receive a reward. Being welcoming and kind are “best practices” and a form of “enlightened self-interest.”
Elisha the prophet experiences welcome at the hands of a woman of influence, that is, one who can succeed in worldly terms. What she does not have – a child – is noticed by Elisha’s servant Gehazi. As the man of God, Elisha can prophesy, promising that the woman and her husband will also have posterity.
The reward is a connection to the future and an influence that goes beyond the present day. “When the woman had been called and stood at the door, Elisha promised, ‘This time next year you will be fondling a baby son.’”
Gehazi had noted that the woman’s husband was getting on in years. That suggested that without a son the woman would soon be alone and that she would no longer have standing in the society of her day. Elisha’s unexpected gift to her, a reward for her hospitality and welcome, ensures that she will continue to be a person of influence.
In the Gospel, Jesus also takes up the theme of reward, but His approach is at another depth. First, He tells those who wish to be His followers that they must be utterly centered on that relationship. No other relationship can compete for first place.
Once that is realized, there is a new identity given to the follower: “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” An opening to one of the followers of Jesus is an opening to God. Something more is going on here than mere worldly influence.
Jesus identifies Himself and His followers who are willing to pay the price – by centering themselves on their relationship with Him – with the prophet and the righteous man. The implication is that the offer to those who are open to receive the follower of Jesus is the same. They will be united with Jesus and with God.
What’s more, they do not (at least at the beginning of the relationship) need to do more than show a simple gesture of welcome: “(W)hoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple – amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”
This perspective can help us to discover a way to live the Gospel concretely. First, we can renew our own commitment to discipleship. Reviewing our own priorities and our relationships, we can learn once again to put Jesus first.
Then, we can invite others into that relationship by small acts of welcome and kindness. St. Therese of Lisieux learned that she could become the saint she was called to be by doing small daily acts of love and offered us “the Little Way.”
St. Paul reminds us that our baptism gives us access to what Jesus accomplished by His act of love on the cross: “Are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.”
Newness of life is the reward we taste now. Our choice to put God first and to live with an attitude of welcome allows us to experience the power of the Resurrection and to invite the world to share in it. “Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.”