“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me… 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.”
Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:40-42 are offered to the disciples to encourage them as they leave on mission. The disciples are to view anyone who helps them—a room to stay, a cup of water, a meal—as helping Jesus himself. There is a solidarity between Jesus and his disciples, a solidarity so thick that anything done to a disciple should be regarded as done to Jesus. On our side of the crucifixion and resurrection, we call this solidarity incorporation, which means that those baptized into the Trinity have truly and actually been made a part of Jesus.
This new reality, the truth that believers are a part of Jesus, lies behind Jesus’ statement to Saul on the road to Damascus: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" Saul’s actions weren’t just against Christians, they were against Jesus himself.
As we look at the faces of other Christians, as we bump into each other, seek to love each other, and learn to forgive each other, it is unlikely that we consciously think, “Everything I do and say to him or her is actually done and said to Jesus,” and yet that is the reality, according to Jesus. Clearly this should stop us from gossip, cruelty, and selfishness! But what is more, in a positive sense, Jesus says that our kind treatment of other disciples, because it is an act directed at him, will result in heavenly reward!
As you interact with other disciples of Christ, remind yourself that you are interacting with people who have been made one with Jesus. All that you do and say to them is done and said to our Lord.
Steven+
Scripture Reflections
But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. (Matt. 10:30)
Not a single one of us could count the hairs on his or her head, and yet God both can and has.
Jesus’ point in Matthew 10 has multiple levels. First, God knows us more than we know ourselves. That alone should cause us to stop, to wonder, to pray! We all have aspects of our heart of which we are ignorant. We think we know ourselves, but we have blind spots, places where we simply “don’t know what we don’t know.” We act according to un-understood desires, needs, and worries. We have un-scrutinized longings and fears. Our vision and understanding are partial; we only know ourselves in limited sense. And yet there is not a single aspect of our being and identity that God does not know! According to Psalm 139, he is “intimately acquainted with all our ways.”
But Jesus’ point is not just that God knows every recess of our being and heart—even the ones of which we are ignorant. His point is how much God values us! Knowing us intimately, more intimately than we know ourselves, would be terrifying if it were not coupled to tender love and appreciation. After all, many of the dark recesses of our hearts are anything but attractive. And yet Jesus is clear: “you are of more value than many sparrows.” God’s knowledge of us is the sort of knowledge that a parent or lover seeks, the knowledge that seeks to know every last detail out of delight for the other.
As you go about your day, ponder the fact that God knows you more fully than you know yourself and values you more highly than you value yourself. He delights in his children!
Steven+
Scripture Reflections
And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction.
Matthew 9:35 summarizes Jesus’ ministry in Galilee, and is worth our consideration because it challenges three misconceptions that tend to arise in the church. The first is the idea that the only thing that matters is that people hear the Gospel. The second is the idea that the only thing that matters is meeting the practical needs of people. Related to this, the third is the idea that the Gospel can be preached without words. Jesus’ ministry doesn’t allow us to draw any of these conclusions!
He taught about the kingdom, he proclaimed the Gospel, and he healed every affliction.
The Church doesn’t have a mission other than Jesus’ mission. As the Spirit fills and empowers the Church, it enables it to step into Jesus’ mission, because the Church is his body, his presence on earth. This means that the Church is supposed to do—by the power of the Spirit—the things that Jesus did: proclaim, teach, and heal. The Gospel must be proclaimed with words, people need teaching about the kingdom of God, and people need healing from the effects of the fall! Simply put, we don’t get to pick between speaking about the kingdom and acting out the kingdom. The Church is supposed to do all of this, because Jesus did.
This does not mean that every individual is equally adept at all of this. Some are supremely gifted at demonstrating the kingdom by healing sickness. Some are uniquely able to address societal afflictions, like injustice, poverty, drug addiction, or prostitution. Some are given the ministry of delivering people from spiritual and satanic bondage. Some are gifted as evangelists, and others as teachers of the kingdom, uniquely able to explain it in a way that makes sense. None of us is gifted (like Jesus was!) at all of this, but together, the body is supposed to do all of it.
As you wrestle with your own place in the full mission of Jesus, consider where God has placed you and what he has given you gifts to do. Look around you and ask, “What portion of this mission has God laid in my lap? What portion of this do I have the ability to accomplish?” It is easy for each of us to overlook (or think lowly of) the things that come easily to us—we tend to value the more “difficult” roles. But it may be that the thing that comes easiest to you is an indication of how God has gifted you to step into the ministry of Jesus.
Steven+