A CUP OF COMPASSION
A sermon preached by
Rev. Dr. Randle R. (Rick) Mixon
First Baptist Church, Palo Alto, CA
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Text: Matthew 10:40-42
Come in, come in and sit down. You are welcome here. Have a cup of coffee. A cup of tea? How about a cup of nice hot soup? Would you like a cup of cold, clear water? What about a cup of compassion?
Today’s text brings us to the end of Jesus’ “Missionary Discourse” as presented by the writer of the gospel of Matthew. As we discussed last week, in this 10th chapter, Jesus is teaching his disciples what they need to know as they embark on their grand missionary enterprise to spread abroad the great good news of the in-breaking Dominion of God. In considering this text it is important to keep in mind that Jesus’ power and authority comes from God. As Jesus’ power and authority is derived from the One who sends him, so is the disciples’ derived from the one who sends them out. They can – and we - can minister mightily when going in Jesus’ name, centered in the will of God, and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
For travelers and itinerant workers, hospitality often was a life or death matter in much of the rugged, arid land inhabited by the Jewish people in biblical times. Hospitality was not just a matter superficial greeting or a cursory asking after another’s well-being; hospitality was a way of life, deeply rooted in the Jewish faith. The stranger would stand by the village well waiting for someone to offer water, food, shelter, as they were needed. It may have been risky business to welcome total strangers, but, as God had offered an extravagant welcome to a promised land, flowing with milk and honey, so the extension of such welcome was expected of God’s covenant people. It would be pretty difficult for any of us, I imagine, to go down to the street corner and welcome into the secluded sanctity of our homes whomever we found there looking hungry and homeless and asking for help. How do we then extend God’s extravagant welcome, God’s life-giving hospitality, God’s cup of compassion, in our living here and now? This is the challenge of the gospel to us today.
Of course we try to meet this challenge through the many and varied mission and outreach projects we support, not the least of which is the One Great Hour of Sharing offering we’re taking this month. There is so much physical suffering and material need in places like Myanmar and China, India and the Philippines, Haiti and Darfur, the US Midwest and Gulf Coast and East Palo Alto. Anything we give seems like little more than a proverbial drop in the bucket or welcomecup of cold water. However, as today’s text affirms, that is not necessarily a small thing.
In these last few verses of the discourse, Jesus re-emphasizes the deep connection between himself and those who minister in his name. “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me,” he says, “and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” The connections are not only deep, they are life-giving. The source of all life, the power and authority to transform life, the faith, hope and love that sustain life, all flow from a single source - from God, though Jesus, to his followers, out into all the world. These wonders are available to any and all who recognize them, embrace them and practice them, in full connection to their source. When the channels are open and things are flowing properly, to be in the company of one of these followers is to enter into the presence of God.
Jesus goes on to imply that there is a system of reward and punishment for those who practice, or fail to practice, hospitality to these missionaries, these itinerant preachers and teachers and healers who come amidst the people, sharing the good news of God’s very present, yet still-coming realm. We might expect that there are hierarchies in this system of reward and punishment. For instance, the more profound your preaching, the bigger your congregation; the more influential your teaching, the more prestigious your professorship; the more miraculous your healing, the larger your bank account. It seems to work that way in this world, doesn’t it? The harder you work, the more success you have and the greater your fame and fortune.
But that is not what Jesus says. Remember we said that, for Jesus, Judaism was grounded in a debt code rather than a purity code. All that is comes from God, is gift from God. From this perspective, no one is more entitled to God’s grace than another. The prophet, who propounded God’s word with passion and power, gets no greater reward than the one who welcomes the prophet and offers hospitality. The righteous one, who has dazzled the crowd with her good works, is no more important in God’s eyes than the one who welcomes her and cares for her. This leveling of the playing field may be hard to take for some of us, but there it is. David Bartlett notes that “It is always tempting to think that the more heroic the service the greater the reward in Christian life, but Jesus here insists that God’s reward is not graded (a first for prophets; second for righteous people; and so on) but is entirely generous and gracious” (David Bartlett, The New Proclamation Commentary on the Gospels: Matthew, p. 32.) Every member of the body of Christ has her or his function and role; none is more essential or more valuable than another. We need each other in order to be whole, and we need the source of all life that flows to each of us from the God who made us.
A cup. What can be more practical? Water, coffee, tea, milk, soup, flour, sugar, nuts, cereal - so many good and useful things can be carried in a cup. Sometimes we measure carefully and precisely into the cup, sometimes we just go for a heaping cupful. Cups can be ordinary, dull, chipped, cracked, without their handles; they can be beautifully glazed, hand painted, elaborately shaped, carved from precious stone or cast from precious metal.
The ancient and mythical quest for the Holy Grail was a search for the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper. Many a poet and singer has written or sung of the quest. The 19th century poet, James Russell Lowell invents “The Vision of Sir Launfal,” a great Earl who, as he prepared to ride out in search of the Holy Grail, had a dream. In the dream he encountered a leper, begging at his gate. In disgust that one so foul should spoil the splendor of the day on which he sets out on his great quest, the regal knight disdainfully flings a gold coin at the leper’s feet. But the coin lays there untouched, for the beggar knows the spirit in which the gift is given, and it does not really meet the beggar’s need, a need to be seen and known and embraced as a human being. As the dream continues, Launfal spends his life searching unsuccessfully for the Grail, only to return, late in his life, old and poor and unseated from his estate. He sees again the leper at the gate and realizes that this beggar was as much the concern of Christ as the Grail itself. In fact, he sees that the leper was his call to serve Christ. In the end, the cup he offers from his own hands to the leper becomes the Holy Grail and Christ stands before him. Launfal did not need to go far to find the cup of his salvation. Through the transforming vision, Launfal opens his castle to all the people of his earldom. He finds that he has much to offer, and much to receive, by living a life of extravagant welcome rather than one in which he keeps lordly distance from the little ones of his realm.
A cup of cool. George Buttrick notes that the writer of these gospel verses must have been in some state of ecstasy, for the original Greek not only omits the participles from the passage but leaves out the word “water” altogether, as his thoughts and words come tumbling forth (George Buttrick, The Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 7, Matthew, p. 377.) So, the Greek literally speaks of “a cup of cool.” If I had found this bit of information sooner perhaps today’s sermon would have been titled “A Cup of Cool.” At different times in American popular culture it has been cool to talk about what’s cool and about being cool. It would be fun to riff on the meaning of “a cup of cool” for contemporary culture. Is it cool to follow Jesus? Is it cool to ground our lives in God? Is it cool to love our families, friends, neighbors, enemies? Is it cool to offer hospitality? Is it cool to welcome the stranger and to embrace the marginalized? Is it cool to care for the sick and the suffering, the frightened and the dying? Jesus and his followers seemed to think so. Is there anyway we could go about convincing ourselves and our communities, near and far, that it is cool to follow Jesus and share the good news?
A cup of cold water. It seems that’s what it comes down to - something so simple, so ordinary, so readily available - at the nearest water cooler or in plastic bottles in the refrigerator section, or, if we have to, by throwing some ice cubes into a cup of tap water. In Jesus’ setting, a cup of cold water was not necessarily a simple thing. It at least meant that the water given was not room temperature or warm, from the nearest cistern; a cup of cold water had to be drawn directly from the well. Now, one might go to the well for some visiting dignitary or some very important personage, but for one of the ordinary folk, for one of the “little ones,” for one of the “least of these?” I don’t think so. Again Jesus speaks of the leveling power of grace. There is no one of us on this earth, no one so free of debt to the Creator, that she or he merits a cup of cold water any more than one of the little ones, the least of these. God’s cup of cold, clear water, God’s cup of compassion, is for one and all; so we are mandated to offer it to one and all in Jesus name.
A cup of compassion. Contemporary poet, Ann Weems, offers one more perspective on today’s text that might contain some practical advice for each of us. In her poem “Cold Water, Hot Coffee,” she says:
Sometimes that cup of cold water,
turns out to be a cup of hot coffee,
and what we're asked to do is
to pour it...and listen.
Sometimes we Christians
in our enthusiasm
think we were asked
to save the world,
when what we were asked to do
is to go into it
and tell God's story
to people in need of
some good news.
Anxious activists forget
that just listening is an act
of compassion.
Driven disciples forget
that just listening is an act
of faithfulness.
Guilty givers forget
that just listening is an act
of stewardship.
Since we church people
have a tendency to be
driven and anxious and guilt-ridden,
perhaps we should
read the directions again
and pour a cup of hot coffee
and listen,
in His name.
Come in, come in and sit down. You are part of the family. You are welcome here. Have a cup of coffee. A cup of tea? How about a cup of nice hot soup? Would you like a cup of cold, clear water? What about a cup of compassion?