Partners

This sermon was heard at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on Sunday June 29, 2008, the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Genesis 22:1-14
Psalm 13
Romans 6:12-23
Matthew 10:40-42

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

I love the word “emissary.” It’s such a simple and elegant word, four syllables that just trip off of the end of the tongue. It’s a far more graceful word than “ambassador;” those hard consonants just stop a word in its tracks. Emissary has a much better flow. In ancient times, the emissary of a ruler acts not only on behalf of the kingdom, the emissary acts with the full power and authority of the ruler. In Jewish law, an emissary is a man’s duly authorized messenger. He “is as the man himself.”[1] This concept is not exclusive to kings, but extends to patriarchs and land owners too.

So when a leader sent an emissary it was important to treat the emissary the same way you would treat the leader. It’s not too much of a leap to say that if you treat the emissary poorly, the king just might send an army to return the favor.

“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”

This sentence from today’s gospel reading is the beginning of the end of the instructions Jesus gave the apostles beginning in the fifth verse of this chapter of Matthew. In the intervening thirty-eight verses, Jesus has told them to go to the lost sheep of Israel, and not to other Palestinians. He told the apostles to acknowledge him before others, and then he would acknowledge them before the heavenly father. He told them he would split families apart, but not to worry. After all, if the Father cares for a tiny sparrow, they should be confident in how much more he cares for them.

There were some other instructions too, like not to take anything on their journey, no silver, no copper, not even a bag. As Blanche DuBois in “A Streetcar Named Desire, he told them to rely on the kindness of strangers. He also told them to be careful, because the strangers were like wolves and they were nothing more than a snack.

Still, despite the instructions and the warnings, immediately after telling the apostles, “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it,” he tells them “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me.”

One of the amazing things about gospel as literature is that it is not biography; it’s so much more than that. It is the joyful Good News, blended with theology and history, presenting the hearer pronouncements, wonders, and narratives.[2] Still, when reading passages like the sending of the apostles, it is not difficult to imagine ourselves in the narrative; hearing the words of Jesus, absorbing the warnings; reveling in the Good News. It’s almost as if we are eavesdropping on this conversation that was meant for a very select group so long ago.

Then Jesus tells the twelve, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”

These instructions are meant for the twelve, yet we get to imagine ourselves in this reading, because as Jesus speaks to the twelve, we, the listeners, are the “whoever” in “Whoever welcomes you.”

We are the people at the city gates welcoming the apostles as they come to town. We welcome them into our homes, and when we do we are told, “The Kingdom of Heaven has come near.” The Kingdom and all that is good has come near, these apostles, these emissaries of the King of Heaven have come into our house. And if we are found to be worthy, the apostles will stay with us until they leave. (And they will leave, that is the nature of their itinerant ministry.[3]) And staying with us, their peace will come upon our house.

The peace of the apostles, since they are emissaries of the Lord Jesus, is the peace of Christ which comes upon the house. When we welcome the one who brings the gospel, we receive the blessings of the Good News and the one who is the Good News. When we welcome the one who is the Good News, we welcome the one who sent the Good News to us.

Dear friends, please forgive me. I am going to tell another story from seminary.

My professor for “Interpretation of Old Testament Texts” was a wonderful man named Steven Breck Reid. The Reverend Doctor Reid is an ordained minister in the Church of the Brethren and a renowned Old Testament scholar. He was a Professor at Austin Presbyterian Seminary, is currently a Professor and Academic Dean at Bethany Seminary, and has even served as the Chaplain for the San Francisco 49er’s. He has advised many biblically based and influenced projects including a dramatic presentation of the bible on DVD and Disney’s “Prince of Egypt.”[4]

I love the man and enjoyed his class, but one thing cannot be denied. Even after over twenty years in higher education, he never really knew what he wanted on a paper. Thus our papers were never up to the quality he expected or desired. The only good thing about this is that it seemed to give him as much stress as it gave us. But being students and wanting to please the professor, or at least earn a passing grade, we would always look for tips on how to do better on his papers.

One day, after several of my peers were by his office asking about the next paper, he made an announcement in class. He stood tall behind his lectern and said, “I have been asked about the paper that is scheduled to be due next week. And I can tell you, with complete certainty, it is.”

Frankly, we didn’t think that was helpful at all. Dumbfounded may be a better description.

One of my classmates piped up from the back of the classroom, “He’s a Prophet!” With this the class began to laugh.

That’s when I piped up, “Kill him!” With this the class began to roar.

He just looked at me with a stunned look and then with a smile said, “I got tenure; you’ll have to kill me.” Again, we laughed.

I got a B+ on that paper.

So forgive me when I say that when I read today’s lection about the “prophet’s reward” I think of Matthew 23 when Jesus cries, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!” Our prophet, priest, and king, Jesus the Christ will be nailed to a tree, ah the prophet’s reward.

Is it any wonder I’m on Prozac?

Thank God Jesus wasn’t suffering from depression. And thank God this isn’t what he meant when talking about rewards. In fact, he meant the exact opposite. The Hebrew tradition of the word reward shows that it can also be translated as wages.[5] But the prophet’s reward, the prophet’s wages will never be death. As Paul teaches us in our reading from Romans, “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Eternal life, this is the reward of the one who welcomes the Lord. This is the promise we receive, this is the reward we receive, the eternal life in the presence of Emmanuel, God with us.

Make no mistake, in this little discourse Jesus is making the fundamental claim of Christian faith, he is God in the flesh, he is God with us.

Whoever welcomes the prophet will receive the prophet’s reward. Whoever welcomes the righteousness person will receive the reward of the righteous. Only God can promise the reward of the prophets, the reward of the righteous.

Hearing this wonderful news from the words of Matthew’s gospel is like eavesdropping, it’s like picking up the phone to hear your beloved on the other line arranging a wonderful present, the best gift ever. But as this is gospel, the genre means more than just listening in on someone else’s conversation, there is a meaning for us and for our future.

The apostles were generally thought of as a group of specifically named people. There were a total of fourteen apostles named in scripture: the original twelve, Matthias who was chosen to replace Judas Iscariot, and Saul of Tarsus who was renamed Paul by the Lord. In Matthew’s gospel, the prophets are a distinct class of people whose ministry was as legitimate speakers on behalf of the risen Lord. In Matthew’s gospel, the righteous seem to represent a distinct group, perhaps traveling missionaries who were neither apostles nor prophets.[6] But the little ones, well, they aren’t children or youth.

“Whoever gives 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.” This deserves a little bit of a rephrase. The term “in the name of” is a Semitic expression meaning “because one is.”[7] So to rephrase, “Whoever gives a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because one is a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.” Some believe in the day of Matthew’s gospel the little ones were the disciples who stayed around the city, not the itinerant apostles or prophets. But there is more to this than just that.

The little ones in this day and time are you and I. The little ones in this age are still the disciples of the Lord, and we are those disciples. Where in these verses we could be the people supporting the prophets, the righteous, and the disciples here and now. We are also the disciples of Jesus Christ. We are the people charged with taking the Word into the community and into the world. We are the ones who receive the message of the apostles.

This too is our reward. This too is the gift we are given, not just receiving the Good News of Jesus Christ, but sharing the Good News, sharing the presence of Jesus Christ. We are called to be partners in Christ’s service. And as partners, we share the authority as an emissary, as well as the responsibilities.

We share in the work of the kingdom, and we will have a role in the glory of God. Giving thanks and praise for the work God does and the work God does through us, the disciples of Christ in this time and place.

In the end, this is the reward, this is the gift, these are the wages we earn, through our faith, repentance, and obedience, the Spirit brings God’s forgiveness to all and initiates new life in Christ.[8] This is the eternal life, the eternal life that begins when we participate in the work and the life of Jesus Christ. This is the life that begins when we are called as partners in Christ’s service.

[1] Hare, Douglas R. A., “Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: Matthew.” Louisville: John Knox Press, 1993, p. 118.
[2] The New Interpreter’s Bible, Leander E. Keck, General Editor, Vol. VIII, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995, pages 56—68.
[3] Ibld, Hare, page 119.
[4] The Reverend Doctor Reid has accepted a position as Professor of Hebrew Bible at George Truett Theological Seminary, Waco, Texas beginning in the Fall 2008. http://www.bethanyseminary.edu/2008_commencement, retrieved June 28, 2008.
[5] Kittel, Gerhard, “Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.” Vol .IV, Stutgart, Germany: W. Kohlhammer Verlag, 1967, page 697.
[6] Ibid, NIB Vol. VIII, page 263
[7] Ibid.
[8] From the PC (U.S.A.) Confession of 1967.