Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 2, 2023

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To be a disciple is to identify with Jesus

Matthew 10:37–42

Jesus said to his Apostles: 37 Whoever prefers father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever prefers son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
38 and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.
39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.
40 Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
41 Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward.
42 And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.

Music Meditations

Opening Prayer

Lord, being disciple is demanding and fulfilling. Help me to receive your word graciously and openly, to give freely and receive fully, when needed. I ask for the humility to listen, to hear, to notice, and to respond to those requests of me as disciple.

Companions for the Journey

Adapted from a commentary in 2014 by Alice McDermott:

We all like to be rewarded for our efforts. Gold stars on our school papers as children. Praise from parents and teachers as we get older. Money as payment for our expenditure of our time and talents in our work. Perhaps being recognized publicly with a plaque or round of applause for our community service. We all appreciate recognition and benefits from our actions.

Jesus is promising a reward for those who welcome prophets and righteous persons to the community, and for those who offer small kindnesses to the vulnerable in their midst. That reward is participation in the kingdom of God, which has both a present and a future component.

This text comes after Jesus’ promise that those who lose their life for his sake will find it (Mt. 10:39). It’s an answer to the question, “What is our reward for risking the loss of our lives as we know them for you?” Or, as Simon Peter so pragmatically puts it, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” His question and Jesus’ answer show up three times in almost exactly the same wording in Matthew 19:27, Mark 10:28, and Luke 18:28. In Matthew 10:42, Jesus refers to “the reward of the righteous.” It appears to be a bountiful compensation for the sacrifices we have made in this life, one that has both a worldly and eternal life component (Mt. 19:29; Mk. 10:29-30; Lk. 18:29-30).

What are those addressed by this text going to be rewarded for? Since Jesus sends his disciples to act on his behalf, those who receive them also receive Jesus (10:40a). And in receiving Jesus they also receive God, the one who sent him. Underlying this saying is the shaliach conception of ancient Jewish law, according to which a man’s duly authorized messenger “is as the man himself.” (Hare, Interpretation Commentary on Matthew, 118) The one sent out represents the one who sent him, so that to receive a disciple of Christ is to receive Christ and to receive Christ is to receive God. (Argyle, Cambridge Commentary on Matthew, 83-4)

Participation in the kingdom of God is the reward of the righteous person. It is not wholly extrinsic like the gold stars and the round of applause. The righteousness Jesus is talking about in Matthew carries with it an intrinsic reward, one that is an integral part of the action of welcome and kindness. Such righteous acts participate in and point us toward God, toward the Kingdom which is now and not yet.

Those who receive the disciples also receive the same benefits or reward they receive, the blessing of participation in the kingdom of God as outlined by Jesus by way of Matthew in the Beatitudes (Mt. 5:3-10). The Beatitudes have a future, but also a present reference. The poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake—all participate in the present in the blessings of divine presence, comfort, wisdom, forgiveness, which are the realities of the reign of God now and forever.

Weekly Memorization

Taken from the gospel for today’s session…

Do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Living the Good News

What action can you take in the next week as a response to today’s reading and discussion?

Keep a private journal of your prayer/actions responses this week. Feel free to use the personal reflection questions or the meditations which follow:

Reflection Questions

  • Have I ever been in relationship that was so all-consuming that I lost myself in the process?
  • To what/whom am I attached so firmly that it interferes with my relationship God or with others in my life?
    Has there been an attachment to a person, a habit, a conviction or a principle that has estranged me from others or my own self?
  • Jesus does not advocate armed conflict, but divisions might occur when people are forced to decide between the words of Jesus and the words of those we love. When could there be a conflict between our love for another and our love for God?
    Are there times, however, when I alienate people I love by rendering an opinion that is unjust or too harsh?
    Have I ever assumed I was saying something for someone’s else’s good, but it was really for my personal satisfaction that I spoke?
    How do I discern between my opinion/prejudices and God’s?
  • Have I ever received opposition for my beliefs from someone I loved?
    What did I do?
    Have I ever suffered the rupture of a relationship because of my relationship with Jesus?
  • Do I truly see myself as a disciple of Jesus?
    What is the cost to me for being a disciple?
  • What is the difference between adherence to a moralistic law or system of rules and the interior freedom that comes for knowing God’s sill and doing it?
  • Am I ever motivated in my actions by the hope of a later reward or is my motivation rooted in a desire to be closer to Jesus right now?
  • What, exactly, is my relationship with God, with my fellow disciples, with the desperate?
  • What is my role of “welcoming others” that I see in this reading?
  • Do I think of being disciple as a large dramatic gesture/choice, or can I look at my small efforts to help others and myself as discipleship?
    When did I last buy a poor person a cup of coffee?
  • Do I expect happiness, or at least a cessation of anxiety or unhappiness as a result of doing God’s will?
  • What does it mean, in the lives of us ordinary saints, to “lose one’s life”?
    What does it mean, in the lives of us ordinary saints, to “save one’s life”?

Meditations

A Meditation in the Dominican Style/Asking Questions:

Participation in the Kingdom of God is the reward of the person who is a true disciple. What follows are some quotes from thinkers who seem to have taken seriously the message of Jesus in this passage. They are talking about giving one’s life away for some purpose beyond oneself that, paradoxically, results in a gain. As Christians we would call that the reward of the righteous. Which of the following do you agree with? Do any surprise you? Examine your motivations for doing God’s will and making sacrifices in the process:

  • “The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it, but what they become by it”—John Ruskin
  • “Happiness is a virtue, not its reward”—Baruch Spinoza
  • “If people are good only because they fear punishment, and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed”—Albert Einstein
  • “Love seeks one thing only: the good of the one loved. It leaves all the other secondary effects to take care of themselves. Love, therefore, is its own reward”—Thomas Merton
A Meditation in the Franciscan Style/Action:

We are rarely asked for a cup of water. We live in a more complex society, but the same care and generosity to which Jesus calls us in verse 42 to are found in all walks of life. There are those who work for clean healthy water in a thousand hidden ways, for instance maintaining a city water system, or caring for public hygiene, as civil servants, plumbers, activists, engineers, scientists, and street cleaners.

Wherever people devote themselves to the service of others by caring for the environment, by creating safe and good schools, by working toward affordable healthcare and affordable housing for everyone somehow, by making our governmental systems, local and national, ensure safety for all, we are, in effect, giving someone who needs it a drink of water.

So verse 42 is a metaphor for doing things for others in the name of Jesus. And the rewards promised by Jesus are entrance into the Kingdom of God. Our first job, then, is to be aware of the opportunities and desperate needs that are out there. But we need to go further. Undeterred by the sheer enormity of the task, we must start somewhere. Do I look for the grand gestures instead of offering a simple “cup of water”? How does giving someone a cup of water play out in practical terms: is it a hug, or a listening ear, or giving someone a ride, or giving a small donation to an agency like CRS? Do I believe that each act of mercy, no matter how insignificant, can make a difference that really matters? Mother Teresa said that we are not called to do great things, we are called to do small things with great love. We need to go beyond studying the issues to actually help in in some small way to alleviate the thirst for water, for food, for justice, for safety. What can I do? What can I do this week?

Poetic Reflection:

We turn to a tried-and-true reflection written by Thomas Centollela, a former Stegner fellow. He encourages us to do even more than the minimum of giving a cup of water to “one of these little ones.” How can you live “further in?”:

“At Big Rec”

A few hours spent in the dry rooms of the dying.
Then the walk home, and the sudden rain
comes hard, and you want it coming hard,
you want it hitting you in the forehead
like anointment, blessing all the days
that otherwise would be dismissed
as business as usual. Now you’re ready
to lean on the rail above the empty diamonds
where, in summer, the ballplayers wait patiently
for one true moment more alive than all the rest.
Now you’re ready for the ancient religion of dogs,
that unleashed romp through the wildness, responding
To no one’s liturgy but the field’s and the rain’s.
You’ve come this far, but you need to live further in.
You need to slip into the blind man for a while,
tap along with his cane past the market stalls
and take in, as if they were abandoned,
the little blue crabs which within an hour will be eaten.
You have to become large enough to accommodate
all the small lives that otherwise would be forgotten.
You have to raise yourself to the power of ten.
Love more, require less, love without regard
For form. You have to live further in.

Closing Prayer

I give thanks to you, Lord, for what I have learned about myself and about you in my prayer this week. I pray also for the courage I need to let my experience of you, Jesus, be evident in my life. Help me to turn fear into resolution, turn despair and hopelessness into joy.