On whose side are we?

 

Matthew 10:40-42

 Welcoming is the Kingdom of God.  God’s people are commanded to take care of resident aliens in their land, remembering their time wandering and their time in slavery before that.  The Law of Moses was very clear about welcoming them into their communities and taking care of their needs. 

 Jesus represents God and humanity.  To welcome Jesus is to welcome God.  Jesus’ disciples are an extension of their Rabbi.  Jesus sent them out and they represented Jesus, who represented God.  As with the prophets and the righteous before, welcoming them was expected, because those who bore their names represented them. 

 Jesus, as always, took it a step further – anyone who gave a cup of cold water to a child in the name of a disciple, is doing so as a representative of Jesus and a representative of God.  To do so is likened to faithfulness.

Last week’s lesson, as Jesus was sending them out, clarified that His disciples represented Him and that those who received them or did not receive them were welcoming Him or rejecting Him.  Jesus takes this very personally in Matthew.

 But isn’t that how loving works?  Are we not natural advocates for those we love?  If you have a loved one who is being hurt because of their race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, country of origin or gender, do you not take that personally because you love them?  Jesus takes it personally, too.  Jesus, who loves them, takes it as an attack on one of His own.  This is the Jesus of the Gospel of Matthew, who just verses before in this teaching mentioned Sodom in the context of punishing those who were inhospitable to His disciples when they came to them, as the people were inhospitable to the angels who visited Sodom.  This is the Jesus who shares His vision of the judgment with the sole criterion of how we treat “the least of these,” His sisters and brothers.  Jesus takes this very personally.

 On the other hand, if you are kind and provide someone with something they need, are you not also doing so for others who love them?  And, if you are kind and actively commit to the well-being of anyone in need, are you not representing the Lord of agaph?  Jesus takes that personally, too.  This is Matthew’s Jesus who did not let His disciples off the hook for feeding the five thousand, but commanded, “You give them something to eat,” because He had compassion on the crowd.  It is about committed action on behalf of the other.  It is about agaph.

 This committed action on behalf of the other does not require good feelings.  It is not about feelings.  It is intended for even stranger and enemy, and especially the most vulnerable among us.  This Love is intended to provide all with completeness, wholeness, well-being that bring peace (Shalom, eirhnh).  If that is done for all people, then all people will live well.  That is God’s will, that no longer would hatred, injustice, corruption and selfishness create pain in the lives of God’s children.  It is God’s Will that we should treat one another as we would like to be treated, according to this Gospel.  It is God’s Will that we should care for “the least of these,” according to this Gospel.

 Why?  Because our living of this Love means that we are in alignment with God’s Will, so that God’s Will shall be done, “on earth as in heaven.”  It means that all of God’s beloved shall have Shalom.  Until now, that has never been the case.  There are many who God loves who do not have Shalom in their lives.  God loves them.  Other people are doing what they do to hurt these people who are loved by God.  Systems have been set up to hurt these people who are loved by God.  So, when we treat them shamefully, we are treating Jesus shamefully and the Father who sent Jesus.  When we treat them shamefully, we are at enmity with God who loves them.  This is also our own salvation, in that we do not harm another of God’s children, according to Jesus in Matthew.  When we help them in this part of God’s Kingdom, here and now, we are doing that for Jesus, according to this Gospel, both here and later in Jesus’ vision of His judgement of the world.

 Whose side are we on?  What do our principles, philosophies, politics, economics ideologies, words and behaviors say about us and whether we are in alignment with Jesus’ Kingdom values or not?  Are we on the side of those who set up systems to hold some of God’s beloved children down, back and out?  Are we on the side of those who judge others who are different from them?  Are we on the side of those who refuse help to those in need or exploit others for all we can get out of them, at their expense?  Or, are we on the side of Jesus, God’s Grace and agaph, building communities on equality, the equitable treatment of all and kindness?

Jesus says, “truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”