It has been more than forty years since I found myself on the south coast of the island of La Gonave in Haiti. It was September, still hot and sticky in the Caribbean, and I was a part of a mission work team building an extension on a medical station in the village of Source Phillippe. One particularly stifling afternoon a local man brought our construction crew a few small watermelons, slicing them up with his machete and handing us each a piece. At that moment it was, in many ways, the sweetest gift I had ever received. It came from a grateful farmer in a small village which had no running water and no electricity, and where the infant mortality rate was staggering. I suddenly recalled this wonderful memory as I read this morning’s gospel lesson, “and whosoever gives even 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 simple verse is packed with a great deal of important lessons. We all remember how important hospitality was esteemed in the Bible; it was a sacred duty. Now, Jesus seems to be saying that giving even a cup of cold water can be important, maybe even life sustaining, if a cup of cold water is what is needed at that moment. The blessing, it would seem, is in the act of giving rather than the actual gift. And to a certain extent that is quite true, but there is way more to it.
Jesus was often a very “hands-on” healer, laying hands on a lame man, sticking his fingers into the ears of a deaf man, making a spittle and dirt ball and pressing it into the eyes of a blind man. A few chapters further on in Matthew from today’s lesson Jesus said:
37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers,[a] you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:37-40
Notice that Jesus is not saying I was hungry and you gave me directions to Wawa, I was thirsty and you told me there was a drinking fountain around the corner. The righteous in this case are hands-on doers, because at root the sacredness of hospitality is really about making connections between oneself and another person.
We are all ready to contribute to a mission project or give a donation to a worthy cause; these are an important part of our faith life, for we know that a church in mission is a vital community of faith and we should never weary of well doing, but more important in our Lord’s estimation is making connections. For, when we make the connection, the person who is hungry or thirty is no longer the object for our charity, but a brother or sister. The farmer who handed me a small slice of watermelon was no longer a villager I had come to help with my mission work, he became my brother in that moment, and I his as well.
Here’s a final thought. Read our gospel lesson again and notice that Jesus affirms that the one who gives even a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple… He didn’t say whoever gives a cup of cold water to a disciple, but rather in the name of a disciple. This is all about passing things on out of gratitude. We do not judge the worthiness of that person to receive what we have to give or whether or not that person likes us, agrees with us, or even deserves what we have to give; we give, even down to a cup of cold water, because we are grateful for what we ourselves have been given. We are grateful to our Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation, to the disciples who shared the Good News, and to the faithful who down to this present time have received and passed on the faith. And we are grateful to our God, the giver of every good and perfect gift.
