Our scripture this week is Matthew 10:40-42.
“Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.”
The most important point in this passage is the fact that those who welcome His messengers welcome Jesus Himself, and by extension of that connection, God the Father who sent Him. Jesus wants us to know the joy He knows, the relationship He shares and the blessing it entails. Being one with God and each other is the message He has brought from the very beginning.
When He was born, the angels sang “Glory to God and peace on earth”, an indicator of what was intended for Jesus. He came to show us God’s love as one of us, in a way we could more easily understand and then become more like Him – more like the image in which we were created. God wasn’t doing something new, He was helping us remember something very old.
Scripture tells us the story – “So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27) and “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). God made us with a purpose, to be His children, to love Him and each other. Jesus calls us to remember that purpose and act on the promise He shares, that we may have eternal life.
Gracious God, we are the work of Your hands, children of Your intent. Help us to live in the light of Your love, reminding all our brothers and sisters of the blessing we have in You. Amen.