Fourth Sunday after Trinity
“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”
Overview
The banner outside out church reads: “Everyone welcome, no exceptions.”
“Everyone” is an easy concept to grasp but what do we mean by “welcome”?
In Biblical society, the practice of welcome, could be the difference between life and death. If the widow or the orphan could not find a household to welcome them, they were destitute.
When you welcomed someone you became responsible for them, they became part of your kinship group, they belonged. In the future, you or anyone from your kin, could expect this hospitality to be reciprocated.
In our first reading, Jeremiah 28:5-9, the prophet is arguing with fellow prophet who is favoured, not for telling the truth, but for telling the people what they want to hear. A true prophet, however, is the one in whom God dwells. When such a prophet is welcomed, God is welcomed with them.
In the early church, when believers were rejected by their kin and their faith community, the practice of welcome was critical. In Matthew 10:40-42, Jesus makes it clear that those who welcomed the prophets, the righteous and the little ones could not expect the usual reciprocity. Instead, their reward would be the presence of God’s very self.
The practice of welcome then, is not just for the benefit of those being welcomed. When we truly welcome others and open ourselves to all that they are and all that they bring we discover that God is here in the midst of us.
FIRST READING
Jeremiah 28:5-9
Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord, and the prophet Jeremiah said, “Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord fulfill the words that you have prophesied and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord and all the exiles. But listen now to this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.
GOSPEL
Matthew 10:40-42
Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous, and whoever 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.
