The hospitable guest

June 28, 2020

Matthew 10:40-42 New International Version (NIV)

⁴⁰“Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. ⁴¹Whoever 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. ⁴²And 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.”

Background

10:40–42. Here Jesus returned to thoughts about the hosts of the disciples as they went from city to city (10:11–14) and continued his thoughts about reward.

An apostle was one who, if he conducted himself in a worthy manner, was to be treated exactly as the one he represented. He had the same authority and conveyed the same message as the person he represented. Jesus was an “apostle” from the Father, and the Twelve were apostles from Jesus. Through this chain of representation, the authority of God the Father was conveyed through the Twelve. And the response of those to whom they went was not a response to human beings, but a response to the Father whom they represented (10:40). Jesus focused on the positive response of “receiving” rather than on the negative response of rejection.

In the Old Testament, a person who accepted a prophet and his message had accepted God’s will. Those who provided for the prophets were rewarded like the prophets. Similarly, to receive a righteous person or a disciple for Christ’s sake would mean sharing in their reward for faithfulness. Matthew 10:41–42 has some characteristics of Hebrew poetry. In keeping with the rules of Hebrew parallelism, Jesus varied his wording for aesthetic value in the parallel statements about reward.^{^[1]}

Stuart K. Weber, Matthew, vol. 1, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 150.

Video Background click here

Point 1

Notes from Point 1

Point 2

Notes from Point 2

Point 3

Notes from Point 3

Summary

Helpful links

Church Website click here

Facebook