June 26, 2005
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.
I am still amazed over what we did last Sunday. I must admit that I was surprised to see that many people coming to church to be a part of the official Church Family Portrait. It was an event that many didn’t want to miss! Those who were out of town want to be scanned in later. It seemed that as more and more people came, we squeezed in a person here another one there and finally, we listened to the instructions, “Hold it! Don’t move.” Many of us never imagined that we had that many people coming to FCBC on a Sunday. For once, we were all at the same place at the same time. We felt like one of those mega churches. It surely was a momentous and historic event!
We in America love to have things big. We like to have a bigger church building. We like to hear stories of churches growing at astounding rates. It’s hard not to like bigness in America, where the average entrée at a restaurant these days could feed four people, and where the average car or truck can’t fit into normal parking places anymore. In this type of climate, smaller churches are left feeling like failures unless they manage to change into a big church.
In today’s gospel message, Jesus says he prefers the small. He celebrates small, trivial acts of faithfulness that don’t get noticed by the world. For the church of Jesus Christ, smaller might even be better.
One Final Command
For the past few weeks, we have been studying Matthew chapter 10, one of Jesus’ long discourses. We finally come to the end today. We were challenged to see the harassed and helpless people so that we might get sick in our guts as Jesus was when he felt compassion for them. Last week, we confronted one of the most difficult passages in the entire Bible when Jesus said he did not come to bring peace but a sword and challenged us to understand that our relationship with God is even more important than our relationship with loved ones. That was a hard lesson to swallow.
Today, Jesus closes this chapter with one final command: “and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of the disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.” But this last command seems too easy.
The disciples have given up their homes and jobs, have calloused their hands in the business of healing and casting out demons, have risked their relationships with parents, children and families, and now Jesus says a cup of water given to a parched throat will do the trick just as well!
For most of us average Christians, we welcome this passage because this is very good news. We generally fail at casting out demons. We rather stay in our pews than take the gospel into the streets. We prefer ministering to youth who come from nice homes than those who hang out on the street corner. We cling to our monthly paycheck as if it’s our salvation. While people are starving on the streets, we pamper our family members on what new exciting places to eat. But today’s gospel is indeed good news for people like us.
Jesus says that when we do a small act of hospitality like giving a cup of cold water to a thirsty stranger, the doors of the kingdom of heaven will be opened for us. We don’t have to do the big things but just the little ones. Thanks be to God!
Risky Business
But before we get too happy and comfortable with such an easy act of faithfulness, maybe the Lord is setting us up for something more. We know that we can all be better Christians. We all know a cross or two we can bear, a prophet or two we could welcome and support. But can faithfulness be this easy?
What happened to “turning the other cheek,” and “loving you enemies,” and “selling all you have to the poor and come follow me?” Surely these are the marks of true discipleship, the keys to the kingdom of heaven. What happened to casting out demons and enduring persecution? Is Jesus telling us that a little act of genuine hospitality is enough?
In a world as broken and fragmented as ours, a simple act of kindness can be downright dangerous. Showing a little genuine hospitality can be risky business.
Before we answer our doorbell, we look through the little peephole because the one who might be on the other side of your front door might need your help. Offering directions to a lost traveler provokes in you second thoughts by worrying whether you have sent the person in the right direction. Holding another person’s hand involves bodily contact. Visiting the hospital or retirement home means an encounter with the sick, the dying, and the lonely. Going grocery shopping for someone means that you might need to enter into this person’s private world. Helping someone move from one place to another lets you know what are the cherished treasures of memories. The simple saying of “I love you” means much more than we can ever imagine if we take those words seriously. Greeting someone with “How are you?” opens ourselves to the possibility of spending the next hour listening to someone’s life’ concerns. Having coffee with someone only leads to many more times of drinking coffee together.
The simple little acts of kindness that we do such as giving a thirsty stranger a cup of cold water can lead to a prophetic act. You are not done with this person. It’s not finished; it’s not one solitary act. A cup of water leads us to finding out why the person is thirsty in the first place. We want to find out why the thirsty person doesn’t have one of those plastic bottles that everyone seems to carry around with them. Why is it that some people have water and others don’t?
Two weeks from today, Dr. Marian Ronan from ABSW will be with us for four Sundays to share both from the pulpit as well as at the Summer Series, the global water crisis that we have. Much of the world’s population does not have clean drinking water. When we give a cup of clean, drinkable water, it’s a matter of life and death. The simple act of turning on the faucet in our kitchen means that someone else won’t have that water to drink.
St Francis of Assisi
The story of St. Francis of Assisi and the wolf of Gubbio is perhaps the most famous of all the St. Francis legends. Maybe we can learn from this little 13th century saint who practiced the ministry of hospitality throughout his life. Francis went to the town of Gubbio where a wolf was terrorizing and devouring the townspeople who dared leave the city gates. When Francis learned of the problem, he said he would go and speak to his brother, the wolf.
When the wolf saw Francis and his companions coming toward him, he charged out of the woods bristling and baring his teeth. But Francis made a sign of the cross over the wolf and the wolf bowed at Francis’ feet. Francis said, “Come to me, Brother Wolf. In the name of Christ, I order you not to hurt anyone.”
Francis explained to the wolf that he had been killing and frightening the people of Gubbio and this was against God’s law. But he also knew that the reason the wolf had been eating the people was because there was no more food in the forest and he was hungry.
Francis said he wanted to make peace between the wolf and the townspeople. Francis returned to Gubbio with the wolf by his side, where Francis preached a sermon in the town square on God’s love and mercy. The wolf agreed to stop terrorizing the people, and in return, the people agreed to feed the wolf.
For two years the wolf lived among the people of Gubbio in peace, as their companion and brother, receiving bread and water from their hands. When the wolf died, the people of Gubbio wept, for the wolf was a reminder to them of the holiness of St. Francis and God’s gentle presence with them.
Jesus says to do this. Reach out to our brothers and sisters. The world is frightening beyond our walls. The street youth who hang out at the corner of our church look scary. But our neighbors are hungry. They are thirsty. There is no other way to show hospitality, to make peace, to be a disciple, but to make ourselves vulnerable to others. It is done face to face, hand to hand, person to person. The cup of cold water that the stranger needs must be delivered by our hands. This kind of discipleship leads us into the risky business of finding salvation in the Lord.
Small Church
It was exciting to see that our church has grown both spiritually and numerically last Sunday. But I am glad that when we come to church Sunday after Sunday, we usually meet in four separate worship services with a smaller group of worshipers. We attend small Sunday school classes or weeknight Bible study groups. We are members of smaller fellowship groups where everyone knows your name. When we are in smaller groups, we realized that we all need to perform little simple acts of kindness. If we see that we are big all the time, we tend to think that someone else will step up. We shirk in our responsibility of giving a small cup of cold water to a thirsty stranger thinking that surely someone else will do it.
Jesus is saying that it’s up to us. We are called to welcome the prophetic voices into our lives and in this community because there are hungry and thirsty people out there. We are called to seek out those who are doing righteousness because it’s righteousness that we hunger and thirst for in our broken and fragmented world. And when we give a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of Christ as his disciples, we will receive the reward to the keys to the kingdom of heaven.
A Cup for Cold Water
On Wednesday, we officially began the season of summer. For most of the world we know, it’s usually warm and hot. When we are traveling on vacation or going to Denver, or serving at Day Camp or going to Youth Camp, we will meet up with people who are in need of your simple little acts of kindness.
Where is your cup? Jesus is giving you a cup of water that you may give to others. When you leave worship today, the ushers will give you a simple paper cup—it happens to have Disney characters on them—perhaps that too is prophetic to send a message to us that while we may be having our vacation, others are barely struggling to survive. You might use it today right outside on our sidewalk. You might carefully fold it and slip it into your wallet or purse as a reminder this summer to give a cup of water to a thirsty stranger.
The empty dry cup is a symbol of your sacrifice to help those in need just as the cup of the blood of Christ washed away our sins when we are in need so that we may have eternal life.
Let us pray.
Forgiving God, we pray to you seeking for your grace and mercy when we didn’t give a cup of cold water to a thirsty stranger. Challenge us this summer to act as disciples performing little and simple acts of kindness to all whom we meet. Show us that our faith would grow more faithfully toward you when we begin to do what Christ commands of us. In the name of Christ our Lord, we pray. Amen.