"Whoever receives you receives me,
and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward,
and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man
will receive a righteous man's reward.
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink
because the little one is a disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward."
On television, it’s easy to hear preachers sharing the message of the “prosperity gospel.” This is the idea that personal economic security and gain are part of God’s saving action among believers. God intends to bless us with health and wealth if we first believe, confess our belief, visualize our success, and give our money to the church. If we do these “righteous actions” God will reward us financially. It's a matter of faith.
On the surface, our first reading from the Second Book of Kings and our gospel reading from Matthew both contain the idea that God rewards our hospitality and generosity. Elisha receives the hospitality of a “woman of influence” by being fed and housed by her when he travels in her vicinity. He responds with the promise of a son for this childless woman because of her generosity. In the gospel snippet we see above, among other things, that whoever receives a prophet receives a prophet’s reward.
Could it be this simple? Could it be this transactional and mechanical: that if we give, then we will be given even more? It is a tempting thought when trying to balance a budget!
No. Something deeper is going on here. The woman who provides shelter and food to the prophet Elisha does so because he is “a holy man of God.” Elisha’s predecessor, Elijah, was similarly identified by another woman after he raised her son from death with the addition that the word of the Lord in his mouth was true. A prophet is a holy man of God because he is entrusted to proclaim the effective and living word of God to a particular generation. To receive him is to believe his word. Now, Jesus is that Word.
To “receive” a prophet is not about our hospitality or generosity, but about receiving God’s living and effective word, about believing and trusting in the Word made flesh, Jesus. In believing in the word of the prophet, we believe in Jesus and in the one who sent him. The question is not how much do we give, but how well do we hear God’s word and put it into action. Then the cost of discipleship, to take up our cross and follow Jesus from the beginning of today’s gospel, makes sense. It is not about what reward we get, but about how we bear God’s word, live righteously, and follow Jesus.
This sense of “receiving” is clearly illustrated by Paul to the Thessalonians:
“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.”