NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TEN

Part VI

Verse 41: Whoever accepts a prophet because that person is a prophet, gets the same reward a prophet gets. And whoever accepts a godly person because that person is godly, gets the same reward a godly person gets.

Now our Lord reverses the flow by saying that when a prophet is accepted as being genuine, those who listen and receive the prophet’s message will by grasping it get exactly what the prophet gets for giving it. Although there is no cross reference to the Old Testament, this saying by Jesus sounds very much like an ancient Hebrew maxim.

It’s another way of saying that when you hear the truth, don’t judge it by who or what you think you are or by what you already know, but judge it by the messenger who brings it to you. It appears that our Lord is trying to point out that even though He has shown the same power the Father in heaven has, and has clearly announced that the message He brings is from the Father above, many of the Jewish leaders refuse to accept it because it didn’t fit their view on the Law’s teaching of how a person gets forgiveness of sin and thereby attains eternal life.

Jewish Rabbi’s explain it this way: “A Sin-offering is offered because of a sin and a Guilt-offering is offered because of guilt; therefore, just as a Sin-offering is invalid if slaughtered under some other name so is a Guilt-offering invalid if slaughtered under some other name.”¹ One Rabbi adds: “If any other named offerings were slaughtered under the name of a Passover-offering or of a Sin-offering, they become invalid.”²

For instance, since the Passover-offering required an innocent, spotless lamb, and someone brought a pigeon because they couldn’t afford the lamb or didn’t want to spend that much, if the pigeon was offered as a Passover-sacrifice the Rabbis say that the offering is invalid. Jesus as the Lamb of God was the only approved sacrifice of the Father. Therefore, anyone coming to God for forgiveness using any other name than the name of Jesus, it makes their request invalid. You cannot use the name of Buddha, Confucius, Mohammad or even Mary. God will only accept the name of His Son, Jesus the Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Origen gives his exposition on this subject by writing: “This passage has a deeper meaning. One who has properly extracted the meaning of the apostle’s writing, and has not misunderstood it is receiving the apostle as well as Christ who speaks and dwells in the apostle and is the source of the apostle’s teaching. And since the divine mind of the Father is also in the Son, one who receives the ‘word of wisdom”³ and everything that is Christ is receiving God the Father of all things. The first part refers mystically to the new covenant, the last part to the old covenant.”⁴

While this venerable early church scholar certainly embodies the meaning that by accepting the apostle the receiver also accepts the apostle’s teaching, it does in fact have a deeper meaning. They cannot accept the apostle and reject Christ. This has happened over and over again where a minister is told, “I like you, you are a good person, but please don’t force me to accept your Jesus as my Savior.” A true apostle and Christ cannot be separated. The blessings that an apostle carries is the Word of God, the message of salvation, the forgiveness of sins, and freedom from the legalistic law of working for their salvation to receive the grace of God through Christ that offers salvation based on faith alone. Therefore, whatever reward is in store for this apostle for sharing these blessings will be passed on to those who receive and accept the message he brings.

The great Early Church scholar Theodore of Heraclea had this to say: “The one who receives people sent by anyone gladly honors the one who sent them, and vice versa. Or alternately: the one who receives the apostles who preach the Trinity receives ‘the fullness of deity itself.⁵ And I think it likely that even in our day we receive them in spirit, if we receive their counsels with an open mind.”⁶

Over the years I’ve heard of ministers offering their version of what was needed for a person to become a child of God. But unless they complied with the demands of the Scripture, then whatever they did can be declared as invalid. That’s because there can be no other sacrifice for sin other than Jesus who died on the cross for that very reason. Likewise, the Jews could not say that their animal sacrifices were sufficient to take away the punishment of sin when Jesus was trying to tell them that God had instituted the plan He announced to their forefathers, because the plan they were using was only temporary until the real sacrifice came.

Verse 42: Whoever helps any of these younger ones because they are my followers will definitely get a reward, even if they only give them a cup of cold water.

Scholars say there must have been some small children with their mothers and fathers in the group, giving Jesus the opportunity to point to several of them and say that this guarantee of a blessing to be a blessing applies even to the smallest and most innocent among us. However, other scholars feel that children in that situation would have been out of place, therefore they suggest that Jesus was referring to Jesus’ newest followers. They point to Chapter 25:45 as an example of our Lord using similar language.

In Jewish thinking, the giving of the cup of cold water seems to be tied to making vows. As such, it allows for a gracious act even to someone who has no interest in what is being offered. One venerable Rabbi tells the story about a man who invited someone he knew over to his house for a meal. But that individual had vowed he’d never go to this man’s house and bother him even for a drink of cold water. However, he did end up going and later when he had to explain why he didn’t keep his vow, it was determined that he really meant he wouldn’t go if the man was putting on a feast.⁷ In other words, don’t be discouraged when someone does not accept the invitation to join your Bible Study, and don’t let that keep you from inviting them over for a cup of coffee and piece of pie to talk about how things are going, or even to watch a ball game.

In September 1971 I was in Amsterdam, Holland to take part in a street evangelism effort sponsored by Campus Crusade for Christ that required us to walk up to people in the city’s famous “Dam Square,” which we thought was appropriately named because it was where many hippies who were on drugs hung out near the National Monument, and engage them with a booklet called “The Four Spiritual Laws.” Our opening line was this: “If you were to die tonight do you know for sure you would go to heaven?” We were told that even if they showed no interest, we were authorized to still give them a small copy of the New Testament as a gift for even talking to us. In this way, we combined our words with action. It may not have been soul-winning as some may see it, but like the cup of cold water, but we did it in Jesus’ name. We won’t know until the books are opened in heaven to see how many actually who did not pray with us that day but accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior later on.

Also, years later as a hospital chaplain I had patients who expressed no interest in talking religion with me. But instead of turning around and leaving the room as though I had been rebuffed, I respected their wishes but asked if it would be alright if I chatted with them as a friend because I really cared about their situation? In many cases they agreed, and it eventually led back to the subject of their spirituality. Sometimes a cordial reception can be every effective in opening the door to the Gospel. In other words, you may have to start with a cordial cup of cold water before they accept your invitation to enjoy a spiritual snack.

The Jews had a similar concept, but in reverse order: “Two Rabbis began to speak in praise of hospitality, expounding on the verse, And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his house . . . . because of the Ark of God.⁸ They said: If there was a reward for attending to the ark of the covenant that neither ate or drank, but in front of which he merely swept and dusted, how much more will it be for one who entertains a scholar in his house and gives him to eat and drink and allows him the use of his possessions!”⁹

To put this another way, if you invite a young believer to a Bible Study in someone else’s home, but they cannot go because they have no transportation, if you offer to pick them up and take them but they say “No,” don’t despair. It’s another cup of cold water that Jesus said would be like giving it to God Himself. But if they say “Yes,” how much more will you rejoice when they receive as much of a blessing for going as you did in asking them if they wanted to go.

Bishop Hilary offers this explanation of the cup of cold water: “Jesus teaches that no deed of a good conscience is useless. It is no crime for a believer to have hope that transcends another’s unbelief. For He foresaw that there would be many who glory in merely being called an apostle but whose every action proves they are unworthy. They deceive and lie perpetually. And yet when we grant these people the favors that are due them because of their mere appearance of religiosity, He does not withhold from us the reward of doing His work and of hope. For even if they are the very least, that is, the worst sinners of all—for nothing is smaller than the ‘least’—nonetheless He decrees that we have duties toward them. These duties are light but not useless. They are represented by the phrase ‘cold water.’ For honor is to be paid not to the sins of the individual but to his status as a disciple. He grants His reward to the faith of the one who gives, not to the deceitfulness of the one who receives.”¹⁰

While his eminence makes a metaphor out of cold water to represent what many believers see as everyday, mundane duties, we cannot ignore the Jewish custom of Jesus’ day in which certain good manners, that were considered the very least one person could do for another, would still bring a reward for being righteous. So in other words, our Lord was teaching that no effort or ministry on our part, even to those who do not represent the brightest or most talented in the congregation, is still significant in the eyes of God. Therefore not even the most distinguished of God’s servants should consider any task as being below their station or interest.

So our Lord was letting His followers know that when sending them out to represent Him their preaching should be clear, direct, and given freely to those who received it and not let those who reject it deter them or make them despondent. However, it should not be hell-fire and brimstone without compassion. I’ve been told that during the days of the “Jesus People,” individuals would be confronted on the streets and told, “Turn or burn!” I’m sure this was not what our Lord had in mind when He spoke of going out into the vineyard where the harvest was ripe. After all, who wants to listen to someone who is shouting and criticizing them for not accepting God’s free gift of love and salvation.

Chapter 11:1 When Jesus finished these instructions for His twelve followers, He left Capernaum. He went through the towns around in Galilee to teach the people and tell them God’s message.

In the Greek manuscripts, this verse appears to be the final part of the narrative of chapter ten. It is a way of saying that this portion of His ministry concluded with an evangelistic effort in Galilee. Many think that Christ’s journeys into the countryside were just happenstance or impromptu with no prior planning. Christ is often pictured as a wandering miracle worker, going wherever His whim or fancy took Him.

Here we have a repeat of what Matthew recorded in Chapter 9:35-38, so this would be His second evangelism circuit in the areas around northern Galilee. Little did the people know that He had a date with destiny that was already scheduled by God for the right point in time. Everything God did in relationship to Jesus’ arrival here on earth and His departure back into heaven was prescripted by the Father in heaven: when He was born; where He was born; when He would be baptized by John the Baptizer; when He would call His disciples; when He would ride into Jerusalem; when He would die on the cross; when He would walk out of the tomb; and when He would ascend back into heaven. How then can anyone doubt that the time of His return is already scheduled. It doesn’t matter if you die before it happens because you will still live to see it!

But no other life on earth had been so precisely directed by our heavenly Father. His birth, His flight into Egypt to avoid Herod’s massacre, His hometown of Nazareth, His move to Capernaum, calling His disciples, raising Lazarus from the dead, His ride toward Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, His death and subsequent resurrection and ascension, were incisively calculated. Should His ministry have been left to chance in order to be fair? No! God forbid, as Paul would say, you can believe that every footstep of Christ was set down with omniscient precision. Take a look at the John 4:4 to be further convinced of this truth.