EARTHY RELIGION
If anyone gives so much as a cup of water to one of these little ones, because he is a disciple of mine, I tell you this: that man will assuredly not go unrewarded. Matt. 10:42, N.E.B.
Many of this world's religions divide all of life into two categories: the sacred and the secular, the religious and the common. Religious experience includes never letting the two get mixed up. Things religious have their own vocabulary, their own frame of reference.
But Christianity does not follow this pattern. There is not a sacred part of life versus a secular part of life. There are not two distinct ways of speaking and thinking, because for the Christian all of life is sacred. His relationship with Christ flavors every dimension of living, even the most mundane.
I have known more than one perplexed Christian who has wished for a deeper involvement with the things of God. These devout people have longed for greater preoccupation with spiritual themes, for more absorbing interest in heaven and the world to come. Some of them seem to have missed Jesus' surprising revelation that one's readiness for the coming kingdom is measured by some very earthy actions. In today's verse we hear Jesus describing discipleship in terms of one's readiness to give a cup of cold water to a young child.
Sometimes it is easier to think in religious terms when one is in church or enjoying a group Bible study. It is easier to affirm one's interest in heaven when other heaven-bound pilgrims are nearby to say "Amen!" We can quickly recognize certain behaviors as correctly religious--such as giving offerings to the church, singing certain songs, and attending religious meetings.
But Jesus (who urged us to be salt in the earth, not in the church) keeps challenging us to ignore that artificial line between church-life and the life of the world around us. One who has the mind of Christ--the Christ who lets His rain fall on the just and the unjust--is going to give a cup of cold water to a child because that's the kind of person he is. He is not going to do it because he can report it during the missionary emphasis period in church or because the child is a member of his church. It will be the free-flowing expression of his very character, and that's why it can be such a reliable measure of his readiness for the kingdom.
If anyone gives so much as a cup of water to one of these little ones, because he is a disciple of mine, I tell you this: that man will assuredly not go unrewarded. Matt. 10:42, N.E.B.
Many of this world's religions divide all of life into two categories: the sacred and the secular, the religious and the common. Religious experience includes never letting the two get mixed up. Things religious have their own vocabulary, their own frame of reference.
But Christianity does not follow this pattern. There is not a sacred part of life versus a secular part of life. There are not two distinct ways of speaking and thinking, because for the Christian all of life is sacred. His relationship with Christ flavors every dimension of living, even the most mundane.
I have known more than one perplexed Christian who has wished for a deeper involvement with the things of God. These devout people have longed for greater preoccupation with spiritual themes, for more absorbing interest in heaven and the world to come. Some of them seem to have missed Jesus' surprising revelation that one's readiness for the coming kingdom is measured by some very earthy actions. In today's verse we hear Jesus describing discipleship in terms of one's readiness to give a cup of cold water to a young child.
Sometimes it is easier to think in religious terms when one is in church or enjoying a group Bible study. It is easier to affirm one's interest in heaven when other heaven-bound pilgrims are nearby to say "Amen!" We can quickly recognize certain behaviors as correctly religious--such as giving offerings to the church, singing certain songs, and attending religious meetings.
But Jesus (who urged us to be salt in the earth, not in the church) keeps challenging us to ignore that artificial line between church-life and the life of the world around us. One who has the mind of Christ--the Christ who lets His rain fall on the just and the unjust--is going to give a cup of cold water to a child because that's the kind of person he is. He is not going to do it because he can report it during the missionary emphasis period in church or because the child is a member of his church. It will be the free-flowing expression of his very character, and that's why it can be such a reliable measure of his readiness for the kingdom.
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