The one who welcomes you welcomes me, and the one who welcomes me welcomes Him who sent me. The one who welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and the one who welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive a righteous persons reward. And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, they shall not lose their reward.
Upon reading this text, I want to ask you a question, the same question which this blog will be looking at. What exactly is the reward of being a Christian? What is a prophets reward? What is the righteous persons reward? and What is the reward of being a humble disciple?
Throughout the Old Testament we hear story after story about the prophets, and the reward of their loyal service to The Lord God almighty. One story, the story of Elijah
Looks at when he confronted King Ahab (the husband of Jezebel) which God told him to do, After Elijah delivered God’s message, he became an outcast and had to flee from Israel. While he was fleeing he needed food, so God provided him with food and water. The catch was... he was fed by ravens, the great scavenger birds which feed on dead flesh, and as time went by, the water of the brook dried up. Elijah then went to a widow whom God had told him about in Zarephath, God worked a great miracle through Elijah. God provided for this widow with a never ending supply of flour and oil. The catch was... Her son died, Elijah was yelled and screamed at and asked why he came. God again provided a miracle for the widow by bringing the child back to life again. Many other things happened in the life of Elijah, God worked many wonders through him, and by him, but for every work that he did, there was resistance, hatred and pain.
The reward of the prophet is not an easy one. It carries the reward of pain, suffering, hostility and abandonment by your peers. But this is not the end of the story. With the faithful service to God comes the great reward, as we hear in second Kings chapter 2: And Elijah went up in a windstorm to heaven. The final great reward of a prophet is to be united with God our Father in heaven for all eternity.
In the gospel reading we heard that whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophets reward. So I guess we better ask the question: What is a prophet? How else will we know how to welcome Christ and His Father who sent Him?
Many people believe that a prophet is someone who tells the future, or in other words, a Christian fortune teller. Biblically speaking this is not accurate. A prophet first and foremost is one who hears or sees God’s word, it is someone who God has revealed himself to. Not for the prophets sake in the first instance, but for those people whom God loves, His chosen people. You all here today, are God’s chosen people. God has chosen you to welcome Him. But how do you welcome Him?
You welcome God, by welcoming the one whom he sent, Jesus Christ his only Son. You welcome Him firstly at your baptism when He made you one of His chosen people. When He promised you Eternal Life. You continue to welcome Him by welcoming those who come to you to proclaim the word which he has given. You welcome God by welcoming His word, which is preached at church every Sunday. This is the reason and the importance of training in the Pastoral ministry. Faithful Pastors who faithfully preach the word in Spirit and truth to us every week are working in the place of Christ, proclaiming God’s word, as a prophet. And we are to welcome them and their message, as God’s word for us. Because they have been sent. The reward of hearing this word is abundant. The words which they speak bring life, they are our spiritual food. In the same way as God provided for the widow with Oil and flour. So too God feeds us through our Pastors voice and there word, God feeds us with the food of eternal life, with his word.
On the flip side of coin, when we hear and are given His word and welcome and receive them, we also receive and welcome the prophets reward. The word does not leave us untouched. God’s word never returns to Him empty. As we hear God’s word, we are changed to be more like him. And when we are changed we begin to receive those rewards I mentioned earlier. We begin to be hurt, isolated and suffer for the sake of the word. For this is the prophets reward that they will not even be accepted in their own home town. Harsh words, You bet. But the words of Hope are SO MUCH MORE. Remember Elijah, he suffered, he was persecuted and driven away from the land for which he was prophesying. But God provided for him throughout his whole life, and when he was at the end of his life. He was taken up to heaven in spectacular fashion, in a whirlwind or a windstorm of some sort.
We have another example given to us that is so much more than Elijah. His name is Jesus Christ, the great prophet, God’s only Son. He was persecuted for the sake of the word. He suffered mocking, beating and His life was ultimately taken from Him.
The reward of the prophet is a heavy reward. But a great one.
We must not forget that although the reward of the prophet is hard, isolating and can lead to such persecutions leading even to death, the heaviness of the reward is far out weighed by the amazing promise of eternal life. Because as Christ was raised from the dead, so to will we be on that great day when he comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead.
Christ in the sermon on the mount says: Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. Jesus is not saying here that you may be persecuted one day for His sake, or that you may be insulted or excluded. He is saying that you will be persecuted for his sake in one way or another; for the sake of righteousness. When you welcome a righteous person in the name of a righteous person you will receive a righteous reward.
Here as in the reward of the prophet, the reward is not as we may expect, it also includes the promise of people hating, insulting, and excluding you. And yet again although these things may be hard and disheartening. But again this temporary hurt is far outweighed by the promise of eternal life. Not only will you be awarded with eternal life. Your reward in heaven will be great!
But what does this mean for now? Is there any reward for serving our God right now?
Absolutely. Whoever welcomes Jesus Christ welcomes the one who sent Him, namely our Father in Heaven. And by welcoming Him into our lives we welcome His promises. His promise never to leave us orphaned (as we mentioned in previous posts), to forgive us our sins (as we hear when we receive His forgiveness), to nourish us through His body and blood (as we receive the Lord's Supper), to provide us with all that we need, and to be with us always until the very end of the age.
Times will get tough, you will be persecuted, you will be isolated and hated for the sake of Christ. But you will also have Him who was, who is and is yet to come, in, with and by you, forever and ever.
And the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.
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