Bible Study series: Matthew 10:40-42. Missionaries deserve the utmost respect.
A warm welcome to this Bible study! I write to learn, so let’s learn together. I also translate to learn. The translations are mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click on this link:
In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 10:40-42
40 Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Anyone who welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive the reward of a prophet. And he who welcomes a righteous person because he is a righteous person shall receive the reward of a righteous person. 42 And whoever gives just a cold drink to one of these little ones because they are disciples—I tell you the truth: he will in no way lose his reward. (Matt. 10:40-42)
Comments:
40:
This is the chain of command—or the chain of welcome and love and kindness! Jesus is informing his disciples who are being sent on a short-term mission trip which will eventually lead to a life-long mission (Matt. 28:18-20) that anyone who shows kindness and hospitality to the missionaries are actually showing kindness and hospitality first to Jesus and then, next, to the Father.
I have a post on Jesus’s sense of mission. He knew his Father sent him, just as he is sending his twelve out on a short-term mission, soon to morph into a life-long mission.
5. Do I Really Know Jesus? He Came Down from Heaven
41-42:
Verses 41-42 are difficult to translate, not grammatically, but the meaning is elusive. Here is a literal translation:
41 Anyone who welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward, and anyone who welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person shall receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And anyone who gives just a cold drink to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple, I tell you the truth: he shall not—not—lose his reward.
The one who welcomes or gives a drink must recognize who the recipient is. And then the hospitable person will receive a reward commensurate with the receiver’s gifting. The little ones are disciples, so the one who gives just a mere a cold drink to them will not lose his (disciple’s) reward. Offering water was one sign of hospitality.
“just a cold drink”: the word “just” could be translated as “only” as in “only a cold drink” or “merely a cold drink.” The implication is that people need to do more than just give a cold drink. They need to supply the emissary with food and probably shelter.
Apart from these interpretation, we have no details on what a prophet’s reward or a righteous person’s reward or a disciple’s rewards are. They are all synonyms. A prophet and righteous person and a disciple are the same person. Jesus righteous prophetic disciples are greater than the prophets of old (5:11-12; 11:9; 13:17), so we must not over-interpret these verses and build a hierarchy on them. But we know the rewards are positive for anyone who receive one of Jesus’s emissaries.
“I tell you the truth”: see v. 15 for more comments.
Keener:
As one treats God’s prophet, so one treats the God who sent the prophet (Ex. 16:8; 1 Sam. 8:7). Matthew repeatedly emphasizes that disciples as Jesus’ agents are his prophets, even greater than the prophets of old (5:11-12); 11:9; 13:17); he thus employs the titles “righteous” and “prophet” interchangeably in this passage (cf. 13:17; 23:29…). This passage probably also evokes the Jewish legal image of the appointed agent, who carried the full authority of the one who had authorized him for the specific task on which he was sent … Disciples were also “little ones,” the easily oppressed and powerless who could not or would not defend themselves (10:42), and hence depended solely on God (18:3-6, 10; cf. 11:11, 25; Mk 9:37; 10:14-15). (p. 332)
GrowApp for Matt. 10:40-42
1. Have you ever shown practical kindness and hospitality to one of God’s laborers in his kingdom? What reward do you envision getting from God?
RELATED
9. Authoritative Testimony in Matthew’s Gospel
1. Church Fathers and Matthew’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCES
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom.
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 