What It Means to Receive Jesus

Jeremiah 28:5-9; Matthew 10:40-41

            The church of my childhood spoke often of “receiving Jesus.”  “You must receive Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior,” we were exhorted most Sunday mornings and evenings.  What that meant to me was that I needed to have a private, individualistic encounter with Jesus, a personal experience where I did what only I could do: invite Jesus to be a part of my life.

            Harris, I bet you remember the old hymn, “On the Jericho Road.”  It is mostly a rural hymn.  Some of you may remember it, especially you back here in the choir.  Merle Haggard recorded it, the Gaithers, the Statler Brothers, and others.  The chorus went like this:

On the Jericho road

There’s room for just two

No more or no less

Just Jesus and you.

            Private.  Individualistic.  Just Jesus and you.

            That’s not wrong.  In fact, many, many people have had profound, life-changing experiences on a Jericho road with Jesus.  I’m one of them.

            Our text for today, however, gives a broader perspective on what it means to receive or, as my newer translation reads, “welcome” Jesus.  Matthew 10 is called the Second Discourse in the Gospel of Matthew.  There are a total of five discourses, the first being my favorite, the Sermon on the Mount in chapters five through seven.  Our text is at the end of the second discourse, where Jesus has commissioned his disciples and sent them into the world to preach, teach, and heal. He concludes the Second Discourse with these words.  This is from my study Bible, the Revised Standard Version:

He who receives you (the disciples who are going out to preach, teach, and heal) receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me (God).

            Here Jesus broadens what it means to “receive Jesus.”  It’s not so private and individualistic here.  It’s about receiving other disciples, our brothers and sisters in Christ who are preaching, teaching, and healing.  When we receive them, Jesus says, we receive him.  And when we receive him, we receive the One who sent him, God. 

            Jesus continues.  He says that if we receive a prophet, we will receive the reward of a prophet.  If we receive a righteous person, we will receive the reward of a righteous person.  And then he refers to the “little ones.”  The only other time Jesus speaks of “little ones” in Matthew is in chapter 18.  There he is talking about children.

Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

            The “little ones” mattered to Jesus.  They were children, humble Christians, maybe poor Christians, the ones some might neglect or treat with disdain.  In our text he says that if you give even a cup of cold water to one of these “little ones,” you will not lose your reward.

            What’s the point Jesus is trying to make here at the end of the Second Discourse?  I think it is this.  Jesus expected his disciples to experience rejection.  As they went into the world to preach, teach, and heal, Jesus expected them to meet with non-acceptance.  He said he was sending them out as sheep in the midst of wolves.  Therefore, they were to be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves.  If anyone did not receive them or listen to their message, he told them to shake the dust from their feet as they left that house or town.  Here’s his point.  There are others on the Jericho road.  How we relate to those others matters.  When we receive those who are preaching, teaching, and healing, we receive Jesus.  And when we receive Jesus, we receive the One who sent him, God.  Now, I’m not fishing for a lunch invitation because this includes the “little ones” too—children, humble Christians, poor Christians.  When we receive others within the community of faith, show genuine hospitality, acceptance, compassion, aid, we are receiving Jesus, and when we receive Jesus we receive God.

            Maybe that old hymn needs a second chorus that goes more like this:

On the Jericho road

Sometimes there’s just two

Just Jesus and you.

But sometimes there are more

Preachers, teachers, healers, and little ones.

And when we receive them

We receive Jesus

And blessings outpour.

            Some of you have taken a little one into your home and provided safety, comfort, stability, and a whole lotta love.  Maybe a grandchild.  Maybe a nephew or niece. Or the child of a friend.  Perhaps it was a foster child.  Maybe the vulnerable one you took in was not so little.  Maybe in was parent or grandparent.  Maybe another relative or friend. Maybe it was someone in the LGBTQ community to whom you opened your home and heart. 

            There is something theological about that.  These vulnerable ones mattered to Jesus.  He said that when we receive them, we receive him.  And when we receive Jesus, we receive the One who sent him, God.

            Some of you are quick to open your home to host someone.  It may be a visiting choir that is on tour.  Maybe a visiting speaker.  Maybe a missionary on furlough.  You clean the house, ready the guest room, and prepare meals.  There is something theological about that.  When you receive that person, you receive Jesus.  And when you receive Jesus, you receive the one who sent him, God.

            In 1997, I went to Odessa, Ukraine, on a mission trip.  I was part of a group of about twelve from my church in Birmingham.  We prepared for months.  When we arrived in Odessa, we divided into groups of two or three and stayed in people’s homes.  My hosts were Boris and Deena.  They were very poor compared to our standards.  They lived in a community nicknamed Palermo, a reference to the Italian city where poppy plants are grown for opium.  A wall surrounded Boris and Deena’s house.  I stood on a concrete block beside the wall and watched drug deals.  I watched people inject drugs.  Spent needles littered the ground outside their wall.  Inside the wall their family of three generations eked out a living.  They loved each other, practiced their faith, grew their own vegetables, raised a few chickens, and welcomed a missionary team.  They did it with magnanimity, largeness of heart.  The meals were generous and sometimes lasted for hours.  We had to use an outhouse, and I showered and shaved outside.  But they shared what they had with us.  It was theological.  When they received us, they received Jesus.  And when they received Jesus, they received the One who sent him, God.

            We ought to speak often of receiving Jesus.  On the Jericho road, just Jesus and you.  And when there are more—preachers, teachers, healers, and little ones.  They all mattered to Jesus.  He took time in the Second Discourse to make sure his disciples understood this.  It is true for us too.  When we receive others within the community of faith, show genuine hospitality, acceptance, compassion, aid, we are receiving Jesus, and when we receive Jesus we receive God.

Closing Prayer 

            Lord, we give you thanks for all who are on the Jericho road.  Teach us how to receive each other and thereby how to receive you.  Amen.