“The man was finally heading home. He ignored the noisy college kids on the bus and stared out the window anxiously/nervously. After a rest stop, a young woman sat down next to him, and they struck up a conversation.
He told her that he’d been in prison for four years and that his wife hadn’t written in three and a half. When he learned that he was being paroled, he wrote her again and said that he still loved her. He said that would understand, however, if she never wanted to see him again.
To make it easier on them both, he suggested that his wife use a yellow handkerchief to communicate her feelings. If she wanted him back, she would tie the handkerchief on the old oak tree near their home. If there was no handkerchief hanging from the tree, then he would stay on the bus and keep going. If he saw the handkerchief, he could come home to her. [Perhaps you have heard the song with the same title as he suggestions.]
Word of the arrangement spread through the bus as rumors/stories often do. As the bus came into town, those noisy college kids flocked to the windows hoping to witness something. . . When they saw the tree, a feverish cheering broke out among them before the man could come to the window himself.
On the tree was not one but dozens of yellow handkerchiefs.”[1]
As we consider this text from Matthew, I want you to remember this story, and consider it. . . But not from the point of view of the ex-con or his wife who welcomed him home.
If someone told you that story and then asked you to speak about the sense of welcome and hospitality from the story, and how that action is mirrored in Matthew 10, you could do that. Instead, I wonder about the college kids, the woman, who witnessed this scene from the bus.
I wonder what happened to them? How were they impacted and changed by witnessing this level of welcome from our story?
For in their practice of welcome, we learn the lesson that Jesus teaches his followers venture into their community.
Move 1- Little Ones
Working backwards through our text, Jesus focuses our attention, and our welcome on specific people. Without naming these people directly, Jesus calls each member of the church to care for the: Little Ones.
And so, the first question that we must consider here is: who are the Little Ones that Jesus is speaking about?
Now the first answer could be literal. Children or the younger of age in the church. That would make sense. Here at Bethesda, as we just completed VBS, and cared for a number of children, the words of Matthew 10 would seem to align perfectly with this concept.
But a second rendering, and perhaps a better application, could be those who we might define as having a smaller or lesser sense of dignity in this community. The marginalized. The forgotten. The folks that we might see who have their own yellow handkerchief tied around the tree because they do not know if others will welcome them home or their midst.
If you were to go to looking through your New Testament for examples of where these little ones are found, you would find Jesus using the same word when he meets a little man who climbed up in a sycamore fig tree to gain a better view. Marginalized by the community, welcomed by Jesus. And as that story goes, Jesus wanted to go to his house, and to have supper with Zacchaeus.
Another location of the idea of ‘little ones’ is in the parable of the Mustard Seed. Jesus again uses this concept to label something, little, small, but very important. The littlest of seeds that grows into the greatest bush he tells us in Matthew 13.
Finally, searching out one of the most important stories of our New Testament, Mark 15:40, the author tells us about a man names James the younger, who, along with Mary Magdalene was present as Jesus was crucified. And by now you know that he could also be ‘James the little one,’ present at the crucifixion—a witness to Jesus’ death—beside his mother Mary.
People, items, that the world would, or could classify as little, insignificant, forgotten, brushed aside, but in God’s eyes and heart, they are important. Their stories further the will and purpose of God. These people are the subject of what Jesus is instructing the hearers in Matthew 10 to be attentive to.
Move 2- welcome.
And more than just being aware of them, for so many people in this world are aware of the presence of these people, and their role around us, Jesus repeatedly gives us direction as we find these Little Ones. Jesus tells us how to Welcome them In.
Four times in verse 40, and then again 2 times in verse 41, Jesus teaches the church to welcome, or receive, these little ones into our midst.
This welcome involves a high level of self-involvement and attention. Whenever we find this concept in the New Testament, regardless of the style, or the author who wrote it, the word describes a whole-hearted, welcoming response rather than a passive allowance. This is not tolerance of an individual.
Whether it was Jesus in the gospel, or Paul in the epistles, or John the revelator at the end of the New Testament, when the welcome was given, there was a personal investment made and so we are told to follow that example. We are asked to invest ourselves in a like way and not to assume that someone else will do it for us.
At Bible School, from the director of the program, down to each group leader, to everyone who handed out food, and with each station leader who taught and instructed, it did not matter, we had to invest ourselves in the lives of each child. To welcome them in; to hear them when they questioned us--actively. And when that investment was made. . . oh the things we saw and we heard.
The children watched with rapt attention as the Bible stories were shared. They listened as the crafts were demonstrated and they danced passionately as the songs were sang. Together they played their games and fellowshipped and built relationship as a small community around the supper table.
But that joyful work can only happen when we intentionally and consistently choose to be present with them. Even as we had a few families just walk in off the streets to see what this was all about, our focus had to shift and adapt to welcome the unexpected into our church and so by doing this… we again made a choice we welcome the little ones in.
Another feature of this welcome is the idea of covenantal hospitality. This aspect of the welcome that Jesus teaches us encompasses ideas of lodging, protection, and listening is in this idea as well. It is all wrapped up in that simple directive by Jesus to welcome the little ones into your midst as a church.
Back at Bible school that safety spoke for us again. There were some parents, who did not know us, and so they wondered if their child might cry and/or want to go home… but that never happened. And I believe that is because YOU welcomed them fully as Matthew 10 instructs.
Welcoming in this way can make us vulnerable as well. For when we extend ourselves in this manner, we let others see who we truly are rather than just giving them a piece of a small part of who we want to be.
Move 3-
But Bible School ends. . . Yes, the work and the joy of that program ends. The easy places to practice this welcome stops. Then, as that realization sets in, our text calls us to work moving forward as the church this summer. Like the people on the bus from the beginning story, we have work to do long after the joy of the moment recedes and the singing and rejoicing ends.
Every one of us can identify the Little Ones who live in our midst and cross our paths. As they cross our path, we have an opportunity to share the gospel with them and invite them into the relationship with the Lord that we have grown and fostered each day. Each of these same little ones also knows the feelings of judgement of being called ‘less than,’ but this is also an opportunity to live as Matthew 10 suggests.
Sometimes welcoming is done like the man who saw those yellow handkerchiefs on the oak trees that I shared when started, and sometimes, honestly, often times, welcoming, as Jesus talks about it, is done by finding space to allow others be drawn closer to us by God as we share what we have learned through testimony and the care of service.
Now we must be the light that shows others how welcoming in takes shape—even if that welcoming in is only offering a cup of cold water on a hot day. And we will have many hot days this summer. As the church we are called to make the constant, consistent choice, willingly to bring others into the presence of God and share the gospel.
Conclusion
But that final part of that welcoming in, is the aspect of testimony. For we can sit here and state how kind, how wonderful, and how active God is in this very space. But if we do not leave the space, with expressing how we have seen the Lord, felt the Lord’s welcome in each other’s lives, then the mission of Christ that we are called to share bears no fruit.
And so I wonder now, if you will join me in find people who this community defines as little ones, and show them how Jesus welcomes them in?
DM
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