A Radical Sort of Welcome!
- Rev Robert Moses
- Jun 28
- 4 min read
Lessons, Proper 8A: Jeremiah 28:5-9; Psalm 13; Romans 6:12-23; and, Matthew 10:40-42
Receiving Jesus is never passive. It is an opening, a widening, a willingness to be changed by love. In today’s Gospel, Jesus tells us that “whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” To receive Jesus is to receive those he sends; to receive those he sends is to receive God. This is far more than simple hospitality. It is identity. It is belonging. It is belovedness made visible.
The heart of the Gospel is this: God has come—not as an idea but as a person, not as doctrine but as relationship, not as condition but as gift. So, when Jesus speaks of welcome, Jesus is speaking of the deepest truth of the Christian life: we belong to God because God has chosen to belong to us.
Our belovedness is not earned—it is received. And because we are beloved, we are sent. Because we belong, we invite others into belonging. Because we have been welcomed, we become people of welcome. This is the pattern of grace. This is the rhythm of discipleship. This is the shape of Christian identity.
Paul, in his letter to the Romans , reminds us that we have been brought from death into life, from the dominion of sin into the freedom of grace. We are no longer defined by what enslaves us but by the One who loves us.
This is the foundation of our Christian identity—that in receiving Jesus we receive the truth that we are God’s own, in receiving the Word we receive the truth that we belong…to God and to one another.
RECEIVING JESUS IN THE ONE HE SENDS
I love this phrase that Jesus uses here, “Whoever gives a a cup of cold water…” It really resonates with me in these hot, Florida summers. Cold water, refreshing, life giving water given to one of his little ones is an act of divine welcome. Even this small gesture of mercy is a participation in the life of God. Its a small act that becomes a sacramental act—a visible sign of God’s grace in the world. This is not because we are impressive. It is because God chooses to be present in the ordinary. God chooses to be present in us.
So the question is: Do we receive Jesus when he comes to us in the unexpected, the inconvenient, the unfamiliar, the stranger, the neighbor, the one who needs us? Do we receive Jesus when he comes to us in the Word that challenges us, stretches us, or calls us beyond what is comfortable? Do we receive Jesus when he comes to us in the person who interrupts our assumptions about who belongs? Receiving Jesus is not sentimental, its very real
Do we receive the neighbor or work colleague or elected official or mother-in-law, whoever welcomes the smelly guy on the street corner, the chatty seat companion on the airplane, or the political opponent; whoever welcomes the slow talker in the grocery checkout line, the endless talker at the barbershop, or the over-friendly UPS driver...
Receiving Jesus is transformative. It reorders our priorities, our loyalties, our sense of who we are.
CHRISTIAN OR AMERICAN IDENTITY
As we approach the celebration of American Independence, this Gospel invites us to ask the hard questions. In particular, the gospel invites us to ask, "Are we Christian Americans or American Christians?"
Which is the noun, and which is the descriptor? Which is the identity, and which is the adjective? This is not a question of patriotism. It is a question of allegiance. To which do we give priority? Have we taken on our national identity while leaving our Christian identity as a mere descriptor? Is our faith identity something that supports, blesses, or reinforces our national story? Do we treat our identity as followers of Christ as an accessory?
Or, have we prioritized discipleship, allowing our earthly citizenship to define our true identity? Do we see our citizenship, in other words, through the lens of the Gospel? Do we allow Jesus—not the flag, not the Constitution, not the myths of national greatness—to define who we are and how we live?
The Gospel does not ask us to reject our country. It asks us to locate it properly. The Gospel does not ask us to despise our national story; but it does invite us to measure it against the story of God. The Gospel does not ask us to abandon civic life; but it does invite us to engage it as people whose primary loyalty is to Christ. Christian identity cannot be one identity among many. It is THE identity that shapes all others.
When we forget this, we risk confusing the kingdom of God with the kingdoms of this world. When we forget this, we risk baptizing our national preferences as divine truth. When we forget this, we risk receiving America more readily than we receive Jesus.
But when we remember who we are—beloved, belonging to God, sent by Christ—then our love of country becomes rightly ordered. We can love our nation without worshiping it. We can celebrate its gifts without denying its sins. We can work for its flourishing without confusing it with the reign of God.
Our baptism, not our birthplace, is the source of our belovedness. Our discipleship, not our citizenship, is the source of our belonging. Welcome the ones I send. Welcome the Word I speak. Welcome the life I give. This is the identity that shapes us. This is the belonging that claims us. This is the belovedness that grounds us.
When we receive Jesus, we receive the God who sends him. When we receive the Word, we receive the truth of who we are. When we receive our identity in Christ, we receive the freedom to love our country without letting it define us.
So today, as we hear Jesus speak of welcome, we are invited to ask: What does it mean to receive Jesus first? What does it mean to receive the Word before we receive any other identity? What does it mean to belong to God before we belong to any nation?
It means we live as people who know we are beloved. It means we live as people who know we belong to God and to one another. It means we live as people who welcome Christ in every person he sends our way.This is our calling. This is our identity. This is our freedom.
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