“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.” (Mt 10: 40-42)
By “these little ones” Christ means anyone who happens to come to Him, or be brought to Him by others, – even little children, who may not even understand that they are being brought to Him, or Who He is, or what He is all about (cf. Mt 18: 4-6). In other words, I can bring “reward” or blessing into my world, both by simply being “one of these little ones” and allowing small acts of kindness to be done to me, or by doing unto other “little ones” small acts of kindness.
So today let me not underestimate the value of small acts of kindness, be it the everyday responsibilities of a mom or dad to their children, like making breakfast, or going to their boring workplace and sitting in a cubicle all day for their daily bread; or sharing “a cold cup of water” with a fellow hurricane-survivor; or just offering a kind word to the elderly lady in the elevator, instead of burying my nose in my phone, in disinterested silence.
Because any act of kindness, done in and from the light of the Lord’s word, said to us here, will be “rewarded,” rather than underestimated, by Him. Thank You, Lord, for asking so little of us, because many of us have so little to give.
