July 2, 2023, Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
In the Gospel today (Mt.10:37-42) we hear Jesus describing the reward a person earns by loving him and putting him first and foremost in his or her life. Then we see a story about a person earning a reward for such behavior in the First Reading (2 Kngs. 4:8-11, 14-16A).
Jesus lists several conditions that a person must display to win his favor. They should not love family members – father, mother, son, or daughter – more than Jesus. They must take up their cross and follow Jesus to be worthy of him. They must be willing to lose their life for the sake of Jesus. They will also receive a reward if they receive Jesus and this reward would be the one who sent Jesus, the Father. They will also obtain rewards for receiving a prophet or a righteous man. Finally, whoever gives a cup of cold water to a disciple, will not lose his or her reward.
In the First Reading we see an example of a person receiving a reward for welcoming a prophet. In this case Elisha. Elisha was a faithful prophet who performed miraculous works for many people. In this passage he meets a wealthy woman in Shunem with whom he dines. This soon becomes a habit. Every time Elisha passes that way he stops to dine with the woman and her husband.
The woman tells her husband that she knows Elisha is a holy man of God and she wants to do something nice for him. So, she sets up a small room for him on the roof of her home with a bed, table, chair, and lamp so that Elisha has someplace to stay when he visits.
After staying in the room Elisa wants to do something nice for the woman so he asks his servant what might be done to reward her. The servant tells Elisha that she has no son, and her husband is aging. When Elisha heard this he promised her a son by the next year.
With these readings we learn how to find favor with Jesus or another righteous person by doing good deeds for them. As Christians we meet many holy people, for example priests, nuns, and deacons. The mandate from Jesus is to treat them with respect and good deeds in order to win, not only their good favor, but also that of Jesus. The basis of their mission is the identification between the disciple and the one who sent them.
More times than not these clerical people are pleasant and easily liked. They provoke people to want to do good deeds for them. But occasionally we will meet a religious person who is not very likable, perhaps a nun who scolds all the time, a deacon who points out all of our bad practices, or a priest who gives only scorn in the confessional.
Although servants for Christ occasionally these religious may not be very likable or acceptable. How do you suppose Jesus wants us to treat religious people such as these? Elsewhere in Matthew when Jesus is talking about judgment he says, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Mt. 25:40).
Jesus wants us to treat both the strong and the weak, the righteous and the sinful, all the same. If one receives a reward for being friendly and generous to a good person, imagine the reward one receives when treating the disliked with courtesy and respect, especially someone who, though not without fault, dedicates their life to God through the service of a vocation.
After all St. Paul tells us, “We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God. Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:9-11)
