40 “He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. 41 He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. 42 And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.”

Discipleship training so far has focused on the task and its difficulty. In these final statements of the disciples’ preparation, Jesus’ words take on a more encouraging tone. First, He reminds them that they are His ambassadors, nothing more, nothing less. The intended goal of their mission as disciples is for people to receive Christ. Of course, for this to happen people must receive the disciples; however the end goal is not the disciples’ prominence, but Christ’s.

Second, the reception of the message is in fact the disciples’ reward. The true desire and ultimate satisfaction is seeing others receive the message about Christ and, receiving Him, become His followers as well. This truth is not limited to the twelve; He applies it progressively to:

You (the twelve) –> a prophet –> a righteous man –> a disciple –> little ones.

What is true for Jesus’ immediate disciples is also true for the prophets, who by definition, simply proclaim God’s word. While some may feel this applies only to a certain class of people in fulltime ministry, Jesus also applies it to “a righteous man.” Again, some feel this applies to a certain kind of “spiritual” Christian, possibly identified in Matthew’s own community as he was writing this gospel account. However, Jesus had already called His followers to a high standard of righteousness (Matt 5:20). He progresses to applying this to disciples. This group might be seen as a broader category than the previous three designations but we rather think Jesus is not making so fine a distinction as we may want to impose on the passage. In fact, the implication is that these are all “little ones,” in the sense that they are simply representatives of the “Big One,” namely Jesus. Certainly all disciples are dismissed by the world in their persecution and rejection of the message, and therefore belittled in that sense. Jesus’ point is that those who go out representing Jesus and those who receive them, will be rewarded!

Lord, I look for no other reward than to see lost sinners receiving You and becoming faithful disciples. It doesn’t get any better than that!