Whoever accepts you also accepts me, and whoever accepts me also accepts the One who sent me. Whoever meets a prophet and accepts him will receive the reward of a prophet. And whoever accepts a good person because that person is good will receive the reward of a good person. Those who give one of these little ones a cup of cold water because they are my followers will truly get their reward. (Matthew 10:40-42)

Jesus explains to the disciples the rewards of welcoming others, the call to hospitality. A cup of cold water, in Jesus day, would have been a rare treat. Women gathered water from the village well every morning, but it took a very short time in the hot sun to warm the cool, refreshing water. In order to offer a guest cool water, someone would most likely have to run to the well and return home quickly.

In these verses, Jesus addresses who is worthy of such inconvenient yet generous hospitality. “Little ones” might refer to children but likely extends to a much wider circle of anyone from a less-appreciated strata of society, such the poor, sinful, and overlooked. Hospitality doesn’t play favorites.

Hospitality isn’t something that simply happens in your house. It’s an attitude of your heart. It’s how you greet people, how you invest in relationships, and how you sacrifice what you have for who you know and who you don’t. Hospitality isn’t something you can check on your list, rationalizing you’ve done “enough.” Constantly ask yourself, “How can I do more?”

“Hospitality is the practice by which the church stands or falls.” (Arthur Sutherland)