“[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.” Matthew 10:42
A cup of cold water given to a little one—a child, seems a pretty low bar as an expression care, welcome, or hospitality. But what if we imagine that “little one” refers not just to a child, but also to someone whom the powerful and privileged in this world would see as “little,” someone in their eye unworthy and below contemptuousness, someone who even the offer of a cup of cold water seems like a priceless sacrifice beyond or well above someone so undeserving. Those considered the least in our world can be identified by where water is withheld or where water rights and clean water are denied: low-income communities, tribal lands, detention centers, to name a few. Sometimes even a cold cup of water seems too much to give.
You can’t get water from a stone, especially a heart of stone.
One of the recurring themes of scripture, however, is God making water flow from stones. In the book of Exodus, when instructed by God, Moses strikes a rock at Meribah and water gushed out to the relief of the angry and quarrelsome people. Zechariah speaks of living water flowing out of Jerusalem—the “foundation stone” of all creation. And Ezekiel offers a vision of life-giving water flowing from the Temple, bringing healing and life wherever it goes.
God can make water flow from the most unlikely sources, and offers this water for the life of the whole world—the WHOLE world. “…But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:14.
Jesus offers living water for the life and healing to all creation. He offers in abundantly to and for all of the “little ones,” to me and to you and to our neighbors. This living water is a divine welcome given to us in Jesus: a cup of cold water to refresh us and wash away from our hearts the hardness of our prejudice, cruelty, greed, and selfishness.
A heart filled with the living water of God—the living water that Jesus gives all human hearts, will likewise flow from those hearts with generosity, welcome, and healing for all the world’s little ones.
Can you give a cup of cold water for one of these little ones?
