What Did Matthew 10:40-42 Mean In Jesus’ Culture?

Understanding the culture behind the scriptures helps much with certain passages. This week’s lectionary gospel is one example. Without contextual understanding, the passage is cryptic and confusing. Anthropologists call a key element of Circum-Mediterranean culture featured in the passage “patron-client relations.” In cultures where access to power, influence, jobs, and other goods requires the help of a patron, people often gain access to patrons through different “middle-men” or “middle-women.” Anthropologists call these figures “brokers.” A middle-man or broker acts on behalf of the patron so that when you interact with the broker, it is as if you’re interacting with the patron him or herself. If the broker provides you with something for the patron, he or she is providing this thing “in the name of” the patron. The broker carries the full weight of the patron and his or her name, and any reward you gain through them is as weighty as the reward you would receive directly from the patron. (Incidentally, my PhD dissertation is on this topic and how the spirit or paraclete is characterized as a broker in John.)

Part of the passage reads: “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.” This rather confusing verbiage points to patronage, which is endemic in Mediterranean culture. But the whole Jesus-saying takes a turn in the last part of the passage. Where everything Jesus has said up to this point is well known and predictable, what Jesus says next is not. Jesus says, “whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones [i.e. those low on the social totem pole] in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.” Jesus is saying, treat the “little ones” or those who society marginalizes, those “needing even a cup of cold water,” just as you would treat a disciple. If someone asks you for a cup of water in the name of a disciple of Jesus, treat them with as much generosity and respect as you would show to the disciple him or herself. The “reward” for doing this will be the same as if you had offered generosity to a disciple of Jesus.

Treat them like one of my disciples

These verses are part of a larger passage or story that is broadly about the disciples and the authority Jesus confers on them. At the beginning of the story, it says “Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.” They are to act on Jesus’ behalf and to do the things Jesus has been doing. Jesus’ words to them in this section of Matthew are full of warnings and encouragements. Basically, he’s giving them instructions as they go out into the world as his representatives (or “brokers” to use anthropological language). And he warns them that they will be treated as the one who sent them, in other words, as Jesus, just as a broker is treated like the patron who sent him. In this case, the prospects are not all positive. They should expect to be treated poorly by some.

The climax of the entire passage, however, is this Jesus-saying about the “little ones.” Jesus wants us to interact with someone on the margins as if they are one of Jesus’ very representatives, to give them the full respect due to one of Jesus’ own disciples, and to do this “in the name of a disciple” (i.e. as if they have the full authority of Jesus’ disciples). This means unhoused people, this means refugees at the border, this means trans kids, this means people with mental illness, this means [blank] — fill in the blank with whatever group is presently pushed to the margins and not included. Elsewhere Jesus said, whatever you do to those with the lowest status, you do to me. Here in today’s passage, he’s saying essentially the same thing. These are challenging words to us. But they are at the heart of everything Jesus taught.