On this second Sunday of Lent, we get some hints about fellow travelers. There is a ton of insight and challenge and comfort in these verses. Space will not permit us to pick up all of it, but all of these are important reflections for a time when Christians struggle with what it means to stay together as one people.
It boils down to this: a cup of water (Mark 9:41). I rejoice in reading of a difficult mission in a hard, foreign place; Jesus speaks of a cup of water. I am amazed and impressed when someone makes a dangerous public witness for justice; Jesus speaks of a cup of water. I delight to see the report that attendance is growing in a community church; Jesus speaks of a cup of water.
This is not to say that Jesus does not value missionary work or that Jesus is not grateful for a plea for justice or that Jesus is not happy to see filled-up pews. But in this text Jesus honors the person who gives you a cup of water! Isn’t that interesting? I would have thought that the reward would go to me because I gave away the water. Jesus says the reward goes to the one who gave me the water.
Maybe our Lord is reminding us to be recipients of grace. Do I have too much pride to let someone do me a favor? Do I have too much spiritual ego to accept the possibility that someone else may have a gift to give me? Do I insist on being in charge rather than letting another be blessed by helping me?
Might that cup of water be a theological idea that had escaped me? Might that cup of water be an understanding of Scripture that I had ignored? Might that cup of water be a spirit of acceptance that I had not accomplished?
Silly me. Now that God has opened up these new avenues for grace, I am going to have to be open to change. A cup of water.
