The dialog shifts from a focus on the disciples on a mission, to those they encounter on the way. No doubt they have already met people along the way who enthusiastically greeted Jesus, and were willing to offer support and shelter to the disciples. They are perhaps not committed to the more rigorous demands of discipleship, but there is a positive attitude to the disciples and their mission. Jesus is happy to recognize this less committed level of following him as good and true, and which deserves and will receive its reward.

40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.

These verses are not simply a commentary on hospitality. Underlying such sayings, with their repeated implied reference to receiving the one being “sent”, is the principle later enshrined in the Jewish legal institution of the šälîaḥ, the “one sent,” an ambassador or representative who was understood to have the full authority of the one who sent them. It is important to note that the appointment of a šälîaḥ must adhere to certain legal requirements and principles within Jewish law. The principal must give explicit authorization to the šälîaḥ, specifying the scope and limits of their agency. Additionally, the šälîaḥ must act faithfully and in the best interests of the principal, avoiding any conflicts of interest or unauthorized actions. This underpins the commissioning of the Twelve and the instructions Jesus has been giving them in Matthew’s Missionary Discourse.

It is those who recognize such authority in the disciples who will welcome them, just as it is those who recognize Jesus as God’s representative who will welcome him. The unspoken corollary (but spelled out in Luke 10:16) is that those who reject the disciples on their mission are guilty of a far graver fault than merely lack of hospitality to a fellow human being; they are rejecting God. (France, 413)

Image credit: Sermon on the Mount (1877) by Carl Heinrich Bloch, Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle, Public Domain