A Cup of Kindness

A Roman Catholic Church was hosting an ecumenical service for the first time ever.  With great dignity the priest led three Protestant ministers toward the chancel area. But then he realized that he had forgotten to put out chairs for his guests. The priest whispered in the ear of one of the lay readers, “Please get some chairs for the guest pastors.”

The elderly gentleman was a bit hard of hearing, so he asked the priest to repeat his request. The priest did so a little louder: “Please get up and get three chairs for the Protestants.”

The old man had a puzzled look on his face. He walked up to the lectern, then said with a loud voice: “This seems highly irregular, but I’ve been asked to have you stand and give three cheers for the Protestants.”

I would love to have been in that congregation that day. It would have been refreshing to hear the Roman Catholics cheering for the Protestants or the Protestants cheering for the Roman Catholics. In any case, that’s a rarity.

In today’s Gospel, the disciple John comes to Jesus and says, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.”

“Do not stop him,” Jesus said. “For no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.  Whoever is not against us is for us.”

Did you catch that?  “Whoever is not against us is for us.”

Then Jesus goes on to say, “For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.”

Jesus’ disciples were upset that someone who wasn’t a part of their group was performing miracles using Jesus’ name. They felt that they had a privilege no one else should have.

There are times when we too have a hard time accepting other people – even other Christians. We think that our way is better than other ways. And so we continue to fragment. There’s one new denomination out there called the “Frisbeeterians, the Church of the Flying Disc.” These are people who believe that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.

While the Frisbeeterians are a tongue-in-cheek example, there are hundreds of other, more serious, church offshoots out there that lead us to think that we have a better brand. But when will we realize that Jesus is too big to restrict to one denomination, one culture, or one political party?

Like too many people today, the disciples had a narrow definition of who were followers of Jesus. Jesus tried to expand their horizons and said, “For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.”

In ancient Palestine that was an act of great kindness because water was scarce and the land was hot and dry.  There’s not enough of that sort of kindness in our world today.

A fellow named Houston tells about being on a plane sitting next to a woman who was, in Houston’s words, “relentlessly energetic and fidgety.” Houston was tired and wanted to take a nap. But before he could manage that the woman tapped him on the shoulder to introduce herself.

“Hi, my name is Helga!” she said.

They got to talking and eventually it came up that Houston had started an organization in high school called R.A.K.E. (an acronym for Random Acts of Kindness, Etc.). As Houston described what his organization did, Helga got very serious and told him that she thought “there was nothing more important in the world than kindness.”

Houston was curious why she was so passionate about this subject and, as the plane took off, she dove into a story about the last time she had flown; it was 3 years past and she was en-route to Arizona because she had gotten sudden news her dad’s health was on the decline. Just as the plane was about to depart for Phoenix, her father’s physician called to inform her that her dad had just died. For the three hour plane ride, she sat in stunned silence among strangers.

When she arrived at the airport in Arizona, she walked to the nearest wall, sat down and cried. For two hours she sat and wept while thousands of people walked to and fro in the airport. Helga looked at him and said, “Houston, not a single person stopped and asked if I was okay that day. Not one person. It was then that I realized how much we need each other. It was that day I realized that kindness isn’t normal.”

No, it’s not normal. Most of us are too preoccupied with our own concerns to pay attention to the needs of others. And yet, what does it mean to be a follower of Jesus if it doesn’t mean we are to be sensitive as Christ was sensitive to the needs of persons who are hurting?

Jesus calls us to expand our understanding of his grace and love. Wherever people offer one another a cup of cold water, he is there. They may not even know his name, but he is there.

We are called to introduce people to the Lord of kindness. No person ever lived who was kinder than Jesus, and he wants us to do acts of kindness in his name.

Mark Twain once said, “Kindness is a language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see.”

Kent Millard has given us a paraphrase of Paul’s beautiful homage to love in First Corinthians 13. It goes like this:

“I may have a brilliant mind, a wonderful personality, and a healthy body; but if I am not kind to those around me, it does me no good.

“I may have a good income, a beautiful home, and an expensive car, but if I am not kind and generous in sharing them, I don’t make a difference in the world.

“I may have great success in my business or profession; I may have power and influence over many people; but if I don’t treat people with kindness, I am a failure.

“Kindness is love in action. Kindness is the pebble in the pond, whose ripples can change the world.

“Having the faith to move mountains is great; having hope in bleak circumstances is wonderful, but deeds of loving kindness transform lives and last forever.

“I may have many wonderful qualities in my life, but without kindness they are not enough.”

There is only one way to communicate the Gospel that truly attracts people into the family of Christ and that is with words and works of kindness. It does not depend on labels or formal affiliations for validation. It is offering a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name to any who are in need. And it is recognizing that when someone offers us a cup of cold water, Christ is already at work in that person’s life whether they are able to name the name or not. Any time anyone, regardless of their denominational affiliation, is trying to help another, Christ is there.

An anonymous author has put it this way:

Is anybody happier because you passed his way?

Does anyone remember that you spoke to her today?

Can you say tonight, in parting with the day that’s slipping fast,

That you helped a single person of the many that you passed?

Is a single heart rejoicing over what you did or said?

Does the man whose hopes were fading now with courage look ahead?

As you close your eyes in slumber, do you think that God will say,

“You have earned one more tomorrow by the work you did today?”

We don’t have to earn our tomorrows, thank God. They are the gift of a loving and gracious Heavenly Father. He gave those tomorrows to us even when we were unworthy, simply and solely as an act of kindness. Now it is our time to pass on what we have received to others. So three cheers for the Protestants and the Roman Catholics and for those of every sect who are bringing kindness to the world.  For kindness is another word for God.