“Whoever welcomes you, welcomes me…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: 40-42
There was a 1970s television series titled “Columbo.” It was all about a brilliant, yet bumbling, homicide detective bearing that last name.
On the way to solving a case, Columbo would often turn and say these words to the main suspect: “Just one more thing!” And then he would ask a question that would be a small, yet very significant, turning point in the case.
That little expression, “Just one more thing!” was very annoying to the guilty party. It was annoying, because Columbo said it often. His “Just one more thing!” added up to a huge thing: a conviction for serious crime. “Just one more thing” seemed small and harmless; but it never was. Little things add up to big things. You never know where “Just one more thing” can lead.
In Matthew 10 Jesus says that some people will be making connections with ultimate reality by giving “even a cup of cold water” to a thirsty person. In this case, a “disciple,” an apprentice of Jesus. Imagine…Something as basic as a cup of cold water can be a special connection with the main source and power of all time and eternity.
Little things can make a big difference. Little things can have huge consequences. Sometimes, I swear that I will have only a little bit of nacho chips. If the bag says “serving size: 11 chips” I will tell myself that my limit will be 11 chips. And I truly believe that. I believe it until about 33 chips later and the bag if half empty.
I knew a pastor who was visiting a family. One evening, they had a bowl of peanuts on the coffee table. The pastor said to himself, “I will only have one peanut.” By the end of the family meeting, the bowl was almost empty. Just one peanut at a time doesn’t take long to empty the entire bowl. “Just one more thing” can really add up.
I was asked to give a devotional for a meeting of Love Chapel, our local food and shelter agency. While pondering a theme for a brief talk, the verse I printed at the top of this article came to mind.
Jesus talks about the power even a cup of water can have.
In relation to Love Chapel’s mission, I thought about the difference just one can of vegetable soup can make in the life of a hungry child. Since we, of First Lutheran Church, are part of the ministry of Love Chapel, we can ponder all the ways just one little financial gift can lead to changing a person or a family’s life.
Imagine the difference a simple gift can make.
A gift of money. The gift of a smile to a hard-working, harried cashier at the grocery store. The gift of time to teach or help in a Sunday school class. The gift of patience to a person who consistently annoys you. A few jars of peanut butter for a seasonal Love Chapel food drive. A telephone call to a friend that you have been putting off in pursuit of “important things.”
You get the idea. A “little thing” can make a huge difference.
In Great Britain, the last king of the House of York was Richard III. King Richard was killed in The Battle of Bosworth Field in the year 1485. It is from this battle, and King Richard’s death, that we get the famous slogan: “A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!”
There is a great mix of legend and history behind King Richard’s death. One legend is that Richard lost the great battle, and his dynasty came to an end, because the king lost the use of his horse. Shakespeare later made much of this relatively significant horse-loss in his play “Richard III.”
Later on, there was a piece of wisdom prose composed about the end of King Richard.
The prose reads, “For want of a nail, the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe, the horse was lost. For want of a horse, the rider was lost. For want of a rider, the battle was lost. For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.”
The point of that lyrical prose is this: It all started with the lack of a nail in the horse’s shoe. We can picture an entire kingdom coming to an end because of one missing nail. Little things make a huge difference.
I know a man, a psychotherapist and professor of psychology, whose whole life was changed at an early age, because an elderly woman, on his paper route, decided to start giving him a cup of hot chocolate on cold mornings when he would deliver her newspaper. He had been abandoned as an infant. He felt that nobody cared about him. He says that one little gift from a stranger began to form a relationship that changed his outlook, his self image, and his life.
To that elderly woman it started as a small sacrifice, a few spoons of chocolate mix and some hot water. But to that paper boy, it was a message that said to him: “You are loved. You matter. Your life makes a difference.”
What little things have you been putting off? What little thing have you been asked to do, and you are still thinking it over? How many times have you thought: “Wouldn’t it be nice if I were to…” Maybe doing that thing would help change somebody’s life.
Jesus called such a little thing “a cup of cold water.” My professor friend called it “a cup of hot chocolate.” But whatever you call it, you can do it. You can do it today.
Why put it off?
The Rev. Larry Isbell is pastor of First Lutheran Church in Columbus. He can reached at [email protected]. The opinions expressed here are his own.
