a “He who receives you receives me,
a And he who receives me receives him who sent me.
b He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet,
b He will receive a prophet's reward,
b And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man,
b He will receive a righteous man's reward.
a And whoever will give to drink to one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple,
a Truly I say to you he will in no wise lose his reward.”
And what comes to the disciple as a result of choosing to take up his cross and follow Jesus will come because he ‘receives' (welcomes and responds to) the Apostles and their fellow disciples, and thereby he both receives Jesus and the guarantee of His eternal reward. For by receiving the messengers of Jesus and responding to their words he will himself be receiving Jesus. And the result of receiving Jesus will be that he will also receive the Father, the One Who sent Jesus. Thus their response to the preaching of the Apostles will result in their belonging to Jesus, and being accepted by His Father, the greatest of all possible rewards. Note how this ties in with Matthew 10:32-33, they will be acknowledged before the Father, and by the Father, and with Matthew 10:24-25. Just as they have suffered with Him so will they share with Him His life, and His Father's presence. Notice again the emphasis on the fact that Jesus is ‘sent'. He is the One sent from God. That is why to ‘receive Him' actually results in ‘receiving' the Father. It should be noted that while this verse is the first in the threefold ‘receiving' verses, it is not conjoined to the others by a conjunction (as previous threefoldness has been). Thus it stands on its own, and the main threefoldness is therefore found in the next three statements which deal with receiving reward.
But then Jesus wants to emphasise that what is done to the least and smallest of His disciples is also done to Him (compare Matthew 25:40). And in order to do this He first cites a well known proverb concerning prophets and wise men and how response to them brings a special and commensurate reward, “He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet, will receive a prophet's reward, and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, will receive a righteous man's reward.” The principle behind these words is clear. Identification with God's messengers brings commensurate rewards to what they receive. Then He points out that, in the same way, if anyone gives to the youngest and smallest of His disciples just a cup of cold water, because he is a disciple (in the name of a disciple), he will not lose his reward. And what is that reward? It is far greater than that received by those who received the same reward as the prophet and righteous man, it is to receive Jesus as in Matthew 10:40.
Under this interpretation then Matthew 10:41 clearly cites a well known saying. And that must be so, for it cannot refer to disciples (or future church prophets) because the reward for receiving them is receiving Jesus (Matthew 10:40 - just as to persecute them would be to persecute Jesus - Acts 9:4), and that is beyond just receiving the commensurate reward for a prophet or righteous man. But seeing Matthew 10:41 as simply stating an important principle we can then read into Matthew 10:42 the full blessing of Matthew 10:40, as a confirmation that a receiving of them even in a small way, even though they are the least, produces the reward of being received by Jesus and His Father (and this also ties in with the abba structure of Matthew 10:40-42).
Taking it in this way Jesus must either be looking back to prophets and righteous men of the past, or those of the present when He was speaking, who while preaching truth were not yet following Him (compare Luke 9:49-50). And the citation then introduces a recognised principle that to receive and respond to a true representative of God is to share his reward. After all, that is why those who receive His disciples receive Him, and those who receive Him receive His Father. It is because He and His Father are the disciples' reward.
And this then gives added and important force to the statement that follows in Matthew 10:42. Instead of being a kind of add-on, it becomes the focus. It is then seen as underlining the principle that even to show the least form of kindness (in a hot country like Palestine to withhold water would be a crime) to the very lowest and smallest of His disciples, because they are His disciples (in the name of a disciple), is to be certain of the utmost reward, receiving Jesus and His Father. It makes it a fitting end to an important discourse.
‘He who receives a prophet.' Jesus may specifically have in mind here John the Baptist, although indicating that the same applies, and always has applied, to all true prophets, for the saying is immediately followed by Jesus' statements about John the Baptist (Matthew 11:4-19). And the point is that to receive such a true prophet because he is a true prophet (welcoming him and hearing his words) is to be deserving of receiving a true prophet's reward. For by receiving such ‘a prophet' because he is a prophet (‘in the name of a prophet') they would be doing what the majority of Jews had not done. They will have stood out against their fellows and will thus be deserving of a prophet's reward.
‘He who receives a righteous man.' And the same principle applied to receiving a righteous man because he was a righteous man (‘in the name of a righteous man'). By a righteous man is meant one who truly abides by the Law and is faithful to God, and whose righteousness exceeds that of the Scribes and Pharisees (Matthew 5:20). He is a recognised ‘righteous man'. For such ‘a righteous man' we can compare Proverbs 10:11, where his mouth is a fountain of life; and Matthew 13:5 where the righteous man hates lying. Thus a righteous man was seen proverbially as a source of truth, and men looked back to such righteous men in the past, and honoured them. We can compare here also the roll of honour in Hebrews 11:32-38 In essence such a righteous man can be compared with one who truly follows Jesus and enters the Kingly Rule of Heaven and is thus truly righteous (Matthew 5:20). And by receiving such a one those who did so would be doing what the Jews had not done (even when they had professed to do so, for their failure is evidenced by their unwillingness to receive Jesus) and will therefore receive a righteous man's reward. This proverbial nature of the prophet and the righteous man comes out in the fact that they are cited by Jesus in Matthew 13:17 as people of the past (compare also Matthew 23:29).
And so it is on this principle that he who receives even the smallest child or least of men who is a disciple (depending on who were in the listening group), and gives him but a cup of cold water because he is a disciple (in the name of a disciple), will in no way lose his reward. For to receive those who belong to Jesus, however seemingly unimportant, is to receive Him. And to receive Him is to receive Him Who sent Him. Such people become sons of God (Matthew 5:9; Matthew 5:45).
And on this encouraging note, which would greatly help all who felt themselves the meanest and the lowest, Jesus ends His instruction to His disciples.
Note. We must, however, point out that there are a number of other interpretations of these verses proffered by commentators which see Matthew 10:41, with its reference to ‘prophets and righteous men', as referring either to the disciples, or other later Christian witnesses, or both. However in our view all these fail on the fact that to receive a prophet's or a righteous man's reward is to fall short of what is promised in Matthew 10:40. It was fine as a pre-Christian promise, but falls far short of receiving Jesus and His Father (or if we see it as additional to that it offers far more, which is surely impossible). Such interpretations also leave the reward received by the least disciple standing in mid-air undescribed.
There can of course be a case made for the disciples being seen as prophets. In Matthew 5:10-12 they are undoubtedly seen as prophetic men; in Matthew 7:15-22 the idea of false prophets suggests that the disciples should therefore be seen as true prophets; their casting out of evil spirits and manifold healings would almost certainly have suggested to the crowds who gathered to them that they were ‘prophets'; and certain men in 1st century AD such as Theudas and ‘the Egyptian' would be later called ‘prophets' for accomplishing far less. And the disciples could certainly also be called ‘righteous men' (Matthew 25:37; Matthew 25:46), as Jesus Himself was (Matthew 27:19; Matthew 27:24; Luke 23:47). But our point above still holds.
End of note.