“Whosoever shall give one of these little ones a cup of cold water only… shall in no wise lose his reward,” said Jesus. There could not well be a simpler act, a smaller service, than that; not one you would sooner do for those whom you do not like or sooner ask from those who do not like you. Many a time, as Jesus walked the roads of Galilee, He must have stopped at the door of a stone hut, or rested by a village spring, and asked for a drink of water, just as we do in our country tramps. And some mother turned at the words, caught the look in the earnest eyes, and set down her child to bring the cup; or some man, hailed at his plough across the field, pointed to the kid-skin bottle under the bush and told the stranger to help Himself. No one would deny it. Bread may be doubtful, but bubbling fountains, pouring rivers, shining lakes are cups so plentiful that few ever add to the prayer for bread, “Give us this day our daily water.” So this Teacher chose a cup of cold water as His emblem of small service, when He wanted to say that not the slightest deed that is meant for good gets lost and goes uncounted. The deed is appraised by its aim. He who offers the cup to the disciple as disciple offers it to the Teacher and he who offers it to the Teacher as Teacher offers it to Him who sends the Teacher; and God takes notice, and the giver shall in no wise lose reward. So said Jesus; and He spoke the thought again in His “Judgment” parable. Thrown out of concrete into broad impersonal phrase, the thought is that the smallest kindness to the humblest creature belongs to the great economy that we call Providence; that then and there the laws of moral cause and effect begin to act; so that some way or other full recompense for that small deed is sure.
It is a mighty faith! I is one of the words that show how deep-natured Jesus was, how keen His spiritual insight. Not a sparrow falls without the Father, not a hair eludes His census, and not a drink of water is forgotten. You and I echo the words; can you and I echo the faith? But not of the faith, nor of the law of recompense that holds good of a drink of water, will we think just now, — only of the Cup-Offerings themselves, that is, of little acts of thoughtfulness for one another.
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