Whoever Welcomes You
The Fifth Sunday After Pentecost, Year A • Track 2 • June 28, 2026
Jeremiah 28:5-9 • Psalm 89:1-4,15-18 • Romans 6:12-23 • Matthew 10:40-42
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In my quest for clerical wellness, I became a member of Planet Fitness, a chain fitness center which has two locations here in Fayetteville. At my location, on the wall behind the stair climbers, large letters spell out “you belong.” I noticed this statement this week, and it made me wonder: what do I belong to? I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to anyone in the gym, other than to greet the staff. I feel less like a member and more like a customer: I pay my monthly fee and in return, I get access to the exercise equipment that I don’t have the money, time, space, or desire to acquire for myself.
That’s not a judgment of the Planet Fitness business model, which absolutely meets my needs. But seeing the “you belong” sign, and meditating on Jesus’ statements about “welcome” in this week’s gospel reading, got me thinking about our parish’s business model.
One of our de facto mottos is printed in all our bulletins and recited at most of our services: “whoever you are, and wherever you are on your pilgrimage of faith, you are welcome in this place.” It’s central to this parish’s understanding of its own identity, and I agree: we are a community that is committed to unconditional welcome.
I think—and I hope—that the way we understand welcome and belonging goes beyond the “you belong” statement posted at my Planet Fitness. Because welcome, or belonging, or inclusion doesn’t mean much without something to welcome people into. I hope that when we issue our statements of welcome, we know that what we’re inviting people to belong to is not a vague idea of community but a living, breathing organism: the body of Christ.
But first we need to go back to what Jesus is talking about in today’s Gospel reading. This is the third week in a row we’ve been hearing from what’s called the Missionary Discourse, the exhortation Jesus gives to his disciples before sending them out, as he says “like sheep into the midst of wolves” [Mt. 10.16].
When Jesus talks about welcome, the word he uses here can also be translated “receive” or “accept,” and in other places in the New Testament the same word refers to the reception or acceptance of the gospel in general.
In the case of the disciples going to preach in the various towns and villages of Israel, Jesus is referring to the type of hospitality they might (or might not) receive when they arrive. But because they are going as messengers of Jesus, the welcome they receive is equivalent to reception of the Gospel message and of Jesus himself. Whether or not they are welcomed as prophets, whether or not they are received as righteous people, is a litmus test for whether or not their hosts are ready to receive the Gospel—and therefore to receive its rewards.
But what Jesus has said earlier in this discourse suggests that at least some of the time, the apostles will not receive the hospitality they deserve. Their mission was not necessarily a popular one. Not all the people responded positively to Jesus’s teaching and healing, some even going so far as to say he was in league with the devil. In the portion of this discourse we heard last week, Jesus warned the disciples about the consequence of following him, but also reminded them that “those who lose their life for [his] sake will find it” [Mt 10.39]. What we hear this week is therefore one aspect of these consequences: the real risk of rejection, of refused hospitality, which is not only inconvenient and hurtful but could potentially be dangerous.
On the other hand, these statements about welcome are phrased positively, which suggests that despite the anticipated difficulties, Jesus expects the disciples to meet with some level of success. The mission and message they bring with them is life-giving, and even if some people are skeptical, others will receive it wholeheartedly. And even the simplest actions of providing hospitality, like giving a cup of water, are enough to indicate acceptance of the apostles and the message they represent.
It’s important to note that from the perspective of the apostles, they are the recipients rather than the agents of hospitality. The apostles are not the ones offering welcome, they are the ones seeking it, looking for places where their preaching will be accepted.
This is different from where the church has found herself in recent centuries, at least in this part of the world. Rather than a small and vulnerable fringe group, the church has become an established force—one with the power to offer or refuse hospitality rather than one forced to seek it out. Of course, we don’t need to look hard to find examples where the church as an institution, or where we as individuals, have fallen short.
This puts us in a different, but no less difficult, situation to the disciples. Jesus offers these statements about welcome as comfort to the disciples: those who welcome them will receive their reward, and those who do not accept them won’t. But now, more often than not they are turned on their head when they are directed at us: we are reminded that when we offer hospitality to someone, we welcome the one who sent them. For us who believe that all people are made in the image and likeness of God, our practices of hospitality are therefore a way to live out our baptismal vow to “seek and serve Christ in all persons.”
So, back to my original question: how does our understanding of welcome differ from the welcome offered at Planet Fitness? Or are we just another chain business offering a subscription service for people to get what they need?
As I suggested earlier, what we’re inviting people to belong to is not a vague idea of community but an experience of the living God and participation in the Body of Christ. We believe that what we do in this community—sharing in teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers—is so important that we want everyone to be part of that pilgrimage with us. That’s why we want people to feel welcomed and included here. We believe that God’s love extends to everyone, never in spite of but always because they are beautifully and wonderfully made in all their particularity. We want to celebrate that love, we want more people to experience that love, and that’s what we are welcoming people into.
So, we could put up a sign that says “you belong.” But we can go beyond that. We can actually demonstrate that belonging, demonstrate that hospitality that Jesus calls us into, by what we do as a church, what we do in the world—how we live our lives every day. And we can do that because of the welcome we receive every week from the One who hosts us at the eucharistic feast, Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord, to whom be honor and glory, world without end. Amen.
~The Rev. Charles Martin
