The language smacks of extreme rhetoric. “Unworthy of me” signals extreme social shame. In that time and culture, families could split apart when one or several members accepted the new Christian faith. In a society based upon the patriarchal family and the entire system of duties and obligations it entailed, this meant that adhering to Christianity could shatter the basis of their social system.

“Whoever does not take up their cross” sounds like Jesus predicting his own death (but of course this was written three generations later.) To us, the counsel to “take up one’s cross” cuts too close to the patronizing and damaging advice commonly given to abuse survivors.

What colours this otherwise daunting reading with hope and light is its shift to the theme of hospitality. Offering a cup of cold water to a traveler in a hot, dehydrating climate was the absolute minimum form of hospitality that was customary in the ancient Middle East. A more demanding custom was that of offering food to hungry travelers who ask while they’re on the road. The host was expected to take responsibility for the traveler as their guest for three days – the length of time that the food was thought to remain in the body. That meant securing their safety and seeing to their needs from the host’s own resources.

That was the cultural background for the hospitality expected of a believer to other believers. The language used here implies a good deal more — the official reception of someone commissioned to act as an ambassador for a more highly-placed government official.

“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me, receives the One who sent me.”

These are profoundly affirmative words. A greater authority always underlies the representative’s presence and gives credibility to the person’s words. The one speaking and acting in the name of the Holy One never acts alone.