Matthew 10:41 Commentary and Bible Study

Although there are several senses of the word ‘receive’, the sense intended here, as Matthew Poole comments, seems to relate to the Lord sending out his apostles without a full supply of provisions. Those who see this need and supply it will receive a prophet’s reward. It is the Lord recognising that he has sent them out in dependence on this supply. But of course the reward is not given to those who don’t understand what they are doing; it is given to those who recognise the prophet (or in this case, apostle) who has come to them, and who offer hospitality just because they are a prophet. What is a prophet’s reward? Matthew Pool lists three possibilities: ‘1. The reward God hath appointed for such as entertain his prophets; or 2. Such a reward as such a prophet shall himself receive; or 3. The reward which the prophet will give him or them, viz. prayers and instruction. That which appears to me most probable is, that no more is meant than a liberal reward.’ To say that all receive the same reward, is to deny that ‘the Son of man … shall reward every man according to his works’ (Matthew 16:27), which are not all the same. Christ is not saying that because this act of kindness was done by the one who received him at one point in the life of this prophet, that the entirety of the prophet’s lifelong reward in heaven will be given to this man. He is simply saying that on this occasion, by identifying with the prophet and standing behind his work, the one who receives the prophet is sharing in that prophet’s work, and will therefore share in his reward, and will not lose that reward (verse 42). For the duration of that act of kindness, he himself, in effect, became a co-worker with the prophet.Even he that receives a righteous man, in the name of a righteous man – which surely includes every true Christian – will receive a righteous man’s reward. His love for the righteous, and his desire to give to them on account of their belonging to Christ, means that he will have a share in the reward of the righteous. By such acts of kindness we choose to be on the Lord’s side. But although God rewards the righteous as if their acts of righteousness had merit, the truth is that he created those good works in them, and gave them the heart that was willing to do them – ‘for we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them’ (Ephesians 2:10). Strictly speaking they can take little credit for them. God was working in them to will and to do of his good pleasure. No reward will be lost; no act of love and of kindness will be forgotten by the Lord on the Day of Judgment. The entire history of the world will then be open before him and everything will receive its due reward. Our allegiance to his cause will be a major factor in our heavenly reward.