A Cup of Cold Water

Genesis 24 and Matthew 10:40-42

Rev. Deborah Troester, June 25, 2023, STHPC

A “cup of cold water” is one of those Biblical phrases that has become part of our language. It’s a metaphor for doing a small kindness for someone who really needs it. All of us can appreciate a cold cup of cold water on a hot day.

         In the Old Testament reading, Abraham’s servant had just arrived after a long, hot, dusty camel ride of days, if not weeks, in the desert. Certainly he was hoping for a cool drink of water as he approached the well where the women of the village were gathered. How good it must have been when Rebekah offered him cold water, and watered his camels, too!  Notice that Rebekah had no idea who this man was, yet she saw that he was tired and thirsty and offered him something to drink. This simple act of hospitality made her one of the most well-known women of all time – how many little girls are named Rebecca? –  and put her into the genealogy of Jesus Christ.

When I was younger I didn’t like this story – it didn’t seem very romantic that Rebekah was “picked out” for Isaac by his father’s servant – kind of like sending someone to look for a brood mare or a cow at a market. Yet, it is a beautiful story just the same, because of the kindness Rebekah displays to the old man and his camels. I used to think that the servant was asking for a miraculous sign to help him choose a bride for Isaac, kind of like Gideon asking for the fleece to be wet or dry so he would know what God wanted him to do, but now that I have been married for many years, I think there is wisdom behind his prayer. A person who would give water to a thirsty stranger, then offer to water his camels is kind and hospitable, someone who is friendly, cares for others, and treats animals kindly as well. Psychologists say that a person who mistreats an animal is more likely to mistreat a person, and I think the opposite is also true – if you are kind to animals, you are probably also kind to people. So Rebekah gave water to a stranger, and to his camels, and ended up becoming Isaac’s wife.

I appreciate this story from ancient Palestine more after having lived in Africa. It has many similarities with everyday life in many parts of Africa today, especially in small rural villages. Many people still go to a well or spring for water. Usually it is the women of the family – and often the younger women or girls – who fetch water. They pour it into large containers – maybe a plastic bucket or a large basin, as the girls on the cover of our bulletin are doing. They gracefully balance the water on their heads to carry home. If a stranger were to come to the well, they would certainly give them something to drink and would offer them hospitality. I wonder if in modern America, we haven’t forgotten some of this ancient wisdom of offering hospitality to the stranger.

          I recall reading how, on a brutally hot day in St. Louis, Missouri, an unhoused person tried to get a glass of cold water at a fast food restaurant. Unfortunately, he was chased off – sent out into the heat without so much as an ice cube. Fortunately a kind customer who saw what happened got some cold ice water and gave it to him.

          Contrast this with the typical reception one receives when visiting an African home – whether in Cameroon, Tanzania, or Zambia:  First, the visitor is offered the best chair in the house – or, if the weather is pleasant, the best chair is brought outside and set in the shade. Then one is offered tea, coffee, or soda, and usually a snack like bananas or peanuts. If it’s mealtime, all the stops are pulled out – chicken, goat, or fish, with rice or corn meal, cassava, or yam, plus vegetables, like spinach or, my favorite – cassava leaves in peanut sauce! When Joe and I arrived in a village to visit a church, our reception was very much like the one Rebekah’s family gave to Abraham’s servant. It’s just that we arrived in a Toyota Land Cruiser, not on camel-back! 

         That brings us to Jesus’ saying about giving someone a cup of cold water. It seems to imply that even a small act can be meaningful; that it doesn’t necessarily take a lot to make someone’s life a little better. “A cup of cold water” connotes kindness and thoughtfulness. Also, Jesus speaks specifically of giving it to the “little ones.”

In ancient Palestine, as in many cultures still today, small children were the most vulnerable and helpless of all people. Little children have no political power and cannot speak for themselves – they need others to provide their needs. Who are the people like this in our context today?  Children? Disabled people? Victims of human trafficking? The elderly? The unhoused? Persons suffering from mental illness? This scripture reminds us of Jesus’ saying in Matthew 25: “for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,…  just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.”

Biblical scholar Anna Case-Winters comments: “We need not worry about the timing of Jesus’ ‘second coming.’ Christ is already in our midst now and comes to us again and again – unexpectedly – in the form of the person in need. Our response to ‘the least of these’ is our response to the judge of all the nations.” Because we follow Christ, we are bound to help the most helpless in whatever ways we can.

I’m sure you’ve heard the proverb: “It’s better to light a single candle than to curse the darkness.” When you light a candle, you not only light the way for others, but you light the way for yourself as well. Doing even a small kindness has the power to transform our lives because it takes our eyes off ourselves and our own problems, and focuses us on doing something for someone else. Suddenly our problems don’t seem as bad anymore. Maybe that’s part of what Jesus meant when he said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

In the human economy, the more you give, the less you have, but in God’s economy, the more you give, the more you have, and you will be rewarded with things more valuable than money: peace, joy, and contentment. Listen to what Jesus says in Luke 6.38: “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full--pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”

Once I was invited to speak at a youth gathering in the Central African Republic.

When I arrived, after traveling most of the day on dusty dirt roads, my hostess Suzanne, the local pastor’s wife, had prepared a hot bath for me. To do this, she (or her teen-aged daughter Marie) had walked about ten minutes to a nearby spring, then down a steep muddy path to get to the water. They carried it home in basins perched on their heads. Then they started a fire and heated the water (of course, they had had to gather the firewood, as well). Suzanne and her daughter Marie did this every day of the youth gathering for all three of the guests who were staying at their house. Talk about hospitality! I was the recipient of some amazing gifts that week. My hosts had even given up their bedroom so that I would have a comfortable place to sleep.

As a mission co-worker, I learned that I was receiving as much, if not more, than what I gave. I received hospitality from some of the humblest people on earth. Once I was given fresh honeycomb and just-picked wild bush fruit by a family that had nothing else to offer. My heart was touched by their hospitality.

The local church leaders with whom I worked shared their wisdom and experience, as they helped me to navigate a foreign culture. They lived without things we take for granted – indoor plumbing, personal cars, reliable electricity, yet they did their work anyway – pastoring churches, teaching students, nursing patients. I learned that many things we think we need to survive, are not as necessary as we believe, but what we do need is community, relationships based on mutual respect, the willingness to share what we have, and the willingness to receive with gratitude what others have to offer. Sometimes the people we think have the least to offer may give us the most.

Rebekah wasn’t expecting any reward when she gave a cup of cold water to a thirsty traveler, and watered his camels, that evening, but her deed of kindness has been recorded in scripture and we are still reading about it thousands of years later. Giving a cup of cold water can change the lives of the receiver, and the giver, forever.

So, I’d like to leave you with a challenge: What cup of cold water can you give to someone?

Who are the “little ones” in your life who need your help?  What can you do to help them? And, when has someone blessed you with a cup of cold water? How did it change your life? Can you pass that gift on to someone else? Just as Rebekah’s act of kindness was blessed so long ago, may you be blessed as you give and receive a cup of cold water. Amen.

© Deborah Troester, 2023