Celebrating Citizenship: Jesus and July 4th, 2026

"Thirst," Ion Chibzii, 1967

"...whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward" (Matt 10:42).

As many of you know, I am a "resident alien" in this country. At least that's the status to which my green card entitles me; and I know I am far from being the only immigrant here today. I am grateful for the hospitality of these United States and for the many gifts it has given me in my education, ministry, and friendships over more than 30 years.

Between now and next Sunday, this nation will celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. This is cause for thanksgiving and pride, but also for reflection and penitence. The United States has achieved wonderful things and, at its best, represents an extraordinary community with great accomplishments and great potential. It is also true that its very existence depends on the dispossession of Indigenous people, and on the labor of enslaved people.

I'm sure that many of you share some ambivalence at this particular moment, not just because of those underlying historic issues, but because of the struggles that characterize US political and civil society at this moment. Most obviously this is a deeply divided national community, both in concrete terms such as the disparity of wealth and poverty and in the intractable divisions of opinion related to so many issues; and extraordinarily, those in the highest places of leadership seem intent on fostering those divisions and benefitting from them, rather than healing them. 

We could however, given that ambiguous history, have had cause to reflect carefully in 1776 or 1863 or 1941 too. What then shall we do as Christians living in this reality? How should we understand ourselves and what is required of us, as people of faith living in a society where the beautiful and the ugly, the peaceful and the violent, the venal and the charitable exist side by side?

In these past few weeks, we have been hearing Jesus teach (Matt 10) the twelve about their roles of leadership in a different nation, under a different regime. Jesus calls this Kingdom of Heaven. This is a community where diseases are healed, evil is cast out, and good news is proclaimed. It also involves challenge and risk; persecution and rejection, family alienation, and even being called like him to carry the cross and so become objects of shame, condemnation, and death. These risks emerge because they will be resident aliens, insurgents even; their allegiance is to another kingdom.

All of us are, in a sense, citizens of this different country. We were naturalized into this other nation at baptism. St. Paul had also said something similar to the Philippians: "Our citizenship is in the heavens" (3:20). He didn't just mean that we are going somewhere else when we die, but meant that we live according to a different set of values and standards from the world around us. Similarly in The Letter to the Hebrews: "For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come" (13:14). In ancient terms "city" meant not just local dwelling but nationality; Athenians and Romans and Alexandrians all identified themselves ethnically and politically by their place of origin. Augustine of Hippo thus called this reality of Christian identity the "city of God," to which we really belong even as we are resident aliens in the human city we find ourselves.

In these last few verses of Jesus' instructions to the twelve (Matt 10:40-42), we come - at last - to what might sound like the good part: rewards shared between those like the twelve who come in Jesus' name, extending his ministry, and those who receive them as hosts. This reciprocity and hospitality represent at least some of the benefits of citizenship. We have here a glimpse of society and economy in the kingdom of heaven, not of a settled city but of of an itinerant community whose real character is now revealed in the mission the twelve will undertake with Jesus, becoming pilgrims without any home but yet potentially at home anywhere. 

Jesus speaks three times of the host receiving a reward if they welcome those sent by Jesus in his name. Yet the rewards of this "receiving one another" are mostly vague and, when named, sparse.

The example of the cup of cold water - attractive enough, of course, on a day like this - conveys the simplicity of what is offered or demanded of us in this economy. This is a sort of "widow's mite" example; if we do not have the resources to offer much, then our little is welcome. Our qualification for membership is not wealth, even given generously, but God's own generosity.

For the core of the economics of the kingdom is that God requires little or nothing, but invites much, and gives all. It is based not on the extraction of wealth from subject peoples like the Romans, or from the "art of the deal" as purportedly on offer here now, or in any set of practices whereby we consider others as objects or instruments to other ends. The "receiving one another" of which Jesus speaks today involves little but amounts to true community, where rewards and benefits are shared and this needs are met. The divine economy does not know of hoarding except of treasure in heaven, whose capital is built up by generosity. 

This Church is an embassy of God's regime, a refuge for aliens and insurgents. Here the economy of the kingdom of heaven is enacted in the Community Soup Kitchen where the hunger of many is met in exchange for the gift of their need, or when simple sandwiches are made for Midnight Run, and above all at the altar when bread and wine - a very little - is recognized and returned as a gift beyond measure and shared equally. This is the sacrament of this other kingdom, for when we receive the Eucharist just as when we receive one another we receive Jesus, he says, and the one who sent him. 

And what of that other country celebrating 250 years? How do we live in and contribute to it? Centuries before Jesus the prophet Jeremiah spoke in God's name to Jewish resident aliens in Babylon saying "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare" (29:7). This is true for us as well. 

Christians pray for, and to act for, the good of this human society and community in which we live. By doing so we contribute something of the reality of the other kingdom to it. And we will do more for America foregrounding our more fundamental citizenship, seeking to live the reality of the kingdom of heaven, embodying charity, truth, and peace, than will any supposed patriot espousing what are purported to be freedom, self-interest, and strength. For true peace and true freedom and true strength are not what the world imagines. And true reward is not the world's glory or wealth but what we receive when acting in charity, truth, and peace, even when we all we offer is the cold cup of water. For we too, receiving one another and sharing what we have, will have received Jesus and the one who sent him.

Sermon at Christ Church, New Haven, Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, 2026.