Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Progressive Christian
Religion News
Cold Water: A Sermon on Matthew 10:37-42

Cold Water: A Sermon on Matthew 10:37-42

Last updated on: June 27, 2026 at 1:19 pm by Jeff Hood

0 Comments

Cold Water: A Sermon on Matthew 10:37-42 2026-06-27T13:19:43-06:00 Jeff Hood

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Cold Water

The Cold Water Passage

In Matthew 10:37-42, Jesus tells his apostles that no love can come before love of him. Father and mother cannot come first. Son and daughter cannot come first. Whoever will not take up his cross and follow after him is not worthy of him. Whoever clings to his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for the sake of Jesus will find it. To welcome an apostle is to welcome Jesus, and to welcome Jesus is to welcome the God who sent him. The one who receives a prophet shares the prophet’s reward. The one who receives a righteous person shares the righteous person’s reward. And the one who gives even a cup of cold water to the least of these will not lose his reward.

The summary is simple. It is hard. Discipleship costs everything. It is measured in mercy. Jesus asks for our whole lives…then he tells us that the smallest kindness to the least of these is never wasted. The cross and the cup belong to the same gospel.

Jesus did not say it would be easy. Jesus said it would cost everything.

Cold Water: Take Up the Cross

We have made the cross into jewelry. We have made it into decoration. We have hung it on our walls. We have draped it around our necks. We have forgotten what it was. The cross was an instrument of execution. The cross was a machine built to kill the condemned. So when Jesus tells his apostles to take up the cross, he is not handing out a pendant. He is telling them to walk toward the place of suffering. He is telling them to stand with the horrified. He is telling them to stand with the marginalized. He is telling them to be present to pain itself.

Most of us will never stand in an execution chamber. I have. This past week, I stood beside a man named Dusty Ray Spencer as the state of Florida killed him. I will carry that for the rest of my life. But here is what I need you to hear. The cross Jesus is talking about is not only mine. It is yours. It is waiting for you in the places you would rather avoid. It is waiting in the hospital room you keep meaning to visit. It is waiting at the table where someone is eating alone. It is waiting on the street corner where you have trained yourself to look away. Taking up the cross is not reserved for the dramatic. It is the daily decision to be present to the people the world has decided do not matter.

Lose Your Life to Find It

Whoever finds his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. This is not a riddle. This is a map. Jesus is telling us where to go. Jesus is telling us what to give. He is telling us to spend ourselves on the least of these. He is telling us that the only life worth keeping is the life we are willing to lose.

Losing your life rarely looks like a chamber. More often, it looks like time you will not get back. It looks like the hour you give to a grieving neighbor when you are tired. It looks like the money you give away that you were saving for yourself. It looks like the comfort you surrender when you choose the hard conversation over the easy silence. The least of these are not a faraway category. They are the lonely person in your own pew. They are the workers nobody thanks. They are the immigrant family down the street. They are the addict everyone has given up on. We lose our lives in small and unglamorous pieces. That is exactly how Jesus said it would go.

Here is the strange thing. In the moment you give yourself away, you discover you have never been more alive. I watched a man die, and I knew with everything in me that I was exactly where God wanted me to be. You will know that same certainty. You will feel it when you sit with someone in their worst hour and refuse to leave. You will feel it when you carry a burden that was not yours to carry. That is finding your life. You do not find it by protecting yourself. You find it by pouring yourself out.

This is the gospel turned inside out. The world tells you to climb. Jesus tells you to descend. The world tells you to accumulate. Jesus tells you to give it away. The world tells you that fullness is found in comfort. Jesus tells you that fullness is found in the suffering you are brave enough to share. The cross is where life is found. That is true on death row. That is true in your own neighborhood.

Give Out Cold Water

And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink…he will surely not lose his reward. Hear how small that is. Jesus does not ask you to be powerful. Jesus asks you to be present. A cup of cold water is the smallest mercy you can imagine. It is reaching toward a thirsty person and giving them the little you have.

You may never change a law. You may never stop an execution. You may never fix the broken systems that grind people down. I could not save Dusty. But I could give him a cup of cold water. I could see him when the state refused to. I could call him beloved when the world called him condemned. And that small thing was not nothing. That small thing was everything.

You can do the same. You will not solve poverty…but you can feed one hungry person. You will not end loneliness…but you can sit with one isolated soul. You will not heal the world…but you can bind up the wound in front of you. Jesus promises that not one of these cups goes unrewarded. Not one act of mercy is wasted. The God who sees in secret sees every cup of cold water you ever hand to a thirsty stranger.

This is the social justice the gospel demands. It is not abstract. It is not safe. It is the willingness to go to the people the world has written off and give them something to drink. To the prisoner. To the poor. To the immigrant. To the sick. To the grieving. To the least of these. We do not get to love only the easy ones. We do not get to love from a respectable distance. We are sent to the very places the world has decided are beyond saving…and we are sent there with a cup of cold water in our hands.

So take up your cross wherever it waits for you. Lose your life in the giving of it. Find your fullness inside the suffering you are willing to share. And go out into a thirsty world and hand a cup of cold water to everyone who needs it.

That is the cost. That is the reward. That is cold water.

Amen.

Catholic

Politics and Religion

fresh writings

Thoughts

Christian discipleship

cup of cold water

Death Penalty Abolition

Matthew 10:37-42

social justice

taking up the cross

About The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood

The Rev. Dr. Jeff Hood is a Catholic priest (Old Catholic), theologian, and nationally recognized activist based in North Little Rock, Arkansas. A spiritual advisor to death row inmates across the country, Dr. Hood has accompanied more people to their executions than any other advisor in the U.S., including the first-ever nitrogen hypoxia execution in 2024. His work sits at the intersection of justice, radical compassion, and public theology. Dr. Hood holds advanced degrees from Auburn, Emory, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, University of Alabama, Creighton, and Brite Divinity School, among others. He also earned a PhD in metaphysical theology and founded The New Theology School, where he serves as Dean and Professor of Prophetic Theology. Author of over 100 books—including the award-winning The Courage to Be Queer—Dr. Hood’s writings and activism have been featured in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, NPR, CNN, and more. A frequent collaborator with men on death row, he sees theology as a shared, liberative act. Dr. Hood has served on the leadership teams of organizations like the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and the Fellowship of Reconciliation. His activism has earned multiple awards, including recognition from PFLAG and the Next Generation Action Network. On July 7, 2016, Dr. Hood led the Dallas protest against police brutality that ended in tragedy. His actions that night saved lives, and his story is now archived in the Dallas Public Library. A father of five, husband to Emily, and friend to the incarcerated, Dr. Hood rejects institutionalism in favor of a theology rooted in people, presence, and prophetic witness. You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

June 17, 2026

The Man Who Never Knew Peace: Dusty Spencer's Last War

Next Post

July 4, 2026 America250. The Yoke of Christ & True Liberation for All.

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"'God’s Sheep on the Sidewalk' is immensely thought-provoking and conscience-stirring. Thanks. "The people out there ..."

Dr.Cajetan Coelho

God’s Sheep: The Ones Who Sleep ..."

"Greetings, Jeff, and bless you for your relentlessly regular fierce posts and your profound commitments ..."

DCF

Between: On the Person and Character ..."

"God as the Between, thoughts:As a child we were taught, in the blue or green ..."

madalyn baumstark

Between: On the Person and Character ..."

"Sometimes we make it harder than it is. Not saying things don't bring us to ..."

Patrick Dennis

Get Behind Me, Satan: A Death ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Danny & Jeff fresh writings latest poetics north texas fellowship of reconciliation Sermon theology from death row Thoughts Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 July 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 May 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Jacob's favorite son?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Levi Dan Joseph Judah