40 “Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41 Whoever welcomes a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, truly I tell you, that person will certainly not lose their reward.” Matthew 10:40-42

The final verses in this passage were an encouragement to those He was sending out. For two dozen verses, He talked about what they would encounter along the way and how to deal with it.

The “upside” to accepting the Disciples into their midst would be a blessing.

There was no downside.

We go into the world as ambassadors for Christ, that much is obvious. As such, people will accept or reject us. We don’t have control over that. The Holy Spirit woos as He sees fit.

The overarching principle in this section is that there are people out there who will be blessed because of you and your ministry. They will be rewarded for their hospitality.

Likewise, we will also be rewarded when we are hospitable towards men and women in the ministry (and as a general principle).