Today's readings remind us that the new life we've received in Christ is not only due to Our Lord's sacrifice on the cross, but is also a pattern of life that we should be following to engender new life.
In today's First Reading an influential woman receives the promise of a son after showing hospitality to the prophet Elisha because he was a man of God. This woman saw something of God in Elisha, and that something moved her to invite Elisha to dine. She extended her hospitality expecting nothing in return.
However, she didn't limit her hospitality to just a few meals: she prepared a place for Elisha to stay when he was in town. Her hospitality and generosity were a sacrifice of her time and treasure for the sake of the Lord's mission. Serving Elisha was serving the Lord too.
In today's Second Reading Paul reminds us that it was sacrifice and death that brought us new life in Christ, and we must also sacrifice and die to ourselves so that Christ's life may take hold of us and engender a new life.
We speak of the "old man," condemned to death due to original sin, as dying in baptism so that the new man, born in Christ through Baptism, may begin a new life.
It doesn't matter how old or how young you were when you received baptism; you were an "old man" in sin and were born of water and the Spirit through Baptism, making the old man perish and his sins, original or otherwise, along with him.
In today's Gospel, we see that hospitality to others is hospitality to Our Lord. The influential woman of today's First Reading, by helping Elisha, helped the Lord and was blessed for her hospitality.
Even today, as Our Lord reminds us when we serve others, especially those who are serving the Lord, we are serving the Lord himself. He's also very good at hiding in the people you'd least expect.
True hospitality is not stingy. A guest knows when the host is doing the minimum to satisfy some social obligation or curry favor: skimping on the food and drinks, keeping the event brief, etc.
Our Lord today invites the disciples to examine why they are serving others: are they serving themselves in some way, trying to gain something for their service, or are they truly serving them because they serve the Lord?
Our Lord warns us that we must take up our cross in serving others, and even lose our lives, but also promises that in the end, he will take care of us too if we focus on caring for him through caring for others.