Up to this point this sermon lay mutilated in volume IV of the Anecdota, which the editor Muratori himself had found incomplete, along with many others, in a very ancient Ambrosian codex. It lacked its beginning up to the words 'loves and commends'; and to restore this to it, we received the kindness from the most distinguished Stefano Borgia, Secretary of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith. For he brought forth the same whole and complete from the Beneventan codex III, page 118, marked with this title: A sermon of Saint Maximus the bishop on the cup of cold water. The Savior of the human race, the most merciful God, most bountiful distributor of incorruptible gifts, that he may find more to whom he may bestow his gifts;
promises to his faithful a heavenly reward even for a cup of cold water, saying: 'Whoever shall give to one of these least ones so much as a cup of cold water in my name, amen I say to you, he shall not lose his reward' (Matthew 10). Consider, brethren, that our Lord more earnestly both loves and commends his least ones. For he pledges that he will give a reward for that water only which a religious hand has held out to his little servants, who in this world are surely reckoned among the least. From this it comes to pass that the water is more acceptable to God, which shall have been offered kindly to those who believe in Christ, for the sake of his name. And so he says, 'Whoever shall give so much as a cup of cold water in my name.'
We see many, brethren, not so much with a view to heavenly grace as by the usage and necessity of human intercourse, conferring very many resources and magnificent gifts upon their own kin, or their friends, or their patrons. And it is manifest that these things will perish with this world; because they are bestowed not on God who abides forever, but on mortals who will forthwith depart hence. For whatever is expended for the ambitions of the age must needs slip away with the age. But our Lord, the consoler of his poor and lowly ones, requires not the alluring necklaces of gleaming gems, nor silken and precious garments, but promises a recompense even for cold water. He asks for cold water, so that all the poverty of the needy may be able to abound in religious mercy.
'Whoever,' he says, 'shall give a cup of cold water, shall not lose his reward.' This sentence, dearly beloved, in obedience to the heavenly commandments, both invites the poor and incites the wealthy. For which of the poor can lack the water that he may hold out to one who thirsts? Or which of the faithful, at least of the rich, would not eagerly bestow the greater gifts, when he sees that with the most munificent God even small things are rewarded with great prizes? For in this fellowship, the price of the gift is not sought, but the devotion of the one who offers. Just as that needy and most religious woman (Mark 12), who cast into the treasury two small coins, was, by the Lord's sentence, set before all the rich.
And rightly so, brethren, for the most wise Judge sought not so much the abundance of the giver's work as the disposition of the one who gave. He did not weigh how much the rich man brought forth from his most well-stocked houses as gifts for God, but how great was the love that dwelt in the woman who had left nothing for herself. For those rich men offered their gifts to the great God in such a way that they might not cease to be rich; but the poor woman, with such great magnanimity of faith, set God before herself, so that, despising her own poverty, she offered the whole of what she had. She therefore gave more than all, because she reserved less for herself than all. 'Whoever gives,' He says, 'a cup of cold water shall not lose his reward.'
What poverty, then, can be without reward under so great a liberality of the most merciful Judge, with whom even water offered obtained a reward? Water is indeed abundant, and by its very overflowing most cheap; yet when it is offered for the sake of religion, the confession of Christ makes it precious. Hence now, dearly beloved, it is for you to consider what and how great rewards of heavenly riches are to be rendered to the one who bestows food or clothing or money, since it will not be without reward to have offered a cup of water. Yet the rich must indeed take care lest this kindness of Christ make them slower to give; because the offering of water especially wins a reward for those who have nothing else that they can offer to the poor.
For what religion, what devotion is it to abound in much substance, and yet wish to purchase heaven by a scanty and trifling work? After these things, dearest ones, if we turn our understanding to the spiritual sense, we shall find yet another water, which by its delightful grace has the power greatly to refresh the hearts of the just. Whoever, therefore, shall receive with a believing ear the discourse of holy men who preach God, all their inner parts, which indeed thirst for life, they will strengthen by their own simplicity the faith of the hearers. Just as the Lord Jesus Himself (John 4), when, wearied and thirsty, He had sat down upon the well—He who in truth thirsted for the salvation of mortals—was given drink by the most abundant faith of the Samaritan woman and of the crowds coming forth from the city.
For although the Lord watered the dryness of their minds with His saving discourse, yet the nature of spiritual words is of such a kind that, if an effect follows, by a certain mutual gift it refreshes both the hearer and the speaker. And so it comes about that when the assertor of truth sows the evangelical seed, if the one receiving it pours over it the moisture of faith, a most copious harvest of heavenly crops is nourished. Whence, brethren, each understanding profits our salvation, so that we may both most readily show mercy, and commend obedience to those who teach holy things, in order that we may hope, with the Lord repaying, for a full and perfect reward.