Jesus then opens the doors wide to include on his side all those who are not against him. He knows that both he and his disciples are locked in a life-and-death struggle against evil, and he is prepared to accept any ally willing to join the fight. Jesus concedes the possibility that good can come from circles outside of his own.

This is well illustrated by the fable of the dying father, who, to show his sons the advantage of union, gave them a bundle of twigs, which could not be broken when bound together, but were easily snapped asunder one by one

Nothing could seem more petty than giving a mere cup of water. But God remembers the heart, not only the gift itself.

With a salary of $350,000, Raymond Burse is paid well for the challenges he faces as the president of Kentucky State University. In August 2014 Burse took a voluntary pay cut to $260,000. Burse directed that the $90,000 the university didn’t pay him should be used to provide $3 per hour raises to all the university’s minimum-wage workers. When asked why he was willing to do this, he replied, “You don’t give up $90,000 for publicity. I did this for the people. This is something I’ve been thinking about from the very beginning.”

Caring for others is a character matter. It is one thing to advocate with your mouth that people ought to be paid more. It is another to put your paycheck on the line.

James Carville ran Bill Clinton’s campaign for president. Over the years, he has been the president’s very supportive spokesman. In his book Stickin’, Carville explains why even during the dark days of the impeachment, when the easy and popular thing would have been to turn on the Clintons, he stuck with them. He said, “I did what I knew I had to do. I had to stick with my friend. It was never really that close a call for me.”

It is good to have a friend like that. It is even better to be a friend like that.

Augustine said: “Many whom God has, the Church does not have; and many whom the Church has, God does not have.”