Sermon 06-26-2011
Psalm 13 Matthew 10:40-42
“God’s Extravagant Welcome.”
PRAYER
“How do people extend hospitality to others?
What acts of hospitality make you feel welcome?
Notice that the reading of Matthew 10:40, mentions the word “welcomes” four times. The Greek word... suggests “receive,” or “accept.” Jesus is speaking to his disciples. He is sending them out to offer life, hope, and healing to those who will
“accept,” “receive,” or “welcome” such gifts. The verse describes a bond to God through the act of welcoming. “Whoever welcomes you, welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes the one who sent me.” The disciples offer the gift of God through Christ. Whoever “receives,” “accept,” or welcomes” them, welcomes God. The act of welcoming expands ever wider like ripples on the surface of a pond.
Welcoming is very closely related to the idea of hospitality. Hospitality is the act of receiving guests with friendliness and kindness. To be hospitable is to favor the health, growth, and comfort of new arrivals, in other words, to be receptive and open.”
(Examples like the passing of the peace or finding out of the meaning of one’s name, are ways of breaking the ice and give us the opportunity to open ourselves to connect with one we have greeted).
“Can you remember a time when someone, perhaps a stranger, was hospitable to you? ... Think about how God shows you “hospitality.” Identify the ways in which God welcomes you. Consider the manner in which you show “hospitality” or “welcome” to God. Search your heart to discern ways you might be more
“hospitable” or receptive to God.
How might Jesus’ words have helped Matthew’s community offer hospitality to others in Christ’s name?
Travel in the Roman Empire in the first century was brisk… Well-paved roads provided a far-reaching network of highways that connected remote, rural areas and smaller provinces to the larger, bustling cities. Travelers could find rest, lodging, and the other amenities of hospitality – in everything from cheap poorly established hotels to more luxurious villas. But the most secure way to travel was to rely on the hospitality of friends, relatives, or other personal contacts.
The socio-historical insight about travel and hospitality in the first century Greco- Roman world is instructive for understanding the significance of Jesus’ charge to the disciples in the Matthew text… These verses show that those who welcomed the twelve during their missionary tour welcomed Jesus and the One who sent Jesus. Extending hospitality to those who had likely experienced rejection, suffering, and even persecution was exceedingly commendable.
Matthew’s quotation of Jesus’ words is instructive for his community. He reminds them that God is often present in exchanges between guests and their hosts. Hebrews 13:2 reiterates this theme: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.”
(Nan Duerling. “The Word and You,” vol. 2, pg. 206-208).
“But attention in the text is not only focused on those bearing the message but also on those who receive the messengers. In connection with them, the word ‘reward’ is used three times in today’s paragraph. We are not told the nature of the reward. Maybe hospitality to God’s messengers carries its own reward; maybe the new fellowship that emerges is the reward. In any case, the notion of reward suggests that the act of welcoming does not go unnoticed to God. God is intimately involved in the mission, both in sustaining the messengers, and in rewarding those showing hospitality.” (Walter Brueggemann. “Texts for Preaching. Year A, p. 387).
Matthew’s community knew that practicing the art of hospitality included sharing even small expressions of love and kindness with others. “Motive and not measure” could be a useful guideline for “there may be a sea of warm love in a cup of cold water.”” (Nan Duerling, Idem).
What motivates us to give?
When we think about giving a cup of water, what comes to mind?
For me, fund raising walks and races, are interesting for me in that at any of these events, stations of water are placed along the way for the passing runners. It is a gesture of hospitality offered sometime by individuals, churches or by the different sponsor organizations along the way.
“The refreshing and regenerating gift of cold water for the weary, thirsty traveler should not be taken for granted. We read in Proverbs 25:25 ‘Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is the good news from a far country.’
We, as members of God’s redeemed community, who are recipients of God’s welcoming and gracious hospitality, are to share the gifts, the blessings, and the bounty with which we have been blessed. Even “a cup of cold water” can function as a rich and meaningful symbol of the reality of hospitality…” (Ibid).
Can we find ourselves asking: “…Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you in prison and visited you?” Matthew 25:37-38.
What can I do and am called to do is to remember what Jesus said: “When you did it to one of the least of these, my family, you did it to me.” (v.40)… The only criterion he set was the ‘least of these’, the little ones, particularly the small ones, the children. So what you and I are called to do is not to ignore and overlook, but to look into the human face to see there the face of Jesus Christ, because that is what he said.“What you do for and to the least of these – sick, hungry, homeless, oppressed, imprisoned – you do to me.”
Here we see that this passage is about God working through us. “Jesus said, God is here, particularly in your neighbor, the one who needs you. Do you want to see the face of God? Look into the face of ‘one of the least of these.’
“God wants to save our souls and redeem us and give us the gift of life. God wants to save us by touching our hearts with love. God wants to save us by persuading us to care and see other human beings who need us. God wants to save us from obsessing about ourselves and worry about others.”
(John M. Buchanan. “Feasting on the Word,” Year A, vol. 4, p.332-336).
God wants to offer you and me, his extravagant welcome, we can only receive it when we show the stranger the same extravagant welcome God is willing to give to us, Amen!
BENEDICTION
Jesus is calling us out of our comfort zone, to enter into others’ comfort zones, and
to learn from the discomfort, to be comfortable with each other. As you do it, you
have experienced something new. Amen!
