Clayton Presbyterian Church
January 7, 2007
Traveling in Style
It was estimated that 65 million people were going to travel over the holidays, with 53 of those doing so on the road. We joined those ranks when we decided to travel to Charlotte on Christmas day. We knew all the information we needed for the trip. According to Google maps it is 186 miles and should take about 3 hours. Aside from the added adventure with kids, it is such an easy trip. There are countless places to stop for gas and you could have your choice of whatever meal you would like. If we had hit a huge ice storm, we could have gotten a room in a hotel and waited for the DOT to clear the roads.
A traveler in the ancient world would have had none of these conveniences. There were no fast-food restaurants or hotels as we knew them. Roads were always subject to bandits and robbers. In some areas it was so dangerous that it can easily be said that traveling was a life or death proposition.
It is for this reason that people throughout the Mediterranean world regarded hospitality as so important. The provision of food, lodging, and protection for strangers was considered a virtue and a sacred duty. The following were common components of the act of hospitality.
The Bible story that we are going to look at today is all about hospitality. This is no coincidence. The Bible actually has a great deal to say about hospitality. In fact, it is a key part of what it means to be a Christian and to live in a way that God wants us to live. It is part of the gospel Listen to the story of Abraham, the father of the nation of Israel, and how he acts towards strangers. Listen also for God's Word to you.
Scripture: Genesis 18:1-15
1 The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. 3 He said, "My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant." So they said, "Do as you have said." 6 And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes." 7 Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. 8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
9 They said to him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" And he said, "There, in the tent." 10 Then one said, "I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?" 13 The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, and say, "Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' 14 Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son." 15 But Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh"; for she was afraid. He said, "Oh yes, you did laugh." (NRSV)
Abraham the Host
The story begins by telling us what Abraham himself doesn't know—God himself comes to visit him. But Abraham doesn't realize this; he just sees three strangers. As he sees them, he runs from the opening of his tent and falls down before them. He does them great honor by falling at their feet and begs them to stay with him for a while so that he can show them hospitality. How different is this from our usual perspective! He views it as a privilege to be able to serve them. His attitude is born out in that he refers to the chief guest as lord and refers to himself as their servant.
This is a key part of hospitality as we learn about it in the Bible—it is about respect. It is not just about meeting peoples' physical needs. It means to treat them with the utmost respect. It means to treat them in accordance with the position, that is, as those who bear the image of God.
Back to the story, Abraham offers them some water and the opportunity to have their feet washed—quite a luxury when you are in the desert in the heat of day! After that they can have some bread for the journey. They agreed.
Sarah got busy making the bread. He had a servant prepare a roasted lamb along with curds and milk. He served them far more than just bread but a tasty feast. That is hospitality.
Hospitality is a lost art. And I don't mean entertaining. We still do that. But meeting and serving strangers is just not something that we do these days. It feels too risky, too dangerous. But as we have stopped practicing this art, we are also missing the incredible power of hospitality. It can transform relationships in amazing ways.
A Coke and a Smile
Most advertising that we see are full of bold-faced lies. They don't lie about their products. They usually do what they say that they're going to do. They lie about how they are going to change our lives. Think of all of the claims about how technology will make our lives more simple, less busy and easier to manage, or how all of the educational toys will make our children into little Mozarts or little Einsteins.
There was one claim, however, that I initially discounted and later found to be true. Do you remember those old commercials for Coke where all of these people from different nationalities and walks of life would share a Coke and things would be great. The claim was that Coke could bridge cultural barriers. My first response was, “Oh, give me a break!”
Then, several years ago I was in Haiti with some high school students that I took on a mission trip. We spent a couple of days building forms and pouring concrete for a guest house where future mission teams could stay. But, we also made trips up the mountain to a small village where the missionaries ran a school in conjunction with a local church. We spent some time with some folks in that village. A couple of the young men led us up and down some very steep terrain as they showed us all the work that was being done to rebuild the watershed from the drastic erosion. We also accompanied the kids of the school on a day off for swimming in these waterholes that are some of the most beautiful places that I have ever seen.
The day before we flew out we went up the mountain again and found that they had set a beautiful table to serve us lunch. I think that it was a mixture of rice and beans. But there in front of every plate was a bottle of Coke. That old familiar beverage was so welcome to us who had been living in a strange land. It was so humbling. These people who live in abject poverty where pulling out the stops and showing us such deep hospitality. These Haitians who are fortunate if they can live in a cinder block shell where giving us drinks that were not cheap for them. In so doing they were treating us like honored guests. We, who can buy a Coke at any time and never think about it, were served the best by people who can hardly afford anything. They honored us that day in ways that I will probably never understand. But they did so in a way that I will never forget. And I definitely left Haiti having received far more than I gave.
Hospitality can change people and can surely change relationships. Jesus went toe-to-toe with the Jewish scholars of the day over who it was ok to eat with. They wanted to draw a tight circle around who you could eat with, but Jesus would eat with anyone. They both understood that eating with someone else is powerful. It can forge a strong bond. That is exactly why he did it, because it represented that God's grace and forgiveness is for anyone and everyone. It is for the prostitutes. It is for the drug-dealers. It is for alcoholics. It is for the unemployed. Any kind of person you can think of. If we are going to walk the life that Jesus wants us to, we need to eat with those people who are uncomfortable to eat with.
Pastor Challenges Church to Be Colorblind
Think of all the things that divide people in life. Can eating together overcome those divides? Pastor James Meeks thinks so.
Meeks, who is the pastor of Salem Baptist Church in Chicago, hopes to persuade African American and white evangelicals to work together. And so he is encouraging them to take the bold step of eating together.
"I want my children to see that," Meeks says. "Most black children grow up never having had dinner with white people. Most white people grow up never having had African Americans in their homes. So we view each other as 30-second sound bites on television."
Meeks says he'd like any church, anywhere, to take Salem up on this offer. "We can do it with ten [families], do it with five, do it with those that are willing. It has to get started somewhere. The world will never see how colorblind Jesus is until they see how colorblind the church is."
Meeks has looked to Jesus and thinks that his church should follow his example. And he knows the Bible well enough to know that if we will do so then we will be blessed in powerful ways that we can't even imagine. Don't you want God's blessing on your life?
Abraham Was Blessed
Abraham in our Scripture reading was blessed. After he had served his guests, the Lord asks him where his wife Sarah was. Abraham had to be wondering, “How did you know that her name was Sarah? I didn't tell you. Did you read her name on our vanity license plates on our camel?” But he just says that she is in the tent. God then tells him that when he comes back in a year, then she will have a child. When Sarah, who was listening in tent, heard this she just busts out laughing. This was the funniest thing that she had ever heard. She was an old woman. She had not had a child after all of this time. She had accepted it now. It is just ludicrous. So...
13 The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, and say, "Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' 14 Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son." 15 But Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh"; for she was afraid. He said, "Oh yes, you did laugh."
Of course she did have a son and she named him Isaac, which means laughter. Sarah did laugh and rejoice when she finally had a son. And it was God who had the final laugh because he knew that all things were possible for him. So at this encounter, Abraham and Sarah had God's promises renewed to them. They once again heard the Word of God. Why? Because they offered hospitality to strangers. If they had not they would not have been blessed by God's presence. Because they were willing to share from what they had, to be a blessing to others, they were blessed.
Dinner Guests Becoming Scarse
How willing are we? A May 2005 survey produced the following answers to the question, "How often do we entertain guests for dinner?"
That is not a lot. And our family would be right along with those figures.
What we know from the Bible is that Jesus ate with sinners and tax-collectors. That means that in the eyes of a good Jew, he ate with those who were unworthy and disgraceful. What more powerful way could Jesus communicate to them about the grace and forgiveness of God than by eating with the unworthy.
We too can be examples of God's grace to those around us by extending hospitality to the unworthy. By inviting someone over, it is like giving them an invitation to the Kingdom of God. And I am not talking about having your boss over or some business associate. There is a time and a place for entertaining like that, but it is not hospitality.
Consider who you might have over to your house for a meal. Can you think of someone who can really use it? Hospitality used to be the way that Christians cared for the poor and the indigent. Because our houses have become such private places, it is more dangerous than it used to be. Nevertheless, the Scriptures present hospitality as an obligation and a mandate. Why? Because it goes to the heart of what God has done for us. He has welcomed us to his table, which we are going to celebrate here in a moment as we celebrate the Lord's Supper.
What we need is a start. We need a small step before we can take a big step. I want to give you one. I would like to challenge each of you to share a meal with someone else in church sometime over the next six weeks. Look around and find someone whom you have met at church. Then, ask them over for dinner. What better way to have a strong, vibrant church where we know each other and not just come and sit near each other once a week. Then, as we get more comfortable, we might ask God to put other people in our path. Wouldn't it be great if we were the kind of church who would regularly ask visitors to join us for a meal after church. I know that it has happed here before. But what if it happened all the time? It would be amazing!
We must follow God's example and welcome others, because he has welcomed us to his table, even though we are not worthy, to share the great feast and fellowship with him. He plays the host and he serves us. Let us come to his table.