PART 2 – FROM HOSTILITY TO HOSPITALITY – Luke 24: 28-35

A Sermon by Dr. Richard A. Wing, Co-Pastor, October 13, 2019

INTRODUCTION: I suggest that we are never so ARROGANT as to think we can find God. However, there are places we can go Where God can find us.

Thomas Merton said: GOD COMES TO US

• In scripture
• Inside ourselves
• In the stranger

The biblical word proclaims: when hostility toward the stranger is translated to hospitality, God comes near. Henri Nouwen describes all of us: “In our world full of strangers, we witness a painful search for a hospitable place where life can be lived without fear and where community can be found.” If we go way back in our family history, all of us will find relatives who came to this land as strangers.  The Mayflower arrived in 1620 and just eleven years later four brothers and their mother came to the new land from Banbury Cross, England.  For a strong 15-year period, the newcomers found tremendous hospitality from the native people who had been there for 10,000 years.

Here is an important question for our country today: “How do we continue to show hospitality to the world?” The Statue of Liberty declares: “bring me your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”  How does that square with building a fence today? How does that square with some who say, “we have enough people; let’s change the motto.”

There was a Hassidic teacher who posed this question to his students: “When does the night end and day begin?” Answers from the students were many. “When the sun comes up and you can tell the difference between a man and a tree?” “When we can see dogs cross the road?”  NO, said the teacher.  “When you look into the face of the person who is beside you and you can see that that person is your brother or your sister, when you can recognize that person as a friend, then, finally, the night has ended and the day has begun. Otherwise it is always night.”

I have gone to be with the brothers at San Daminao Retreat grounds in Southern California.  Their motto is this: “We treat every stranger as if they are Jesus himself, just in case.”

Scripture says – “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angles without knowing it” Richard Selzer wrote the book TAKING THE WORLD IN FOR REPAIRS. Selzer had heard that monasteries will always take you in. He went to one on the island off Venice—–the San Georgio Maggiore Monastery. He walked up to the door; knocked; a man in brown robe opened the door; Selzer said, “I need a room tonite.” “Follow me” was all that was said. He was taken upstairs to a room, then was given food and great hospitality.

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies,” was a phrase that bothered me as a child. I think of the image of my grandfather sitting in the presence of a man who swindled him out of his farm during the depression. That does not sound like a good place at all. Deeper biblical study reveals this. It is about the desert rules.  If someone is being chased by an enemy in the desert, no matter what, you must take them into your camp. And, the enemy must stay as far away as the light from the campfire.  So I hear it differently now: “You prepare a table in the presence of all those people and things that trouble me and threaten me. You shelter me in perfect safety and hospitality.  To be with God is to know safety and hospitality no matter what is happening around you.

Our text today has Jesus walking along shortly after the crucifixion and gets teamed up with some disciples who do not recognize him.  They invite Jesus to stay.  At mealtime, the stranger breaks bread; and they recognize him as Jesus.  Hospitality reveals both in the guest and host the precious gifts that bring new life to each.

I. BARRIERS TO HOSPITALITY

FEAR: look at the boarded-up windows/car alarms/ house alarms. Behind each barrier are individuals who all want the same thing: to live together in peace and harmony and hospitality. Fear keeps us “boarded up” without hope of meeting God in the presence of the stranger.

HOSTILITY EXPERIENCED AT AN EARLY AGE:  When I visit prisons, it greatly concerns me when I hear over and over again of the violence perpetrated on young boys by angry fathers. 

NOT KNOWING HOSPITALITY WHEN YOU SEE IT is another barrier.

David Livingstone served in Africa from 1843 till his death in 1873. He preached and healed people. On one occasion, he arrived at the edge of a large territory that was ruled by a tribal chieftain. According to tradition, the chief would come out to meet him there. Livingstone could go forward only after an exchange was made. The chief would choose any item of Livingstone’s personal property that caught his fancy and keep it for himself, while giving the missionary something of his own in return.

Livingstone laid out his few possessions, ie. clothes, books, watch, even the goat that provided him with milk to help ease his chronic stomach problems caused by drinking the water.  To his dismay the chief took his goat. In return, the chief gave him a carved stick shaped like a walking stick. Livingstone was very disappointed. He began to gripe to God about what he viewed as a stupid walking cane. What could it do for him compared to the goat that kept him well? Then one of the local men explained, “that’s not a walking cane. It’s the chief’s very own scepter, and with it you will find entrance to every village in our country and you will be given whatever you need. The king has honored you greatly.” Sometimes we don’t know great hospitality when it is given to us.

Final barrier to hospitality: OUR HANDS ARE TOO FULL

A Zen master in Japan was receiving a university professor from the USA.    The Zen master was aware that the guest talked too much; was self-absorbed and didn’t come to learn but to report about his importance. The Zen mater began pouring the tea. It went to the top of the cup; then over the rim; then flooded the table and went on the floor.  The American guest said, “Hey, the cup is full. Don’t pour anymore.” The Zen Master responded: “Like this cup, you are full of your opinions and speculations.       How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”  A Buddhist Monk said: “In a fast-food culture, you have to remind yourself that some things cannot be done quickly. Hospitality takes time.”

II. BRIDGES TO HOSPITALITY

• KNOWING WHO YOUR NEIGHBOR IS

Listen to this scene created by Frederick Buechner: “When Jesus said to love your neighbor, a lawyer asked him to clarify what he meant by neighbor. He wanted a legal definition he could refer to in case the question of loving one ever happened to come up. He presumably wanted something (from Jesus) on the order of:  ‘A neighbor (hereinafter referred to as the party of the first part) is to be construed as meaning a person … whose legal residence is within a radius of no more than three statute miles from one’s legal residence, unless there is another person …  (hereinafter to be referred to as the party of the second part) living closer to the party of the first part than one is oneself, in which case the party of the second part is to be construed as the neighbor to the party of the first part and one is oneself relieved of all responsibility of any sort or kind whatsoever.’ Instead of an answer the lawyer wanted, Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, the point of which seems to be that YOUR NEIGHBOR MEANS ANYBODY WHO NEEDS YOU. Buechner concludes, “The lawyer’s response is left unrecorded.”

• KNOWING THAT NEED IS YOUR NEIGHBOR

Jacob Leek came to you 18 years ago, and now brings his wife and daughter to be with him here in Phoenix. You folks in this church discovered that the need of our neighbor is what gives us the greatest meaning in life.

• KNOWING HOW TO BE POOR IN SPIRIT

This carries us to the teachings of Jesus: “How blessed are the poor in spirit: the kingdom of Heaven is theirs. (Matthew 5:3) Poor in spirit means to live without a need for your own righteousness——-no outer need for your own reputation.”

CONCLUSION

Your neighbor? Anyone who needs you. Any questions?

Here is the miracle: AS WE GO TO HELP OTHERS, THEY ALWAYS TURN THE TABLES ON US. We go to Mexico to build houses for the poor. WE GO TO SERVE; THEY SERVE US BY DEMONSTRATING HOSPITALITY IN WAYS THAT BAFFLE US.

Most people earn $2.00 a day. That is enough to get beans and tortillas for the night.  They always invite us to share with them their humble meal.  In breaking bread with those in need, suddenly the Christ we have looked for in all the wrong places appears. Christ does not come in getting more of what we have enough of. HE COMES WHEN WE PRACTICE RESURRECTION with our open hands  and  open heart  to  any human face who needs us. AMEN.

• Luke 24:28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on.
• Luke 24:29 But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them.
• Luke 24:30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
• Luke 24:31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.
• Luke 24:32 They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?”
• Luke 24:33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together.
• Luke 24:34 They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!”
• Luke 24:35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.