The Rev. Neale L. Miller

Sermon for June 29, 2008

Texts: Genesis 22:1-14/Matthew 10:40-42

Title: “If Jesus Came Calling”

                Call ahead before you drop in on someone. It is a simple enough courtesy, but Jesus didn’t teach it. Our mother’s taught it.  Don’t stress your host or hostess.  Announce your intention to visit. 

              A simple courtesy, but Jesus didn’t teach it.  Jesus had a way of dropping in unannounced.  Scripture has him showing up here, there, unexpectedly---synagogues, marketplaces, individual homes. Perhaps he was unaware of that simple courtesy of calling ahead. Perhaps he didn’t care. In any event there is no mention that Jesus was schooled in social etiquette, or took any pains to teach it to his disciples.

              We should not infer, however, that Jesus was indifferent to etiquette or hospitality. To the contrary.  The gospels stress that hospitality was an important issue for Jesus, though he might have come up short in such social graces as announcing his visits before hand.

              Our morning’s lesson finds Jesus instructing his disciples on the subject of hospitality, summarizing his remarks in the very first verse of that lesson, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.” Again, no mention of social etiquette, instead before taking up the hospitality issue Jesus lays out a strategy for mission, a strategy that would most certainly dictate the reception the disciples were likely to be met with as they went forth, the hospitality they were likely to receive. “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  As you go, proclaim the good news. “The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast our demons.  You received without payment; give without payment.  Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for laborers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave.  As you enter the house greet it.  If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.  If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.” Hospitality.

                 Some weeks ago the Mission and Service committee of our church launched a project to place these doorknob hangers on the doors of all occupied homes in Lakeview. Like the disciples Jesus sent out, our aim was to connect with the community.  It was a challenging enough task in the summer heat, but you will agree with me that nothing we did on the streets of Lakeview rises to the level of what Jesus required of his disciples.  Our objective was not to heal anyone or test our neighbors’ hospitality, but simply to invite our neighbors to visit us. 

              Jesus’ disciples faced a substantial challenge.  If I am one of them I’m more than a little concerned about the reception my efforts will receive.  There had been no announcement sent out that the disciples would come calling. Do you see a problem here?  The disciples were to drop in unannounced upon the “lost.”  “Lost?” Did these sheep of the house of Israel know they were lost?

               How many of you who hung those doorknob hangers would have agreed to the task if the assignment had been to convince every homeowner you encountered in your rounds that they were lost spiritually unless they became members of  Lakeview Presbyterian Church, the only “true” church in this area of the city? No, your task was merely to place information in the hands of the community, nothing more.

               Jesus’ disciples were sent forth with the intent that they do a great deal more than distribute information.  They were to convince the Jews that what they were bringing to their communities and homes was of value. They were to proclaim the good news that “the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

               Yet weren’t those lost sheep of the house of Israel [the Jews]” entitled to know upon whose authority that announcement was being made.  Synagogue leaders, the religious leaders of the day, from whom an announcement of that sort would have been expected to originate, hadn’t alerted their congregations that the coming of the kingdom of heaven was imminent.

               As the twelve disciples of Jesus made their way into the villages of Palestine carrying their good news that the kingdom of heaven had come near, a whole lot of people were left scratching their heads. Who were these guys?  Who sent them?  On whose authority did they speak? 

               Interestingly enough, the Gospel of Matthew has nothing to say about what results the disciples’ mission earned.  Did they, in fact, do any of the things Jesus instructed them to do?  Did they cure the sick or raise the dead?  Did they cleanse lepers or cast our demons?  We will never know.

                What we do know, however, is that Jesus’ disciples had few provisions, save their faith in his message, to take into what could very likely turn out to be an alien environment. “Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey.”  They were to survive on the hospitality of those whom they encountered, this, again, without virtue of any prior endorsement from anyone in authority that what they were taking to the communities was worth anything.

                 What kind of reception could these disciples of Jesus expect, these strangers from out of town, these beggars who sought hospitality on the pretext that they had something of value to share?  Had not Jesus warned them ahead of time that doors would be slammed in their faces, and worse. “See [Jesus announced] I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware…they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles.”

                Placing a card on a doorknob is pretty tame stuff compared to what the disciples in all likelihood encountered, if not while Jesus was still with them, certainly when they were on their own after his resurrection.

                The disciples were not sent out by the synagogue big shots who enjoyed credibility in the community.  They were no more than a group of men chosen for no good reason, by a man of questionable pedigree and aspirations, for a vocation no one, not even themselves, was yet prepared to define. 

Call ahead.  It’s a simple enough courtesy, but Jesus and his disciples descended on a world that was by and large unprepared for the message he brought.  And what a message.  “I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”  We heard that declaration from the lips of Jesus last week, didn’t we?  Not to calm and cool down, Jesus came to rile up and heat up. 

              The world was tending to its business when Jesus came bearing his good news, his announcement that a new world, “the kingdom of heaven” was breaking in. The world, however, has little tolerance for any news, however packaged, that disrupts the status quo. Those in power and those who enjoy privilege, the people who in every generation call the shots, go into alert mode at the first sign a disruptive influence has come onto the scene.          

               The reaction of society’s elite was always predictable.  God sent a prophet. Immediately the kings and their cohorts went into defense mode.  Discredit them. Round them up and throw them in jail.  Kill them if necessary.

               The prophet Elijah fleeing from the wrath of his era’s reigning powerbrokers, Ahab and Jezebel, voiced the prophet’s lament, “I have been very zealous for the lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword.  I alone am left, and they are seeking my life to take it away.”  So what was it that Jesus said?  “I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves.”

               Why do you suppose God subjects his servants to such abuse?  Why pain and suffering?  Why martyrs? Why the cross? Couldn’t he give the world a heads up regarding his plans, and by so doing spare his prophets and all servants who served in his name a lot of grief? Why didn’t God call ahead? Of course he did call  ahead, but we killed off his messengers.

                  Even when they are people we truly care about and enjoy seeing, unannounced company is as much as a bane as a blessing.  We seldom deem the house “visitor ready” in its day to day state. The “Welcome” mat may lie at our threshold at all times, but not so the welcome the visitor will find inside, for that we need time to do all the things that need doing in order to put our best our on display.   

                 It is a simple enough courtesy, but Jesus didn’t teach it.  Call ahead before you drop in on someone. I guess Jesus thought people didn’t need a lot of help to grasp the message he was bringing.  You would have to say he made the same mistake the prophets of God before him made.  He thought people would catch on.  But they didn’t catch on, not easily anyway. The supposed good news threatened instead of reassured.

                So what is it about the good news that threatens and turns people off?  Start with the fact that it revalues things in a way that maddens us. It sets priorities that place his followers at odds with the world. Good news for Jesus is all about justice and mercy rather than power and privilege. Good news as Jesus taught it invalidates the grading and ranking systems by which we value human lives and their contributions to society. His message? “The first shall be last, and the last first.” “The meek shall inherit the earth.”

                Imagine that Jesus came calling today with an agenda that included the kind of things I just named. Remember, he didn’t teach the simple courtesy of calling ahead. He chose to come into our lives unannounced, in appearance looking no different than you or I.

               No, we probably wouldn’t recognize him if he happened to show up. Indeed, he would prefer that we didn’t recognize him.  You see, he would not be flattered by extravagant preparation.  In fact, he might well be put off by it. He would likely judge our hospitality on the basis of how we responded to the person we would be least inclined to flatter with extravagant preparation.

             Oh yes, “whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”  He sends these disciples, you see, and they get under our skin. They don’t call ahead of time.  They barge in and start bringing up issues that have already been settled.  They make us uncomfortable. They won’t mind their manners.  They won’t conform to our values and standards. You would think they would know that when you come into someone’s house you obey house rules. They just don’t get it. 

                As I was preparing this sermon I couldn’t help think of that stock line I use at the end of the service to welcome any visitors that might be worshiping with us.  Perhaps some of you know the line to which I refer.  “If you are a visitor, please make your presence known that we might properly welcome you.”  It’s well meaning enough, but I don’t know that I will want to use it again, at least for a while. Perhaps it would be better if I said something like, “if you a visitor please do not let your presence be known, and then come back later and tell us if we properly welcomed you.”

               “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me.”  We may never know whom Jesus sends us.  Who knows, perhaps Jesus will show up himself as a person dressed like you or me. Do we value the visitor enough to offer him, or her, welcome at all?  And if we value the visitor, why to we value her or him?  Is the person valued as another person to bolster our membership roster, another giving unit to help us with the bottom line?  Is it our mission to perpetuate our house rules, traditions, and social values, or have we been given another mandate. Perhaps God has brought us to a place where we are being called to take seriously a more sweeping mandate than we have acknowledged before, a mandate to welcome in such a way that the visitor upon entering here will know without a doubt that he or she has entered the fellowship of the saints.  Whoever welcomes you, welcomes me.  I would leave you with a question I am struggling with.  What is the welcome we are prepared to offer, and to whom are we prepared to offer it? AMEN.

             PRAYER

             Living God, in whose light we seek to walk, we would be as present to you as you are to us, yet we suffer many distractions, the pull of agendas that direct our attention and energies elsewhere. Recall us to the agenda that is most important of all, the agenda that our Lord Jesus set.  Help us find our true vocation in serving as Christ served, as loving as Christ loved, as giving as Christ gave.       

              O Savior, you stand at the door and knock, but we cannot answer now. We are not prepared for guests. Our lives are not in order. We have work to do before we are presentable. We are sorry to keep you waiting, Lord, but that’s just the way things are.  Excuse us for now, but come back soon.        

               Our lives are not in order, but we defer the effort to get them in order, O Lord. Too busy making a living.  Need a vacation.  Too tired to think right now.  Our lives are not in order, give us some time and we will give you the kind of welcome you deserve.

              You stand at the door and knock, but we defer. You call us to new places spiritually, but we defer.  You call us to new ministries, but we defer.  You call us to reach beyond our comfort zone.  We defer.  A little more time is all we need, Lord, just a little more time.

               We carry on, O God, as if time was in our hands, that we will be prepared to make the right decision, when the time for making decisions comes. Forgive our self-centered arrogance that refuses to acknowledge that we cannot defer indefinitely, that tomorrow may be too late to make the decisions that need to be made.

               The pain of sorrow and despair is etched into the faces of still more people who have seen loved ones killed or maimed as a result of terrorist cowards. We know you to be a merciful God, but we recite “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” It is retribution we seek, justice and mercy for the afflicted, condemnation and suffering for those responsible for evil.

                Abide this hour with those who suffer oppression in Zimbabwe, Sudan, Darfur, Tibet and elsewhere. Be with those who speak for the world on behalf of justice and equality.  May the United Nations find new and creative ways to fulfill its charter in dealing with the renegade nations of the world.

                We pray for the church that it find new ways to reach those who have not heard your liberating word, O God, or who having heard it, have chosen to reject it.  We pray for our Presbyterian Church U.S.A. as it seeks new strategies for doing ministry, praying that as the General Assembly adjourns the enthusiasm for ministry and mission engendered there may spread across the congregations of the denomination.

              We pray for the newly elected moderator of the General Assembly, Bruce Reyes-Chow, and others who have been elected to offices of the church.  May your Spirit, O Christ, be a source of continuing strength and encouragement as they execute their responsibilities.

             As Independence Day approaches we call to mind the special blessings conferred upon us through the efforts of women and men who willingly mortgaged their fortunes, even life itself, to win our freedom. We give thanks for the women and men of each succeeding generation who have made great sacrifices to insure that freedom be maintained.

             Lord, we worship as a people of a particular nation rooted in a particular heritage, but in you, O God, we are citizens of one kingdom with a common heritage.  We pray for our world and its future, even as we lift up prayers focused on local, personal concerns. We pray for….