Being with the Holy
Guests who have something to say to their hosts.
Guests with a message.
And a message that has meaning on multiple levels. A message that causes pause for those
receiving them.
In our story from Genesis, Abraham and Sarah have lived so
many years with the Lord’s promise of a son.
The text read today comes right after God affirms his covenant promise
to make Abraham the ancestor of many nations, directing him to circumcise all
in his house as a sign of this promise, and renaming both Abraham and
Sarah.
At the Oaks of Mamre, three unknown guests arrive. This placeis already a place marked as
special by Abram earlier – it is the place where Abram parted Lots company and
receives the Lord’s promise of a specific area of land for his ancestors –
those he still does not have. At that
parting, Abram built an altar to the Lord.
Now he’s back…
I wonder if Abraham knew the moment he saw three strangers
approach that something big was about to happen. He greets them with
enthusiastic and abundant hospitality.
Looking at the translation of what is described, while Abraham talks
about offering a “little bread,” the three measures indicated would have made A
LOT of bread in reality. And a full
fatted calf was also a mark of extravagance.
Imagine as these men washed their travel weary feet how the smells of a
hot meal (one that would take HOURS to prepare) must have wafted around them.
Then we have a funny set of parallel dialogues. The text indicates that it is the visitors
who first inquire about Sarah’s whereabouts.
Of course she is busy preparing a LOT of bread and meat, her specific
role in that society. One of the
visitors goes on to say to Abraham that Sarah will bear a son within a year’s
time. Sarah overhears and laughs, asking
to herself if, at her advanced age she might actually enjoy some pleasure in
her life. We get to chuckle here
too…this is not a comment first about childbearing – it is a comment about
physical pleasure. (The Bible is full of wit and earthiness at times – this is
one of those times!)
The text indicates that now, rather than a conversation
directly with the visitors, Yahweh (the LORD) responds to Sarah’s laughter by
speaking to Abraham – why did Sarah laugh?
Is anything too wonderful for Yahweh?
And Sarah again overhears what is said to Abraham, and
denies her laughter. At which point,
Yahweh speaks directly to her – yes, my dear, you did laugh.
I wonder if you have had the experience of hearing something
from another person…but the message that they speak is one that you are sure
comes from a higher place? Maybe the
person speaking to you is not even aware of the weight, importance or impact of
what it is that they are saying?
Hold onto that for a moment.
And let’s look at this conversation between Jesus and Martha.
Oftentimes this story is interpreted as a comparison between
two archetypes – the contemplative versus the “do-er,” and it is generally oversimplified,
as if there is one better way to be.
Let’s look at it more closely and more richly than that.
Jesus has stopped by a home where he knows he is
welcome. There, he and his disciples
will teach and they will also be refreshed, receiving a meal and a place to
clean up and rest. That hospitality is
necessary to their ongoing ministry of teaching. It supports their well-being
in really tangible ways.
This story unveils in Luke’s gospel a kind of ministry that
is woven throughout Luke and Acts, both written by the same author. This is the ministry of the diakoneo, a word
that often refers to table service or the necessary support work offered in the
context of community – you know making sure that meals are prepared, served,
cleaned up after. Think about those who help with the coffee hour or meals for
those who mourn after a funeral. As I
thought about it, I thought about Trish Clark bringing me dinner one night when
she and I met and then had another meeting immediately afterward – I needed to
eat and she offered nourishment so that we could have all of the conversation
that was needed.
In light of the way both Jesus and the disciples depend on
and value this kind of support as they travel where their ministry takes them,
we cannot read this story about Jesus’ conversation with Martha as a blanket
condemnation of her work – rather a reminder that there is both work and there
is listening to hear and to learn and to be in relationship. Reading across Luke and Acts, we have to read
this particular story as one that values BOTH roles, and a moment in which Jesus
gently chides Martha for being too focused on just one. He reminds her that
relationship is vital. While Martha is
focused on the role her society would have placed her in – that of attending to
the physical needs of her guests, Jesus invited her to remember that he seeks
to be in relationship with her – to talk with her, to teach her.
So…holding these two stories together this week, we could go
about five different directions. Here’s
what I want us to focus on.
There are messengers who bring us a word that is vital to
how we live into God’s expectation and call for our lives. Are we listening for
that?
This past week, I spent five nights at church camp with 27
girls aged 11 – 15. Now…I’ve been a Girl Scout leader and a mission trip
chaperone, and a supervisor to many. I
know how to plan and run a program. I
know how to adjust schedules when the weather makes the existing plan
unsafe. I know how to follow rules about
working safely with children, about taking all the right steps when someone is
sick or injured.
And all of that is VITAL.
But I was also aware this week of the thin space of staying
open to what God was saying in and through the stories and interactions with
these girls. Camp is a bit of a bubble, a place where relationships are forged
quickly because of an incredible amount of time spent in very close quarters.
Because of sharing experiences of lots of new challenges, like overcoming your
fear of heights to scale a climbing wall or swing 50 feet in the air. Because of tolerating the weather and the
camp food and a small number of showers and toilets for 31 females in a
lodge. You get close to one another in a
different way VERY QUICKLY.
Our young people today are facing pressures and stressors
that we didn’t face. They live in a world of fast news, of peer pressure and
image constantly bombarded by social media, of conversations that happen in
text messages more than they happen face to face. They are dealing with hard things…the trauma
of drugs, suicide, depression, anxiety…
I know that society offers generalizations about adolescent girls and
their drama. But I also know that the
life they are living is harder than the life I lived at their age.
I found this week that God was speaking to me through these
girls. Reminding me of the role we have
as a community of faith to be in relationship in meaningful ways – not just
logistical support, but building the kinds of relationships that are
trustworthy and true, the kinds of relationships where we hear and are heard,
we teach and we learn, we give and receive love and compassion. One of our covenant rules as a group was that
we listened for understanding. Not
listening to know what our answer would be.
Not listening to craft the best response. But really listening to hear what was being
expressed.
Because often that is where we hear the voice of God. In those speaking to us.
In just a few weeks, we at Faith will welcome hundreds of
school kids with their families. These
are families that are unhoused, underhoused, have difficulty making ends
meet. And we’ll make backpacks and
school supplies available. And we’ll
offer food and fund and activities. And
I hope we’ll be listening closely for the ways God is calling us to learn from
our guests…calling us to stop serving in moments that present themselves so
that we can hear hope and joy and pain and need as it is expressed.
In months to come, as we explore our future in the United
Methodist Church, we’ll invite guests to join us to share their story and their
experience and their understanding of what it means to follow Jesus
faithfully. And I deeply suspect that if
we are listening with our hearts, we will hear God speaking into our next
faithful steps.
I suspect that every day, we have an encounter with someone,
an encounter we might think of as a transaction – but if we are prepared,
listening, alert – God might be speaking a new thing into our lives.
We are bombarded by thousands of messages each day – the
news, the social media, advertising. But
we also receive messengers daily. Those
who bear news that matters to how we live our lives. My prayer is that this week, I am watching
for the Holy. The people who bear the
image of the triune God, who have something to say that I must hear, digest,
reflect upon, live into. And that our
hospitality extends to deep listening, hearing, understanding.
Let’s do that together.
Amen.
Sources:
Feasting on the Word:
Year C, Volume 3, exegetical commentary on Luke 10: 38 – 42 by Matthew L.
Skinner.
Commentary on Genesis 18: 1 – 15; 21: 1 – 7, accessed at https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2554,
by Roger Nam.
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