In the scripture from this past weekend we hear stories of hospitality and we consider the various roles that we might take when it comes to being a people who welcomes the stranger and guest among us.
Maybe we're not accustomed to thinking about guests in ways that go beyond the literal meaning of having guests in our homes; say the occasional dinner guest or the mother-in-law visiting from out of town. However, there is a sense where we're called upon to look beyond literal meanings. We've got to ask who the guest is, or who the guests are, that we are called upon to provide hospitality towards and that we are to welcome with a warm embrace.
The first reading from Genesis invites us to focus on those who come to us as strangers. With abundant hospitality Abraham and Sarah greet and welcome three strangers at the oaks of Mamre. In our times the stranger among us can mean different things, but the truest meaning of the stranger has to do with those who may be least like us in some outstanding or noticeable way. Often the stranger is racially, ethnically, or linguistically different from us.
The stranger, whom we are to embrace with hospitality, may be the foreigner, the immigrant or migrant. He or she may be the resident alien, who may or may not have legal status. The stranger may also be those who are different from us in faith, not only Protestants or Evangelicals—some of whom may be sitting among us now—but also non-Christians. The stranger may be Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, or even a non-believer… really the list could go on and on. Muslims come to mind in a special way because in our society there is a growing tendency to hold Islam in suspicion and to reject its presence among us entirely. We do good to keep in mind that we may entertain angels unaware and the mighty God may be hidden in a number of guises.
The lesson may be quite difficult to actualize, but the story from Genesis teaches us to welcome the stranger abundantly. In a rather humorous way Abraham tells his guests, "Let me get you a little food…a little refreshment...a snack." He then prepares a bushel of flour, slaughters a steer, and offers curds and milk as a concrete sign of hospitality to the strangers who, in reality, are the presence of God and his angels. Abraham offers his real and actual embrace and his hospitality returns to him as a blessing.
In the gospel story today we learn the lesson of hospitality from both Mary and Martha, though we may identify with one more than the other. From Martha we learn that providing hospitality may mean looking beyond what we might typically think of as being hospitable. The question for us is, "How might we break the norms to offer ourselves for others?" Martha is constrained by her world and its societal expectations, whereas Mary moves beyond such hindrances and finds a place to sit and listen to Jesus.
In first century Palestine, the norm, or the expectation for a woman would certainly not have been for her to have sat as a disciple at the feet of the master. However, this is precisely Mary's gift of hospitality and it reveals her great courage and love. She went beyond everything telling her to do otherwise and she took a place near Jesus to show him the hospitality of her full attention and open heart. So she teaches us to learn the hospitality of the listener and to focus on that which is ultimately important. Mary teaches us to recognize the presence of Lord in our midst.
In his letter to the Colossians, which we heard from today, St. Paul invites us to joyfully bear the role that God has given us, whether we be an Abraham or a Sarah, or whether we be a Mary or a Martha. In our welcome and embrace of others we become messengers of the mystery of salvation, namely that Christ came to into the world to save people of every race and tongue, or every creed, of every land, and that he gave himself for us completely in love. We receive Jesus as the guest of our home, of our nation, when we embrace both each other, and the stranger among us.
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