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The ninth Sunday after Pentecost, 07/17/2016
A BETTER VERSION OF ONESSELF
Sermon on Luke 10:38-42, by David Zersen
NINTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, JULY 17, 2016
A Sermon based on Luke: 38-42 (RCL) by David Zersen
A BETTER VERSION OF ONESSELF
The emphasis on hospitality in both the Gospel and the Old Testament Lesson for today reminds me not only of the social expectations in the Middle Eastern society in biblical times, but of a practice someone my age can document from my childhood. Travelers in the ancient world, we know from many biblical stories, often had to depend on the kindness of hosts who had no reason to welcome strangers other than that they themselves might need support when on a journey. Such support was not mere tolerance. The stranger was to be treated as a guest— with water for washing and drinking, food to satisfy hunger and a bed for the night. Often the host treated the stranger with more care than was typically provided for one’s own family members.
I count myself fortunate to remember similar stories from my childhood, even though I admit that sometimes the settings embarrassed me. We lived in a Chicago suburb, and my father had five uncles in nearby rural communities all of whom were farmers. On Sunday afternoons, we were sometimes packed in the car and the family would drive to one of the uncle’s farms. We always arrived uninvited and unannounced, yet we were welcomed with open arms, the table was spread with food from the pantry, and the uncles and aunts always seemed delighted to host us-- even genuinely happy that we had chosen them as our destination for that Sunday.
Today the story would probably be lived out differently. It would be considered rude simply to arrive uninvited and without calling ahead. The hosts might be embarrassed because the house isn’t clean or there is nothing prepared to serve the guests. And further, a favorite TV program might have to be missed if entertaining has to replace it, or other guests might arrive who actually were invited, much to the embarrassment of those who were in fact mere intruders.
Being fair to potential hosts, however, available time for extravagant generosity may be curtailed because people work full-time job and need what little free-time may be available to shop, share time with children, attend teacher conferences, keep doctor’s appointments, transport children to sport activities, work on the yard, take the car in for servicing, etc. I can complete this list rather easily because I watch our own children with their many activities, and I know they would be shocked if Jesus appeared at their door on a Sunday afternoon with the thought of just hanging out for while.
Biblical comparisons to modern experience
That reference introduces the Gospel lesson for today and encourages us to wonder whether Mary and Martha had anything on their agenda when Jesus arrived. Knowing what we know about Middle Eastern hospitality and the hard work involved in preparing for a guest, I think it’s fair to say that Martha, who welcomes Jesus at the door, may have wondered if there was any pita in the pantry. In any case, she clearly went out of her way to prepare something because generous hospitality was self-understood. Not self-understood, however, was why Mary, perhaps more the extrovert of the two, immediately took Jesus into a sitting area and began to engage him in heady spiritual discussion.
Martha was not wrong in her generosity. However, the story begs the question about where we get our own motivation for caring, for loving one another? Mary, at least in this story, is the listener, and Jesus says that she does well to listen. From him she learns about love and kindness, something she surely will put into practice on another occasion. Perhaps on previous occasions, Martha was the listener, and from Jesus’ words she learned how to be a better version of herself. A profound thought lies at the heart of this reflection. Recently I listened to a lecture by the great German philosopher, Juergen Habermas, who is officially an atheist. However, he was challenging his audience to question whether the progressive secularists of our day really have the perspective to address our social problems. He wondered out loud in his lecture whether the religious traditions were not more capable of addressing and solving the societal problems with which we wrestle today. Perhaps he might advise that it is important for the Marys in our world to listen to their spiritual traditions if they are ever to be the Marthas who are capable of caring for those who have needs.
The Old Testament Lesson for today (Gen. 18:1-10a) introduces a similar reflection within a hospitality context. This great mystical story in which Abraham and Sarah are visited by three strangers has motivated poets and artists to play with this literary puzzle for millennia. As a good host, Abraham goes out of his way to care for the strangers, and one of them announces that in the next year Sarah, late in her years, is to bear a son. Sarah laughs out loud and one of the strangers asks, “Is anything too extraordinary for God?” Anton Rublov, the great Russian icon painter, portrays the three visitors as the persons of the Trinity. He sees God speaking to the aged couple, preparing them with this beloved promise for the obedience and service that is to follow.
Implications of the Lessons for us
Both of these settings, contexts in which hospitality is encouraged and practiced, have a poignant message for you and me and for everyone in our society today. We are being visited by strangers, by people and perspectives that trouble and unnerve us. Some political leaders insist that we turn the strangers away to keep our country safe. The current presidential campaign in the U.S. has a xenophobia theme at the heart of much of it. We are told that the strangers can be taking our jobs or seeking to replace our legal system with Sharia law or perhaps bombing our cities. The solution proposed by some involves building walls or restricting immigration. How does one practice hospitality in such a situation? How can we express the extravagant kindness that we have learned from Jesus? Even more troubling, what if Jesus himself is visiting us in the person of one of these strangers?
Even more of a concern is the question that God puts to Sarah when she laughs at the idea that she is about to have a child: “Is anything too extraordinary for God?” This is a valid question for all of us. We are faced with a number of challenges involving social unrest, racial prejudice, and demonstrations that may lead to violence. The secular pundits remind us that these struggles are not new in the United States, that we have wrestled with them for centuries, and have come to no resolution. The problems involve instable families, lack of education, poor job opportunities, gang violence in urban centers and hopelessness for the future. Some would suggest that the color of a person’s skin is at the heart of the U.S.’s societal conflicts, but all of the above issues are part of the problem—and of the solution.
Juergen Habermas rightly asks whether secular solutions can solve societal problems which in their essence are ethical and spiritual. Only a person of faith can ask whether anything is too extraordinary for God. That conviction is shared by the Methodist mayor of Atlanta, Kasim Reed, who in the face of the current protests, demonstrations and riots in the United States, said that all of us need to seek a better version of ourselves, a means to become what we have not yet achieved. As Christians, this is our most confident conviction: We are not yet what we shall be.
Our mentors in these lessons, Abraham and Sarah and Mary and Martha, understood this well. Choosing “the better part” involves letting God surprise us with his promises and his love. When we don’t reject the new stature he seeks to create in us through Jesus’ death and resurrection, then we, singly and together, can experience new versions of ourselves.
We can see the brother and sister in the stranger, the new possibility in the dead end, and extraordinary love in the place of hopelessness.
Prof. Dr. Dr. David Zersen, President Emereitus
Concordia University Texas
djzersen@aol.com