Year A

Matthew 10:40-42

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

The Freedom of Welcoming

It’s hard to believe its July already and that we are celebrating our countries birthday this week. 247 years ago our freedom or independence was achieved from Great Britain following the Revolutionary War. Most of us when we think of freedom we think of it in terms of “freedom from” something: freedom from tyranny of a distant crown; freedom from governmental meddling in how we speak, associate and worship; or even freedom from meaningless jobs. We might even think of freedom in terms of being able to go anywhere in the world to live. This country was built with people from all over the world who came to settle here and make America what it is.

My ancestors came from France, England, Germany, Ireland, Canada and probably a few other countries.  On the great seal of the United States is the motto: “E Pluribus Unum”: “Out of many, one.” People from everywhere have been welcomed here and welded into a great nation by a common aspiration: freedom. We come from people who have rallied around many flags but are now bound together in loyalty to a new flag and many have paid the ultimate price of their lives to protect this loyalty and freedom; this new way of life. Our texts today speak to freedom and a new way of life. 

Jeremiah spent his life as a prophet continually calling his nation back to a life of faithful covenant living with the Lord. Paul today celebrates freedom that comes with a new life in Christ.  And Jesus calls his followers to a new way of being; one of hospitality and welcoming. In just a few short verses in the gospel today which continues what we read last week-Jesus’ commissioning and instruction of the disciples, he offers us a lesson in a new life of hospitality and we are challenged to think more deeply about what is meant by welcoming one another. It is only after doing so Jesus tells us that we discover the reward that comes from the deep hospitality found in God’s welcome of us.

But welcoming the stranger, being hospitable can be difficult. It is more than just giving someone some water, food or even a roof over his or her head. Henri Nouwen, author, theologian and Christian mystic of the last century put it this way once: “Hospitality means primarily the creation of free space where the stranger can enter and become a friend. Hospitality is not to change people, but to offer them space where change can take place. It is not to bring men and women over to our side, but to offer freedom not disturbed by dividing lines.” Nowen advises, give space to strangers.

Showing such hospitality according to Nowen should be practiced even when it seems that we do not have the resources. For God can provide and if we really believe that all humans are created in the image of God, that everyone has that spark of divinity within them, we must welcome them. In doing so, we welcome Jesus. And isn’t this what each one of us wants to do. As we welcome Jesus into our lives, we welcome God into our lives. As we welcome the stranger, the visitor or the enemy, we welcome Jesus. This is what Jesus did in his life. He continually welcomed the crowds having compassion for them, even when they on occasions completely interrupted his plans, and this is our calling as faithful followers of him as well.

There is an early church manual called the Didache – dih-dah-key, from the first or second century also known as the Lord’s teaching through the twelve Apostles to the nations or Gentiles that spells out this idea of showing hospitality to the stranger or visitor. In it we find the Lord’s Prayer, quotations from the Sermon on the Mount, prayers for the love feast or the Eucharist, and various instructions for life together as a community. In it we read: Regarding apostles and prophets; do this according to the teachings of the Good News. Receive all apostles coming to you as you would the Lord.

Paul gives us an example of this in his life. He welcomed all who came to him during his missionary trips. In his epistle to the Romans, he raises the issue of hospitality to new heights when he made hospitality a theological issue. Paul urges the Roman Christians to “welcome those who are weak in faith” on the basis that “God has welcomed him.” He urges the congregation to “welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” He reminds those who have been baptized to recognize that they have entered into this new community of God’s kingdom. Since God is now our king, we are not to let sin reign in us.

This is the good news: we are now free, slaves of righteousness. Sin no more has dominion over us, since we are not under law but under grace. We have been blessed by grace – the free gift of God’s love. The grace we are given is a result of our faithfulness. It is not that we are perfect, but when we focus on being right with God, when we focus on our freedom from sin and the grace poured over us, we are truly in relationship. This slavery to righteousness and to God leads to “eternal, life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Through our baptism into Christ, God has created the freedom or possibility of our doing the right thing, of being hospitable but each one of us must choose whether or not he or she will do it.

We are a people who make choices. We all start out at a similar point as new born babies. But then we begin to choose. Little by little C.S. Lewis says in his book Mere Christianity we turn ourselves toward God or toward something else. He said, “every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before.” “All your life long you are slowly turning either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature.” The price of turning into a hellish creature is slavery but to allow ourselves to be given over to God; this is true freedom and liberation from sin.

For people who are all about freedom and liberation this should be a no brainer! God’s freedom allows us the free space as Nowen called it, to welcome the stranger. Showing kindness to strangers is clearly expected of those who follow Jesus. And it is something that most of us are inclined to do out of the genuine goodness of our hearts. Jesus once said, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me…” And when asked, “When did we see you a stranger and welcomed you,” He answered, “…insomuch as you did it to the least of these…you did it to me.” God often comes to us as a stranger in need. When we help that stranger, we may just find ourselves enveloped by the presence of God, a mysterious and transforming holiness that leaves an eternal impression or freedom on our souls.

The fourth century French saint, Martin of Tours, was entering a city one cold winter day when a beggar stopped him and asked for alms. Martin had no money; but the beggar was blue and shivering with cold and Martin gave what he had. He took off his cloak, worn and frayed as it was; he cut it in two and gave half to the beggar man. That night he had a dream. In it he saw the heavenly places and all the angels and Jesus in the midst of them; and Jesus was wearing half of his cloak. One of the angels said to him, “Master, why are you wearing that battered old cloak? Who gave it to you?” And Jesus answered softly, “My servant Martin gave it to me.” “Truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”