Jeremiah 28: 5-9
June 29, 2008
Psalm 89 7
Romans 6: 12-23
Anita Retzlaff
Matthew 10: 40-42
Are God’s gifts acceptable?
Grace and peace to you from God the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus the
Christ. In our moment of silent meditation this morning let us pray for Ben Fast
and Stella Dyck. They are living out these days in close connection with God and
it is at times such as these when they and many of us revisit and review the
purpose of our lives. Pray for peace of mind for both Stella and Ben. God grants
them and us eternal companionship with him always. For that we are truly
thankful. Let us pray. Lord and Master, now you are dismissing your servants in
peace according to your Word; their eyes have seen your salvation which you have
prepared in the presence of all people. Bless all who are passing from life,
into life, with you. AMEN
Stella Dyck and Ben Fast are life long disciples of Jesus. They are, and always
have been, students of God’s ways. So too are we. I have been inclined to define
the work of a disciple or the life of discipleship as “doing”, stepping out to
help others in need, raising money for overseas mission, serving the needs of a
church community and a vast array of other tasks and ministries. These are an
essential and vital part of discipleship but I realize that I have not, until
very recently, caught on to the truth that discipleship is above all things
about learning, about growing into an understanding of the ways of God. To be a
disciple of Jesus involves being a student our whole life long, even into the
days of our dying.
The three short verses from the 10th chapter of Matthew this morning come at the
end of the second of five discourses or lessons. The five discourses are five
events whereby Jesus teaches his followers and offers instruction. Much of
Matthew is a training manual directed at disciples. Disciples are simply those
who have committed to following Jesus: to learning the ways of God in a troubled
and needy world. The Book of Matthew is a training manual for us.
So imagine that the passage of scripture this morning is the culmination, the
summing up of one of Jesus’ five workshops or seminars. We, the students are
committed to learning all we can. But these last words of instruction seem so
commonplace. There is no controversy about the nature of welcoming each other,
is there? It’s pretty basic. Welcoming is good. It is what we do as Christian
people. We already know all of that. However, I will be so bold as to suggest
that in actual fact we find the hospitality of God quite unacceptable in certain
circumstances.
For, in gathering the faithful into God’s welcome, there are two parts to the
dance of hospitality! It is a two part movement, this life within God’s embrace.
The easier part I suspect is our offering of welcome to others: welcome to the
prophet, listed first in this gospel text. The prophet is the traveling
inspiration of the power of God. We can welcome the prophets if and when they
show up. We also receive with enthusiasm the righteous person, hard working and
faithful to the gospel. In the decades following Jesus’ life on earth these
righteous ones were those committed to the spreading of the good news. These are
upright and decent people, enthusiastic workers in the church, conscientious and
deeply connected to God. It is good to welcome these too.
We even stoop to assist the little one, poor, insignificant and without status;
the ordinary people. In dire circumstances we can swallow our discomfort, even
plug our noses and deal with the smelly, dank corners of the world’s need. We
can do it if we put our hearts and minds to it. To give, to offer, to do, these
are actions within our control and when we feel moved by the Spirit, we respond.
We have MCC as a powerful and positive sign of such welcoming hospitality.
But part two of the dance of God’s welcome sometimes presents a problem for us.
For God’s offer of grace just might be unacceptable because God’s grace,
according to the world’s standards is naïve, backward, unproductive and it
yields little compensation. I will get back to this. For the moment I would like
us to listen to the words of Eugene Peterson in his translation of Jesus’
instruction manual. This is taken from his book, The Message which is a
paraphrase of the entire bible: Peterson’s attempt to tell the story of grace in
the modern idiom. I will begin at verse 21 of chapter 10 and will conclude with
this morning’s text. Listen to the words of gospel challenge. What do you hear?
“When people realize it is the living God you are presenting and not some idol
that makes them feel good, they are going to turn on you, even people in your
own family. There is a great irony here: proclaiming so much love, experiencing
so much hate! But don’t quit. Don’t cave in. It is all well worth it in the end.
It is not success you are after in such times but survival. Be survivors! Before
you’ve run out of options, the Son of Man will have arrived.
A student doesn’t get a better desk than her teacher. A labourer doesn’t make
more money than his boss. Be content – pleased, even – when you, my students, my
harvest hands, get the same treatment I get. If they call me, the Master, ‘Dungface,’
what can the workers expect?
Don’t be intimidated. Eventually everything is going to be out in the open, and
everyone will know how things really are. So don’t hesitate to go public now.
Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies. There’s nothing they
can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for God, who holds your
entire life – body and soul – in his hands.
What’s the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what
happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down
to the last detail – even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be
intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries.
Stand up for me against world opinion and I’ll stand up for you before my Father
in heaven. If you turn tail and run, do you think I’ll cover for you?
Don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy. I’ve come to cut – make a sharp
knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law –
cut through those cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning
family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over
me, you don’t deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter over me, you don’t
deserve me.
If you don’t go all the way with me, through thick and thin, you don’t deserve
me. If your first concern is to look after yourself, you’ll never find yourself.
But if you forget about yourself and look to me, you’ll find both yourself and
me.
We are intimately linked in this harvest work. Anyone who accepts what you do,
accepts me, the One who sent you. Anyone who accepts what I do accepts my
Father, who sent me. Accepting a messenger of God is as good as being God’s
messenger. Accepting someone’s help is as good as giving someone help. This is a
large work I’ve called you into, but don’t be overwhelmed by it. It’s best to
start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance.
The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice. You won’t
lose out on a thing.” (Eugene Peterson, The Message, p. 1344)
The smallest act of giving or receiving makes you a true apprentice, disciple?
Really? Notice that receiving is half of the job of being a disciple. We are to
spend a lifetime learning to receive? Do you find that acceptable? Think
carefully. Receiving means relinquishing control and taking, even when we feel
unworthy of receiving. We haven’t earned the offer. It is also possible that we
despise the one who gives. To receive is an act of grace. We might not be in the
mood to accept. Refusing hospitality or gift is to deem God’s grace unacceptable
and we’ve all done it; refused something offered to us. When we are angry with
someone who attempts to give, we may continue to shun them and their gift; our
pride gets in the way. Have you ever been offered a small token by someone who
is poorer than you and despising the gift you do not even consider accepting it;
it is so meager, so dirty, so useless to you, it makes you feel uncomfortable?
In refusing the gift, the hospitality, the welcome of anyone who offers
something of themselves to us, we turn our backs on God. Now, that might seem
like a huge leap; equating a human act of giving with an act of God. However,
scripture does exactly that, equates the giving and receiving of a person to an
act of God because the word of God comes to us through people, through
representatives – prophets, righteous ones and ordinary people. We do not feel
God’s arms around us in the sheer physical sense of skin on skin but we do feel
the arms of God around us in each other’s prayers and hugs and casseroles and
cards. These are representations of the love of God. I think it takes a lifetime
of experience to learn this well. We are God’s hands and feet in the world. We
give and receive on behalf of God. How else can we come to know God but through
the actions of someone who extends themselves in the name of God, as a
representative.
We do not set food out for God to consume like the folksy tradition of children
setting out milk and cookies for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve but we take a meat
tray to a family who has lost a loved one. We represent the compassion of God to
each other. When we say, “I love you” we also mean, “God loves you” and when we
say “God loves you” we also mean “I love you.” And don’t forget: we are also
recipients of God’s mercy; we remain open to receiving God’s love from others.
Hospitality and acceptability work both ways. We respond to the love of God by
responding to the love offered by any of God’s representatives, even those from
whom we would rather not receive. We cannot only give; through Jesus’
instruction we will also learn to receive.
The test of our understanding of the compassion of God is probably what happens
behind closed doors or in situations where there is no pay off; no reward. How
do we treat family members or the weak and frail: many who have little control
over what they give or receive? How do we relate to people outside of our cozy
family set ups? Are we open to talk to strangers and are we open to receive from
strangers? I was surprised and very grateful in Europe on a few occasions when
individuals whom I will never, ever see again in my life, took a moment or two
to assist me in unfamiliar surroundings.
How do we treat those who have no influence where it counts, have no power to
further our careers or make us look good or have no claim on us or our place in
church structures, family systems and friendship circles? In other words how do
we invite people into our lives when there is no reward or recognition for our
having done so? Are God’s gifts acceptable to us when they come from someone
whom we consider beneath us? These are challenges that Jesus throws out to his
disciples of every age, time and place.
We journey with God navigating our way with the guidance of Jesus’ instruction.
We are wise to be open to give and to receive. When we look for God and forget
about ourselves as the center of the universe we will find both God and
ourselves. When we accept the call to be a part of the “ecclesia” the church,
the body of Christ called out for a specific task, we will not miss out on a
thing. When we revel in the daily delights of life, when we receive with joy
under all circumstances then we will have pronounced God’s gifts acceptable.
Prayer – We see you O God in the small acts of mercy and compassion, of giving
and receiving; these are a part of our every day. Accept our love as we continue
to grow in your ways. Bless us now and always. AMEN