Come Away, Compassion and Consume

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon title is Come Away, Compassion and Consume. My focus is Mark 6:30-44. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”  Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

Has anyone ever encouraged you to come away and rest? Has anyone ever asked you to come on a retreat? Perhaps you attended one for work or as a family or to enhance your spiritual life. Most districts within the Synod have a spiritual retreat house that is available for pastors’ conferences, confirmation classes, high school students or lay groups.

The word retreat refers to an act or process of withdrawing especially from what is difficult, dangerous or disagreeable. It comes to us from two Latin words: re meaning back and trahere meaning to draw. Retrahere meant to draw back, withdraw or call back. It is used commonly by military and religious circles.

After the apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they did and taught, he said to them, “’Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.’ For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. So, they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.”[1]

The deserted place recalls the desert, a place of testing, but also a place of solitude and retreat from the world for spiritual intimacy with God. Jesus desired to give them the rest that God promised his people. We read in Deuteronomy, “When you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the LORD your God is giving you to inherit, and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety.”[2] God’s people commemorated that rest every Sabbath, as Hebrews reminds us, “There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest.”[3]

As Jesus’ popularity grew, his disciples had no time to rest. Like him, they were setting aside their personal concerns in order to minister to God’s people. We all know what it means to set aside personal concerns to minister to others. Those people may be our children or grandchildren, elderly parents or grandparents, customers or co-workers, students or soldiers. Yet, we are tempted to get caught up in the busyness of serving others that we repeatedly ignore the need for prayer, rest and stillness in God’s presence. When this happens, we substitute our own agenda for the Lord’s. Now, if Jesus, who was absolutely intimate with the Father needed to pray, and made time to pray, how much more do we need to heed his command and the words of Psalm 46:10: Be still and know that I am God.

Jesus called the Twelve to come away and rest with him because the first order of business of apostleship found in chapter three is to simply be with Him. We read, “He appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons.”[4] The words – “that they might be with him” – bear repeating. None of us – pastors, preachers, parents, police officers, public officials, teachers, coaches – can do Christian ministry apart from Jesus. Don’t believe me? Read John 15:1-8 or 1^st Peter 4:11. Even the prophet Isaiah knew this when he wrote, “They who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”[5] Before I move to my second point, compassion, ask yourself what keeps you from heeding Jesus’ words to be with him. … And so, we move from my first to my second point, compassion.

Compassion means a feeling of deep sympathy or sorrow for another stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate suffering. Compassionate people believe that victims should be treated with care, concern, warmth and love. Its origin is the Latin word, compassio, meaning to suffer with. As a child, when I got sick, my compassionate parents said, “I wish it were me instead of you.” They were willing to suffer with me in order that I should be well.

Turning to our passage, we see that the retreat Jesus planned for his apostles is sabotaged. Jesus, however, was not exasperated; rather, he was moved with compassion at the sight of the needy crowds. Mark gave us a glimpse into Jesus’ emotion, a deeply felt, gut reaction. Compassion or pity is one of the most distinct attributes of God. Isaiah, Hosea and the Psalmist remind us that God is compassionate to us even when we anger him.

Here, Jesus recognized the crowd as sheep without a shepherd, a phrase that indicated that they were vulnerable to predatory beasts and likely to wander away because they lacked leadership. Mark hints that Jesus is the Good Shepherd who fulfilled God’s promise to care for his people directly.

And so, rather than first feed them or heal them, he taught them. Today, how often do we think we know better than God and what comfort He should give us? Yet, He gives us His word and instruction knowing that is exactly what we need. Jesus’ teaching healed the crowd by liberating them from their captivity to evil. Earlier in Mark, we read how people marveled at his teaching, exclaiming that Jesus possessed a new teaching with such authority that even unclean spirits obeyed him.[6] At the same time, his teaching is feeding, since by proclaiming the good news of the kingdom Jesus satisfied their spiritual hunger.[7]

Before I go to my third point, consume, consider how God has been compassionate to you. When you wandered away and made yourself vulnerable to predators, how did God protect you and prevent you from becoming a victim? Have you allowed God to satisfy your hunger with his teaching? Or do you think the world can satisfy you more deeply with leadership workshops, seminars, books and so forth? And so, we move from compassion to consume.

The word consume means to use economic goods. It also refers to an organism requiring complex organic compounds for food which it obtains by preying on other organisms or by eating particles of organic matter. Plants and animals do that to stay alive.

In economics, consume means one who uses up goods or articles, one who destroys the exchangeable value of a commodity by using it. A box of Pampers has a certain value. Once used, they have no value.

Pampers is a good example to illustrate the definition of economic consumption. Research what we consume nationally or worldwide, and you will discover that Americans spend $7.5 billion a year on greeting cards, $14 billion on denim pants, $21 billion on kegs of beer, and $1.4 billion a year keeping baby bottoms dry. Annually, the world consumes 10 million tons of coffee, 5.7 trillion cigarettes, 194 million tons of fish, and 122 thousand tons of bread.

I list those products we consume to keep our bellies full and bottoms dry. How do we spend our time?  Recently, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its American Time Use Survey.[8] It reveals that we spend most of our time working. We work full-time and part-time jobs throughout the week and on weekends. Apart from work, 84 percent of women and 68 percent of men spent some time doing household activities such as housework, cooking, lawn care, or financial and other household management.

Nearly everyone is engaged in some sort of leisure activity, such as watching TV, socializing, or exercising. We spend three hours a day watching TV, an hour or two providing childcare, and less than an hour a day socializing. We spend no more than 15 minutes a day on religious and spiritual activities. There are many more statistics, but I want to focus on that last one because it relates to our gospel. We spend no more than 15 minutes a day on religious and spiritual activities.

The thousands who consumed the bread and fish that Jesus and his apostles provided also consumed a day listening to him teach them many things about the Kingdom of God. The Feeding of the Five Thousand is one of the most memorable events in Jesus’ public ministry. It is the only miracle attested in all four gospels. For Mark, this not only feeds people, it also reveals to them and us, Jesus’ identity and messianic mission. In contrast the opulent feast of Herod we heard last Sunday, which ended in a death, here Jesus feeds ordinary people with a very simple fare which leads to life.

We know that the people were in a deserted place and that the disciples begged Jesus to send them away to buy something to eat, and that he instructed them to give them something themselves, starting with the fish and bread. They responded with astonishment and sarcasm, to which Jesus simply instructed them to bring what little they have.

The groupings of hundreds and fifties on the green grass is no accidental detail but an allusion to the Good shepherd leading them to rich pastures and God feeding the Israelites in the wilderness. Jesus fed them with a new bread from heaven. The blessing and setting food before the people symbolized his hospitality, contrasted with his disciples’ desire to send them away.

Unlike the other miracles Jesus performed, this one passed silently and modestly. There was no exclamation of amazement and wonder. People simply ate and were satisfied. Just like the manna in the desert, there was more than enough here for everyone. As the Psalmist proclaimed, “You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.”[9] By providing abundantly for his people, Jesus took on the role of God himself. Feeding people with bread and fish with 12 leftover baskets was an outward sign of a physical feasting that God alone can satisfy the human heart.[10]

The early Church recognized in the miracle of loaves a symbolic anticipation of the Eucharist when Jesus would share both word and food with his people. When God feeds his people, there is always more than enough to satisfy all. How could it be otherwise since the gift is God himself?[11]

If what God gives us is himself in word and food, and there is always plenty to satisfy all, why is it then that we, 21^st century Americans, think that we can spend as little as 15 minutes a day in prayer, religious reading, Bible study and worship and expect to be satisfied or able to do pastoral ministry? Here’s a challenge for you to take upon yourself. Ask your pastor, your elders, your church leaders and volunteers, your spouse and parents how much time they set aside for prayer, Bible reading, spiritual reading and worship. You will be shocked to hear how many of them express the desire to spend more time simply being with God, as I was when I asked them. Pastors who don’t pray?! Elders who don’t read the Bible daily?! Church leaders whose days don’t include devotional time?! This in a church where Martin Luther said, “I have so much to do that I shall have to spend the first three hours in prayer.”

Friends, you may not have Luther’s time to spend in prayer. I am not asking you to spend more time praying, but I don’t want you to check off prayer from your to-do list, like mowing the lawn, feeding the pets or preparing a grocery list. Rather, deepen your relationship with God.

You can find all sorts of ways to deepen your relationship with God. People are always posting and publishing two, four, six, eight, ten steps to reach that goal. I am going to suggest one way that has worked for centuries across all denominations: memorize and meditate. It’s how we learned our catechism as we prepared for confirmation and communion, and when many felt closest to God.

When we memorize anything and meditate on it, we excel. Whether we are learning the answers to a catechism, notes on a musical instrument, movements for an exercise or athletic play or how to repair an engine, appliance, a broken arm or a damaged heart, we will eventually excel at our craft. Likewise, we will deepen our relationship with God when we memorize and meditate on Scripture, the Creeds, your catechism, hymns, poems, prose or prayers. Spend a week on a praying over a particular passage. Seek the deeper meaning of a parable that inspires or irks you. Ponder the words of a poem or a prayer. Beginning today, we who intend to live eternally in God’s Kingdom can start by building the relationship with God that He desires for us. Jesus instructed his disciples: Give God what little you have. Ask and expect God to multiply your time and talent and make it part of his superabundant provision for the needs of his people, and when you do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] Mark 6:30-32.

[2] Deuteronomy 12:10.

[3] Hebrews 4:9-11.

[4] Mark 3:14-15.

[5] Isaiah 40:31.

[6] Mark 1:27.

[7] Mary Healy, 125f.

[8] AMERICAN TIME USE SURVEY — 2017 RESULTS. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/atus.pdf

[9] Psalm 145:16.

[10] Healy, 129.

[11] Healy, 129.

The Baptist and the Birthday Boy

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon title is The Baptist and the Birthday Boy. My focus is Mark 6:14-29. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”  Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

As we age, most birthdays pass with little notice, save the obligatory greetings we post on Facebook, LinkedIn and elsewhere. We may receive a card in the mail or a text or voicemail on our phones, but it’s more likely that people will not remember our birthdays.

You may remember what you did for your most recent birthday, but probably not what you did in 2016 or 2015. I do not. There are, however, ways to make those days memorable. Have a theme party. Whether yours is a poker party or picnic, hippy based or a hula party, Star Wars or Disco themed, your next birthday party can be memorable. Everything you need to know can be found on social media and the web.

Of course, nobody threw a party as memorable as the infamous Herod. The Gospel today describes how John the Baptist was victim of the corruption and arrogance of the government of Herod. He died without being judged by a tribunal, but during a banquet given by Herod with the great men of the kingdom.

The text gives much information about the time of the life of Jesus and how the powerful exercised power. From the beginning of the Gospel of Mark we see a situation of suspense. Mark wrote: “After John had been arrested, Jesus went into Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God!”[1] In today’s Gospel, almost suddenly, we know that Herod had already killed John the Baptist. Therefore, we must ask ourselves: What will he do now with Jesus? Will he suffer the same destiny?

Rather than drawing up a balance of the opinions of the people and of Herod on Jesus, Mark asks another question: “Who is Jesus?” This last question grows throughout the Gospel until it receives a definitive response from the centurion at the foot of the Cross: “Truly, this man was the Son of God!”[2]

Who is Jesus? Some associated Jesus to John the Baptist and to Elijah. Others identified him with a Prophet, that is, with someone who spoke in the name of God, who had the courage to denounce the injustices of the powerful and who knew how to animate the hope of the little ones.

People tried to understand Jesus starting from the things that they themselves knew, believed and hoped. They tried to make him fit into familiar criteria of the Old Testament with its prophecies and its hopes, and of the Tradition of the Ancient, with their laws. But these criteria were not sufficient. Jesus could not fit in those criteria. He was much greater!

In verses 17-20, we come to the cause for the killing of John. Galilee, the land of Jesus, was governed by Herod Antipas, the son of King Herod, the Great, from the year 4 BC up to the year 39 after Christ. In all, 43 years! During the whole life time of Jesus, there had been no changes in the government of Galilee! Herod Antipas was the absolute Lord of everything; he listened to no one and did whatever he pleased! But the one, who really commanded in Palestine, from the year 63 BC, was the Roman Empire. Herod, in order not to be removed from office, tried to please Rome in everything. He insisted above all, in an efficient administration which would provide income for the Roman Empire. The only thing that concerned or worried him was his security and promotion. This is why he repressed any type of subversion.

A writer of that time says that the reason for the imprisonment of John the Baptist was the fear that Herod had of a popular revolt. Herod liked to be called benefactor of the people, but in reality, he was a tyrant.[3] The denouncement of John against him[4] was the drop which filled up the cup, and John was thrown into prison.

We come to the plot of the murdering. The birthday feast with dancing and orgies was an environment in which alliances were plotted. It was attended by great court officials and important people from Galilee. Here, the murdering of John the Baptist was plotted. John, the prophet, was a living denouncement in this corrupt system. This is why he was eliminated under the pretext of a problem of personal vengeance. All this reveals the moral weakness of Herod. So much power accumulated in the hands of a man who did not control himself. Under the enthusiasm of the feast and of the wine, Herod swore lightly to give something to the young dancer. And superstitious as he was, he thought that he had to maintain his oath.

For Herod, the life of his subjects had no value. He used them as he wanted and decided what to do with them just as he decided where to place the chairs in his house. Mark gives an account of how things happened and lets the community draw the conclusions.

Tyrants and terrorists can learn lessons from the life of Herod, but what can we learn from the Baptist? IN the 7^th century, Bede the Venerable wrote these words. “As forerunner of our Lord’s birth, preaching and death, the blessed John showed in his struggle a goodness worthy of the sight of heaven. In the words of Scripture: Though in the sight of men he suffered torments, his hope is full of immortality. We justly commemorate the day of his birth with a joyful celebration, a day which he himself made festive for us through his suffering and which he adorned with the crimson splendor of his own blood. We do rightly revere his memory with joyful hearts, for he stamped with the seal of martyrdom the testimony which he delivered on behalf of our Lord.

There is no doubt that blessed John suffered imprisonment and chains as a witness to our Redeemer, whose forerunner he was, and gave his life for him. His persecutor had demanded not that he should deny Christ, but only that he should keep silent about the truth. Nevertheless, he died for Christ. Does Christ not say: I am the truth? Therefore, because John shed his blood for the truth, he surely died for Christ.

Through his birth, preaching and baptizing, he bore witness to the coming birth, preaching and baptism of Christ, and by his own suffering he showed that Christ also would suffer.

Such was the quality and strength of the man who accepted the end of this present life by shedding his blood after the long imprisonment. He preached the freedom of heavenly peace yet was thrown into irons by ungodly men; he was locked away in the darkness of prison, though he came bearing witness to the Light of life and deserved to be called a bright and shining lamp by that Light itself, which is Christ. John was baptized in his own blood, though he had been privileged to baptize the Redeemer of the world, to hear the voice of the Father above him, and to see the grace of the Holy Spirit descending upon him. But to endure temporal agonies for the sake of the truth was not a heavy burden for such men as John; rather it was easily borne and even desirable, for he knew eternal joy would be his reward.

Since death was ever near at hand through the inescapable necessity of nature, such men considered it a blessing to embrace it and thus gain the reward of eternal life by acknowledging Christ’s name. Hence the apostle Paul rightly says: You have been granted the privilege not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for his sake. He tells us why it is Christ’s gift that his chosen ones should suffer for him: The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us.

The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us. My friends, I repeat that line because when we stand for truth, we stand for Christ. When we set aside personal preferences and political parties, likes and dislikes, …, and stand simply for truth, for Christ and what he preached – repentance from sin and the Kingdom of God, we will suffer in the present, but will experience the glory of martyrdom, whether we are ostracized or shunned, disowned or unfriended, whether we die naturally or at the hands of unbelievers, we will experience the incomparable glory of which St. Paul wrote, and when we do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] Mark 1:14.

[2] Mark 15:39.

[3] Luke 22 and 25.

[4] Mark 6:18.

Hometown, Healing, Hospitality

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon title is Hometown, Healing and Hospitality. My focus is Mark 6:1-13. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’”  Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

Have you done much research into your hometown? How did your hometown get its name? Who are its most celebrated citizens? Where I grew up in Pennsylvania, the township is named in honor of the Potter Brothers, James and Robert.[1] Most people know that Naperville is named in honor of Joseph Naper, an early Illinois pioneer, businessman, soldier and politician. In 1831, Naper was credited with founding one of the oldest Illinois communities west of Chicago. Thirty miles southeast of here is the city of Hometown, Illinois. Bordered by 87^th Street on the north, and 91^st on the south, Cicero to the west and Pulaski to the east, fewer than 4,400 people live there. Hometown has produced no celebrities. On the other hand, my father’s hometown of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania produced musician Henry Mancini, basketball’s Pistol Pete Maravich, football’s Tony Dorsett, Ty Law, Sean Gilbert and Coach Mike Ditka.

Celebrities aside, hometown is where you were born, grew up or your principal place of residence. I open with hometown because for the first time in Mark’s Gospel Jesus returned to his hometown.[2] Nazareth was a small, insignificant village of a few hundred inhabitants. Here, one might expect a warm welcome and enthusiastic acclaim, but Jesus met a very different response.

According to his usual custom, on the sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue to teach. At first the villagers seemed to react in the same way as other audiences: they were astonished at his wisdom and authority. But in this case, the astonishment seems inappropriate and out of place. In their minds Jesus was just one of the guys, someone they knew all their lives. They never saw anything extraordinary about him. All this itinerant preaching and miracle-working seemed to them to be putting on airs.

Their questions displayed not a sincere pursuit of truth but rather indignant skepticism. Isn’t he the carpenter? Isn’t Mary his mother? They pigeonholed Jesus because they were confident that they knew all about him and could not accept that he might be from God.

Wisdom and mighty deeds are attributes of God himself. Of God’s wisdom, we read in Jeremiah, “It is [the Lord] who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens.”[3] The prophet Daniel affirmed, “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.”[4]

Regarding God’s might, “Moses implored the LORD his God and said, ‘O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?’”[5] Jesus’ ancestors knew that God brought them out of slavery by his mighty hand and the outstretched arm.[6] However, they could not bring themselves to draw the logical conclusion of their reasoning concerning Jesus’ wisdom and might.

They were scandalized and offended that a hometown boy might be inaugurating the Kingdom of God because it did not conform to their preconceived ideas about how God would and could act. Their attachment to their ideas became the obstacle to their faith. Earlier in Mark, we read about such people: “They may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.”[7]

And so, Jesus cried out, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.”[8] In doing so, he linked his destiny to that long line of Old Testament prophets who suffered rejection or violence because of their unpopular message. We find this in more than six Old Testament books.

The Chronicler wrote, “The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, until there was no remedy.”[9] Nehemiah prophesied, “Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies.”[10]

In his hometown, the failure of his kinsfolk to accept Jesus was symbolic of their rejection: “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.”[11] Jesus could do little more there than heal a few sick people. Now, before I begin my second point, I leave you with a question: Like the people in his hometown, how do I reject Jesus’s teachings in my life?

My second point is healing. When we talk about healing, we mean restoring someone to health or the process of getting well. In antiquity healing had two aspects: professional medicine and faith healing.[12] We think of the Greek physician, Hippocrates, commonly known as the father of medicine because he professionalized it. The Hippocratic Oath included the principles of medical confidentiality and non-maleficence, that is, do no harm. Even today medical graduates swear a modified form of the Oath.

Faith healers used herbs, amulets, charms and chants. They performed exorcisms and interceded with the gods of healing. In the Old Testament priests were the custodians of public health. Levitical laws concerned diet, health, sexual practices, quarantine and the Sabbath rest because they were seen as God’s concern for physical health.

Jesus is represented as a healer of multiple physical and psychiatric diseases, but he did not use magical practices. He healed by voice commands and physically touched an ill patient but never a demoniac. The early church continued Jesus’ healing ministry, as we read about Peter healing a man in Acts. And in James we read, “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”[13]

Here, however, Jesus only cured a few sick people, and the reason Mark put it this way is because he wanted to highlight the necessity of faith, that is, a basic openness to God’s power at work in Jesus, as the proper disposition for receiving his healing. Despite the atmosphere of unbelief in Nazareth, Jesus cured people by personal touch.

Ironically, Jesus marveled at the Nazoreans’ lack of faith. He showed the same emotion that characterized others who reacted positively towards him. In the previous chapter of Mark, after Jesus healed the man possessed by an evil spirit and told him to return home to his friends to tell them how merciful the Lord was to him, everyone marveled.[14] In Luke’s version of Jesus calming the storm, his disciples marveled. Here, Jesus marveled at their lack of faith. Few things caused Jesus to react so strongly as a lack of faith, or conversely, great faith. Matthew recounted how Jesus marveled at the great faith of the Centurion and the Canaanite woman.[15]

I will return to healing in my conclusion but before moving onto my third point, another question: How does my pride and self-reliance keep me from fully trusting Jesus’ healing powers?

Finally, hospitality. Hospitality is the friendly reception and treatment of guests or strangers in a warm, friendly and generous way. We derive hospitality from the Latin word hospes, meaning host, guest or stranger. The word hospital originally meant a guest-chamber, guest's lodging or an inn. In ancient cultures hospitality involved welcoming the stranger and offering him food, shelter and safety.

In Ancient Greece, hospitality was a right, where the host was expected to make sure the needs of his guests were met. A person's ability to abide by the laws of hospitality determined his nobility and social standing. In India hospitality is based on a principle where the guest is God. Whenever I have visited a home of a person from India, I noticed how gracious they are, offering drink and food, even on a brief visit.

Judaism praises hospitality to strangers and guests based largely on the examples of Abraham and Lot in the Book of Genesis.[16] Hosts were expected to provide nourishment, comfort and entertainment for their guests, and at the end of the visit, hosts customarily escorted their guests out of their home and wished them a safe journey. These stories set the tone for biblical teaching. God is both the guest and the gracious host who befriended the Israelite people while they were strangers. Because they were once sojourners, the Israelites esteemed the stranger and the sojourner.[17]

Jesus too is guest and host. Throughout his life, he remained a wayfarer who depended upon the hospitality of others: Matthew the tax collector, Simon the leper, Peter, Martha and Mary, as well as Mary Magdalene, Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s household manager, Susanna, and many others, who provided for him and his disciples out of their means.[18] As host, he washed his disciples’ feet and broke bread for them to eat.

In our passage today, Jesus instructed his disciples to take nothing but the clothes on their backs, sandals and a walking stick. Mark included these items in his passage to emphasize that discipleship meant walking on the way with Jesus. Their lack of a sack meant that they could not accept coins or other goods from people. They could not rely upon their own resources but had to learn how to depend upon God’s all-sufficient providence. We read in Second Corinthians, “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.”[19] Paul concluded that he could “do all things through him who strengthens [him],” because he “learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.”[20]

Because they were occupied not with daily needs, but God’s work, they would be free of distractions and remained focused on their mission. Their need for food and shelter would call forth generosity from those to whom they ministered. And their lack of material possessions lent credibility to their message since it demonstrated that they were preaching the Gospel out of conviction and not a desire for gain.

Allow me, now, to share a personal story of receiving another’s hospitality. On January 6, 2014, our first grandchild, Emma, was born in Anderson, Indiana. At the time, my wife, Cindy, and I lived in Edmond, Oklahoma. The travel time between our house and Emma’s hospital was 12 hours … under normal circumstances. We left Oklahoma at 6:00 a.m. planning to arrive in Indiana by suppertime. Instead, we hit one of the worst ice storms in Illinois. We made Effingham by evening where traffic came to a standstill. We spent our first night at the Effingham Performance Arts Center on cots with 200 other travelers. Truckers, parents, infants and toddlers all crammed into one open space on cots. Cindy and I got no sleep that night.

The next morning, I learned that we would not be able to continue our trip and make Anderson by nightfall. We did not want to spend another night at the Performing Arts Center. So, being a Lutheran pastor, I looked up the Lutheran Church in Effingham. We called St. John’s Church. I explained to the secretary our plight. A few minutes later, the church president called and offered us a place to sleep. He met us and we followed him to his home. He then invited us to lunch. After lunch, we returned to his home, showered and napped. A few hours later, he asked if we would like to go to dinner with some friends. We obliged. The next morning, we headed out. We avoided the interstate and kept to state roads. We arrived in Anderson that afternoon. There and then, we saw and held our first granddaughter.

I tell you this story because we experienced Christian hospitality firsthand from the president of a Lutheran congregation in Effingham, Illinois. Hospitality is who we are as Christians. Hospitality is our ministry as individuals and as church.

How do we show hospitality to those who minister to us so that they are not distracted by daily concerns but can focus on their mission, the Gospel, the work of God? How do I not show hospitality for the Holy Spirit in my heart? What things do I do to drive Him away? Would I open my home, table and bed to a sojourning pastor and his wife?

My friends, extending hospitality in the name of Jesus Christ heals more hearts and souls than almost anything we can do in this world. If we want to heal our world, our nation, our neighborhoods and our families, we will by extending our homes, hands and hearts to people who may be seeking shelter, food and a warm bed, but unconsciously are seeking salvation … from the one who had no place to lay his head. Offer yourself to those who seek Christ as He offered himself to you and me, and when you do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] http://www.pottertwp-pa.gov/?page_id=67

[2] Healy, 111ff.

[3] Jeremiah 51:15.

[4] Daniel 2:20.

[5] Exodus 32:11.

[6] Deuteronomy 7:19.

[7] Mark 4:12.

[8] Mark 6:4.

[9] 2 Chronicles 36:16.

[10] Nehemiah 9:26.

[11] John 1:11.

[12] J. Massyngbaerde Ford, Healing, The HarperCollins Encyclopedia of Catholicism, General Editor Richard P. McBrien, HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. New York. 1995, 603f

[13] James 5:14-15.

[14] Mark 5:1-20.

[15] Matthew 8:10; 15:28.

[16] Genesis 18:1-8; 19:1-8.

[17] Hospitality, The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality. 515.

[18] Luke 8:1-3.

[19] 2 Corinthians 8:10.

[20] Philippians 4:12-13.