Pentecost 2 B: Offering a Wide Welcome
Dear Partner in Preaching,
Why is Jesus getting so much flack?
I mean, we’re into just the third chapter in Mark and already he’s got the crowds wondering about him, his family afraid for him (and maybe of him!), and the religious leaders against him. And all he’s done so far is announce the coming kingdom of God, call some disciples, cast out a demon or two, and heal a bunch of sick people.
Of course, one of those disciples was a tax collector, he cast out the demon and did much of his healing work on the Sabbath, and he wasn’t put off in the least when approached by a leper. Which means that his vision of the coming kingdom of God was rooted in a profound inclusivity that would let neither religious law nor social custom prevent him from reaching those in need with the abundant life he came to offer.
And here’s the thing, when you commit yourself to offering the same kind of unimaginably gracious hospitality and expectedly wide welcome that Jesus exhibits, you’re bound to encounter some flack. I don’t know if people will call you demon-possessed, as the Scribes into today’s reading do, but don’t be surprised if people close to you – including even your own family – think you’re a little nuts.
Although we might move in a variety of directions with this passage, the one that seized my imagination this week was to focus on the question of hospitality. I don’t know of a congregation, of course, that doesn’t affirm hospitality as important – kind of like I don’t know of a congregation that doesn’t consider itself friendly J – but my experience is that when most of us think of hospitality, what we usually mean (or at least communicate through word and deed) is that hospitality is being patient and gracious with new folks until they learn the way we do things. But Jesus offers another vision of hospitality that is about meeting people where they are, accepting any and all who are interested in God’s kingdom, and responding to need no matter who is asking or when or how they ask.
And that makes people mad.
Why? I think the answer is tucked into the larger narrative that this week’s first reading from Genesis touches on: the story of Adam, Eve, and original sin. Or, as I like to call it, the story of original insecurity. Because before there was original sin, there was original insecurity, the recognition that we cannot establish ourselves, our value, or our worth on our own. And so in the Genesis story, Adam and Eve fall prey to the tempter’s suggestion, first, that God is keeping things from them and, second, that they don’t finally need God but can know good and evil (a short hand for knowing all things) on their own. And so they take matters into their own hands. Tellingly, as the section of the story we read this week indicates, severing ties from God doesn’t help. Indeed, their insecurity only grows and before they know it they are defining themselves over and against each other and find themselves alienated from God, each other, creation, and even themselves.
In this week’s Gospel reading we see a similar dynamic playing out in that all these different folk – the crowds, the religious authorities, even Jesus’ own family – are judging him against predetermined and socially or religious agreed upon norms. That’s one way we keep our insecurity at bay, we create rules not so much for how they help our neighbor but for how they help us to define ourselves and how handy they are as a standard against which judge our neighbor. When we see someone who doesn’t conform, we call them rebels, or radicals, or unnatural, or immoral. Which is pretty much what’s happening to Jesus.
And still happens to everyone who follows him. Because the love of God we see revealed in Jesus knows no boundaries and respects no laws that would keep that love from being shared with everyone.
So maybe the question isn’t, “Why is Jesus getting so much flack?” But instead should be, “Why aren’t we getting more?” Why, that is, aren’t we pushing the boundaries of what’s socially and religiously acceptable in order to reach more folks with the always surprising, often upsetting, unimaginably gracious, and ridiculously inclusive love of Jesus? And if that is the kind of love we want to offer, we might go on to ask whether we communicating that message in word and deed loudly and clearly, both inside our doors and outside to the community as well.
So here’s what I would invite this week, Dear Partner: I’d invite you to consider giving folks a little homework. Should be fun as it’s just about summer and school is out – or almost out – for most of your kids and so we all should have a little more time on our hands. The homework I’d assign is simply to ask folks to spend a couple of extra moments after church this Sunday looking around at the building, worship space, bulletin, newsletter, and other elements of your congregational life and ask them to volunteer ideas of changes – small or large – that might help your congregation become more welcoming and more hospitable (in the sense of inviting people not just to join you but even to change you through their presence and gifts).
They can think about that this Sunday and start email you ideas, which will give you and the other leaders of your congregation time over the summer to evaluate and prepare to implement some of the changes that might help your congregation offer a wide welcome to the rest of your community. You can provide updates and invite more ideas as the summer goes on, each week explaining that we are seeking to follow Jesus’ example of offering as wide a welcome to folks as possible.
However you decide to preach these texts, Dear Partner, know that I’m grateful for your commitment to the inclusive, gracious, surprising, and sometimes upsetting Gospel of Jesus. I don’t know if anyone will accuse you of being possessed, but if they do, feel free to blame it on me (or, better, the Holy Spirit!).
Yours in Christ,
David
Notes: 1) Some folks get tripped up by the verse about the unforgivable sin. I took this up a few years ago in devotional reflections on Mark. If you find it helpful, feel free to share it.
2) If you want to read more about hospitality and welcome, Jessicah Duckworth has written a wonderful book called Wide Welcome: How the Unsettling Presence of Newcomers Can Save the Church
3) I offered this on my blog a few years ago, but it seems appropriate to showcase again and perhaps it will be helpful (you can find the original post here):
(To watch the video, you may need to click the link at the top of the page.)
Do you think that there are similarities between this text and Mark 8:31ff specifically the devil references and his response both to Peter with his subsequent teaching on discipleship and his response to his family and his declaration as to who was his real family? Is not his family responding to Jesus ministry as Peter?
I’ve come to think of the “unforgivable sin” as our propensity to judge others, in essence, our playing God because we don’t want to accept those whom God just might be inviting in. This is, of course, a hospitality issue, but also hearkens back to Genesis, when the ability to judge between good and evil is given to human beings. I believe our judging others is, in fact, one of our original sins, a corollary to our number one original sin–putting our own desires first before considering others. It’s what a baby does when sounding the cries of hunger, fear, lonelieness, or discomfort. So we are born with it, as the Psalmist says, but perfection, a.k.a. maturity means we might just grow out of it. All this relates to hospitality, which Jesus’ detractors were really accusing him of practicing. When we mature into the radical hospitality Jesus shows us, perhaps those who claim “none” status on religion surveys might peek through the door and find something they seek.