Difference between revisions of "Sermon for June 22nd, 2014"
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==Radical Hospitality (or, Don't Shoot the Messenger)== | ==Radical Hospitality (or, Don't Shoot the Messenger)== | ||
| + | Today's sermon will span over 4,000 years of history, so please forgive me if I just jump right into it. | ||
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| + | In most ancient cultures, there are stories about the gods disguising themselves and knocking on the doors of unsuspecting homes. In Greek mythology, this was a favorite trick of the god Zeus. In Norse mythology it is usually Odin. They would disguise themselves as beggars and see what kind of welcome they might receive. If a home welcomed them in and treated them kindly, they would reveal themselves and then bless the home with riches and favor. If, on the other hand, they were rejected and rudely turned away, they would reveal themselves and curse the home, or worse, destroy it. | ||
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| + | Like most mythology, these stories serve the purpose of teaching the principles valued by the ancient cultures that produced them, and also warning or threatening those who disregarded those principles. Stories about gods in disguise knocking on your door are usually meant to teach the ancient value of showing hospitality to strangers. | ||
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| + | This was a necessary value, because in the earliest ancient civilizations there was no such thing as a hotel or an inn. Those came much later, with the Roman Empire. If you traveled, and all nomadic peoples traveled, you had to rely on whatever hospitality you could find among strange people and strange lands. If you expected to be welcomed kindly, you in turn had to welcome others kindly. For an ancient society to function, it was absolutely critical to promote the value of unquestioning hospitality through whatever means possible -- stories, religious teachings, promises of great rewards, and threats of doom and destruction. | ||
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| + | In the earliest stories of the Bible, we find a similar motif in the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah, and in the story of the three angels who visit Abraham's tent. In the first story, God's emissaries are not welcomed, with disastrous consequences. In the second story, God's emissaries are welcomed generously, and God blesses Abraham with wealth, fame, and many grandchildren. | ||
Revision as of 18:34, 21 June 2014
Leviticus 19:33-34
33When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. 34The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Matthew 10:40-42
40“Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 42and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple — truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”
Radical Hospitality (or, Don't Shoot the Messenger)
Today's sermon will span over 4,000 years of history, so please forgive me if I just jump right into it.
In most ancient cultures, there are stories about the gods disguising themselves and knocking on the doors of unsuspecting homes. In Greek mythology, this was a favorite trick of the god Zeus. In Norse mythology it is usually Odin. They would disguise themselves as beggars and see what kind of welcome they might receive. If a home welcomed them in and treated them kindly, they would reveal themselves and then bless the home with riches and favor. If, on the other hand, they were rejected and rudely turned away, they would reveal themselves and curse the home, or worse, destroy it.
Like most mythology, these stories serve the purpose of teaching the principles valued by the ancient cultures that produced them, and also warning or threatening those who disregarded those principles. Stories about gods in disguise knocking on your door are usually meant to teach the ancient value of showing hospitality to strangers.
This was a necessary value, because in the earliest ancient civilizations there was no such thing as a hotel or an inn. Those came much later, with the Roman Empire. If you traveled, and all nomadic peoples traveled, you had to rely on whatever hospitality you could find among strange people and strange lands. If you expected to be welcomed kindly, you in turn had to welcome others kindly. For an ancient society to function, it was absolutely critical to promote the value of unquestioning hospitality through whatever means possible -- stories, religious teachings, promises of great rewards, and threats of doom and destruction.
In the earliest stories of the Bible, we find a similar motif in the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah, and in the story of the three angels who visit Abraham's tent. In the first story, God's emissaries are not welcomed, with disastrous consequences. In the second story, God's emissaries are welcomed generously, and God blesses Abraham with wealth, fame, and many grandchildren.
