Date: July 14th & 17th
Preacher: Pastor Ashley Rosa-Ruggieri
First Reading: Genesis 18:1-10a
Psalmody: Psalm 15
Second Reading: Colossians 1:15-28
Gospel: Luke 10:38-42
If your house was ever like mine growing up, hosting parties was an occasion that happened often. Entertaining and welcoming guests to bar-b-ques, parties, holidays, or just a night of hanging out was common as I grew up, which also meant that we had a very specific understanding of what it meant to clean the house before any of these events happened. Vacuuming, folding living room blankets and straightening pillows, wiping down the counters and the dining table, dusting the side tables, removing clutter from the window seat…and so on. It could get even more in-depth if we thought guests might go upstairs and see any of the bedrooms, or outside and we needed to clean the deck furniture.
On top of all of this there was always food being prepared in the kitchen to go along with any of these events. All of this clearly took place before any of the guests arrived, so that when they were there, we could spend time with them rather than worry about cleaning in their midst. Though this often turned into a frantic cleaning state before the event, by the time any visitors arrived, we were ready to welcome them and spend time with them. In all of these cases, the goal was to prepare the space and food, so that our hospitality could shift to focus on the people around us once everyone arrived—and that goal was often achieved for these events.
Hospitality is an important biblical principle in many passages, and in two of our stories today, there are great examples of hospitality shown through the people of God. First, in Genesis, we have a story where Abraham has three visitors who have come as representatives of the Lord among us. Abraham wastes no time in offering them water to wash, a tree to rest under, and bread to feed them. The visitors accept, and so Abraham begins to run around and do these tasks the best that he can to welcome and care for these guests. He instructs Sarah to help with some of these preparations along with one of their servants, and so they both join in as well.
Eventually, Abraham finished what he could, returned to the visitors with food and company, and sat with them as they ate. This gives them an opportunity to mention to Abraham that they would again visit, and when they would, Sarah would have birthed a son. Although Abraham did frantically run about trying to prepare what he had promised to these visitors upon their arrival, eventually he stopped to take time and sit with them while they ate and rested. He did not focus on the rest of the duties around their tent that may have needed attending, but instead took time to stop and enjoy a time of fellowship with these visitors. He gave them attention through food and care, but also by stopping other tasks to offer up his time. In doing so, he then hears from them about what will some day come to pass in his family—he will have a son by Sarah. Taking this moment for conversation and listening to these visitors became a way that Abraham showed hospitality that day.
The other example of hospitality in our readings comes from the Mary and Martha story in Luke. Jesus is visiting these sisters and sits down once he arrives with Mary at his feet. Meanwhile, Martha is off cooking and cleaning around the house, growing more distracted and frustrated by the minute. Eventually she is so frustrated feeling that Mary should be helping her, she turns to Jesus for assistance. However, he says that Mary has chosen the better part, and that will not be taken from her. Oftentimes this story paints Martha in a bad light, that she is just a busybody being put into her place by Jesus, but I find that there is nuance in this passage that goes deeper than that. It is not that Martha’s want to be a good hostess and welcome Jesus and his friends is bad, nor is it bad to clean and cook for visitors and guests. Abraham in our first story did just that—he frantically went around to prepare for his sudden visitors. The difference is that in Abraham’s preparation, he eventually took a moment to stop, serve his visitors and join them. Martha on the other hand is repeatedly described in the passage as distracted. Her drive to cook and clean for her visitors has overshadowed the hospitality that she wants to show to her guests. She is focusing on the space around them rather than on the time she has with Jesus and his disciples in her own home.
I imagine Martha meeting Jesus in her village as the passage says, and then welcoming him to her house. When she arrives, she realizes there is much she must do to feel like her home is properly prepared for these guests, but Jesus is not there for the cleanliness of her home, he is there to be with her and Mary. And so, when Martha is distracted with cleaning and frustrated that Mary has chosen to neglect cleaning, she speaks her mind. Jesus’s reply is not to condemn Martha for her drive to create a clean welcoming space, but to offer her the perspective that he will not tell Mary to go clean, because she has chosen rightly in being able to take time in the company of these guests rather than be distracted by the work to be done around them.
Sometimes in the church we talk about hospitality, but we focus so much on the logistics of it, that we forget that a big portion of hospitality is the time we spend with the guests being hosted. Food is important, location is important, logistical planning is important, but sometimes when it comes to the moment of the event, these parts of the occasion pale in comparison to the joy of sharing fellowship with others, free of the distractions of keeping up appearances. This means that when we feel a frantic need to prepare or do something as an event is forming or happening, we can do that for a bit. And then, we pause our racing thoughts and actions in order to focus on the community of God who is present around us in those moments.
Messaging in our society is often that we always have to be doing something, that our worth is based in what we can do and how much we can produce, but our stories today remind us that biblical hospitality does not expect our unceasing productivity to be a foundation or qualification for welcoming visitors and guests. In the midst of our busy-ness, may we find moments to stop, rest, and join in fellowship with those around us, cherishing the conversations we get to have together in that welcoming, hospitable space. Thanks be to God.