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“One Last Thing Before You Go”
Matthew 10:40-42
June 29, 2008
Whoever welcomes you, welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the One who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives 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.
This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God!
With Receiving New Members, Commissioning two people for a mission trip and ending early for Charlotte Robling’s noon Memorial Service, I realized my sermon had to be really short. So when I spotted this little text nestled in the lectionary for today I knew I’d found my passage. But then, you see, I actually read it. Am I the only one who finds this just a touch confusing? At first reading, it sounded like one of the Dr. Seuss books I read to Sedona at night.
Whoever welcomes you, welcome me. Whoever welcome me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet…a righteous person…a little one. What is this all about?
I wonder if perhaps we can learn about today’s text by looking first not at what it says, but where it is in Matthew’s gospel. These two verses are nestled in a series of little lessons, some hard-hitting one liners, and last minute advice that Jesus imparts to his disciples right before hit the road.
These disciples are on a mission, so to speak. They’ve been called; they’ve been equipped. Now they’re already halfway out the door, sent out to spread the Good News. And that means more than telling people about Jesus, though that’s the crux. Spreading the Good News means telling people with our words and showing them with our lives, and I quote Matthew here, that “the kingdom of heaven has come near!”
And when Jesus sends the disciples out to do just that, he tells them they’re going to be doing some rather strange things: curing the sick, raising the dead, cleansing the lepers, casting our demons. The list goes on. It’s not what we’d think of as a typical mission-trip job description. For lack of another word, it’s challenging.
So Jesus sends them off with some challenging last minute reminders. Tell me, who has ever heard these tidbits from Jesus’?
“Be wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove”
“What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops…”
“Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”
These are wise lessons, important reminders for these traveling evangelists, or as we Presbyterians would say, these Volunteers-in-Mission. I imagine Jesus sitting there, surrounded by the disciples, urging them to be strong and kind, urgent but patient. Did Jesus suspect that day might be the last day he saw those men again? These words he speaks could be the last his disciples ever from him.
And guess what words Jesus chose to save until the very last? The last word Jesus says to the disciples as they hug and kiss and part ways? Jesus’ last word was: Welcome.
Jesus ushers them out the door hanging on his words about Welcoming: Whoever welcomes you, welcomes me. Welcoming.
And I see at least two wonderful sermons that could be preached on these last words, neither of which we have time for today. We could think about Jesus’ promise to us that, one way or another, when we are doing God’s wild work in this wide world, that God will always provide a welcome for us. A friend perhaps when we’re lonely. A home-cooked meal when we hunger for table fellowship. A home to stay in when we find ourselves without (as my family knows about that this week). We could talk about the radical ways by which God provides for and welcomes us.
Yet, at the same time these words remind us that we ourselves are called to be Welcomers in the name of Christ. Whoever welcomes you, welcomes me.
I was reminded, as I often am, of a pilgrimage I took to the island of Iona, off the mainland of Scotland. I was there around ’99 on a Presbyterian heritage tour, much like the group from St. Andrews who visited Scotland years ago.
While I was there, I discovered the rich creative faith of our Celtic ancestry, which we’ll be celebrating here at the Celtic Spirituality Retreat July 11th an 12th and the Kirkin’ of the Tartans Service under the Tent Sunday. July 13th.
What I took from my time at Iona, at heart, was a rediscovery of Welcoming, or as they call it, of Radical Hospitality. I left with a poem engraved on my heart which I’ll share with you. I’ve shared it before and I’ll share it again, because for me Welcoming—this Radical Hospitality--is at the heart of what Gospel means.
As I read it, I invite you to consider…as the Mission Committee, or Fellowship, or Education, Buildings and Grounds, Congregational Care, Stewardship, Membership Committee, Session, the Congregation, even our visitors today…consider friends how this applies to us here at St. Andrews.
We saw a stranger yesterday.
So we put food in the eating place,
drink in the Drinking place,
music in the listening place,
and with the sacred name of the Triune God,
He blessed us and our house.
Our cattle and our small ones.
As the lark says in her song;
Often, often, often goes the Christ in the stranger’s guise.
Often, often, often goes the Christ in the stranger’s guise.
Whoever welcomes you, welcome me. And whoever welcomes me welcomes the One who sent me.
Friends today is a special day at St. Andrews. Today we welcome eleven very special people into the bonds of our community, into the arms of our family. Today we invite Sharon Oriel, Jim and Pam Pendexter, Dave and Susan Long, Ted and Barbara Fisher, Norm and Cile Plumstead, their two children Brody and Henry to join us in our journey of faith at. St. Andrews. As we welcome them into our midst, we will be enriched and changed, challenged and blessed by them, as we are each time we welcome new people in.
For we know that though they might be new to St. Andrews, they are not new to God. Their own journeys of faith began long ago. God has been at work in them since the beginning. And God alone knows what God has in store for us through them.
Our job and our privilege today is to Welcome them—with a holy joyous welcome—knowing that they are here not by accident or coincidence, but by the mysterious working of the Spirit. God has called them, equipped them, and led them to this place: right here, right now.
So let us welcome one another friends. Let us practice radical hospitality. For Christ is all around: in the smile of the friend; on the face of the stranger. And when we are a People of Hospitality, a people of deep Welcoming, we welcome Jesus himself, and indeed the Holy One who sent him. Amen.
Copyright 2008 Rev. Shelaine R. Bird
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