Welcome the Stranger

6-18-17 (Ordinary 11/Proper 6 A, Semi-Continuous)

Genesis 18:1-15; 21:1-7; Matthew 9:35-10:23

Welcome the Stranger

Our kids have a problem with strangers - namely, that they don’t believe in strangers.  To be honest, it’s something that Janis and I have wrestled with, especially as they are starting to get older and doing more things independently.  They rarely hesitate to go up to whoever they see and start talking to them, asking for hugs or to be picked up.  And I’ll be honest, we’ve been incredibly fortunate so far - even if people haven’t been entirely comfortable with the unknown child climbing up into their lap to see better at the football game, we live in a community where people understand that it really does take a village to raise a child, and so they tend to roll with it.

It’s a peculiar situation that we don’t really know how to handle as parents - on the one hand, we love that they’re not shy.  It’s great that they are willing to be around people that they don’t know, and we’re often in places and around people that are unfamiliar, so it certainly makes our lives and careers easier in that sense.  And yet at the same time, it also scares us in some ways because we know how important it is that they understand and learn “Stranger Danger” for themselves and for their safety.  We cringe a little bit every time Ceilidh runs up to a complete and total stranger and hugs them or asks them to pick her up, and we can’t help but imagine the fearful scenarios in which they run up to someone and it frustrates that person, or worse, that they do so when we’re not around and that person ends up being someone out to hurt them or take them away from us.  How do you teach your kids to be afraid of strangers when you live in a town where “bad” strangers are so few and far between?  How do you teach your children to be wary of other people when a part of your job entails being kind to strangers, meeting new people and walking alongside them in their journeys?

It’s a perplexing conundrum, to say the least - our society and experience has ingrained us with a fear of “the other.”  We teach our children “stranger danger” often for good reasons - there are people out there who can harm them, who have bad intentions and who will take advantage of moments of vulnerability.  There are people out there whom we ourselves need to exercise caution around - there are scam artists who want to steal our identities, burglars and thieves who want to take our possessions, terrorists who want to take our lives and our freedoms… 

And yet even as we recognize that there are people of whom we should be wary, we’re also encountered with the scriptures, including today’s readings, that not only encourage us to exhibit hospitality, but also demonstrate both the incredible things that God accomplishes out of the hospitality of individuals and the possible consequences of not exhibiting hospitality toward those whom God has sent.  As the Lord visits Abraham and Sarah at the oaks of Mamre in the form of these three strange men, Abraham offers them the utmost extreme in hospitality - while Middle Eastern cultures place a strong emphasis on hospitality in the first place, Abraham’s hospitality seems above and beyond some of the other examples of hospitality in the biblical Middle East that we find in both the Old and New Testaments.  Abraham has Sarah make some rather large loaves of bread, then has his servant prepare some veal and cottage cheese for the mysterious visitors.

Abraham’s hospitality toward these strangers prompts them to ask about Sarah and to inform him that Sarah will have a son by that same time the next year.  And while Sarah laughs at this news, it nevertheless comes to pass.

But where I think the story gets more interesting is actually the part that the lectionary leaves out - especially as it ties so strongly into the instructions and warnings that Jesus gives his disciples as he sends them out on their first forays into ministry.  The three men who visited Abraham go onward on their journey from those fabled oaks of Mamre - their next stop is to see Abraham’s nephew, Lot, in the area of Sodom and Gomorrah.  The lavish hospitality of Abraham is completely contradicted in the famous “sin cities” - where Abraham welcomes them and cares for their every need, Lot has to shelter the strangers in his own home to protect them from the crowds, even offering his own daughters to the disgusting neighbors to have their way with instead of the strangers.

And because of Lot’s display of care and hospitality toward his visitors, it is Lot and his family who are given the heads up and the opportunity to escape from the towns before they are completely consumed in fire and brimstone, becoming themselves the example that Jesus will give thousands of years later to his disciples as an encouragement to them of how any town should be considered if it does not welcome them and their gospel message.

Hospitality is at the core of our faith, at the core of who we are - as the early Israelites were given laws that governed how they were to live as a people set apart by God, they were simultaneously given laws that governed how they were to treat the stranger and the foreigner in their lands.  The entire purpose of God setting Israel apart was, in fact, so that they could be a beacon drawing people of other nations to come to know God and to become a part of that community of God’s own called people.  And yet it feels like we face such a challenge to that idea of hospitality in our own situations and our own cultures today - when we’re surrounded by the message that we are to fear those who are different from us in so many ways, that we aren’t to trust anyone that we don’t know and haven’t had the time to vet, when we’re engaged as a nation in intense debate over whom we are comfortable and feel safe enough to offer our own welcome to, whether in time of need or simply seeking the opportunity to pursue the things that brought so many of our own ancestors to this place… how do we balance the imperative to protect ourselves against the instruction to welcome the stranger?  How do we offer hospitality to the stranger without making ourselves vulnerable to the danger?

As Jesus sends the disciples out on their first missionary work in the middle of Matthew’s gospel, he warns them that they are being sent out as sheep among wolves.  He tells them to be wise as serpents and yet as gentle as doves.  He tells them to be wary, but even with his warnings, he tells them above all else to trust in God, to know that God will give them the words to speak, the strength to go out among those wolves, and the wisdom and gentleness to proclaim the Gospel to all those they encounter.  He doesn’t give them an instruction book, but he has given them his own example by which they can be guided.  And it’s this example, these instructions, that I think we can still hold onto today - we need to let our faith in Christ be at the center of our discernment and trust that we are ultimately in God’s hands.  As our own Brief Statement of Faith reminds us, “In life and in death, we belong to God. Through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, we trust in the one triune God, the Holy One of Israel, whom alone we worship and serve.”

When our kids run up to strangers, we’ll continue to be uncomfortable - and yet for the time being, even as we work to teach our children to be better aware of “stranger danger” for their own safety, we also recognize that for right now, at least, we’re almost always with them and ready to step in, to apologize to the stranger if they’re made uncomfortable by our forward children, and to make sure that above all else, our kids are protected.  We’ve decided to err on the side of letting our kids be the friendly, open kids that they are, and to keep working on helping them learn how to be good neighbors to one another without making themselves easy targets.  They’ve got the “gentle as doves” part down pretty well - now, it’s time to help guide them to the “wise as serpents.”  But as we move onwards, we remember that our trust is ultimately in God.  I pray that we can all learn to be a little more childlike in our openness toward others, our willingness to welcome the stranger, and our ability to trust in God as we open ourselves to that wonderful hospitality.  After all, isn’t it exactly that hospitality that we have each been shown in Christ, in the grace that we have received despite our being strangers to it?  To God be the Glory.  Amen.