The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

July 22, A.D. 2007


Guess Who Is Coming To Dinner


He was always the guest. In the homes of Peter and Jairus, Martha and Mary, Joanna and Susanna, he was always the guest. At the meal tables of the wealthy where he pled the case of the poor, he was always the guest. Upsetting polite company, befriending isolated people, welcoming the stranger, he was always the guest. (A Wee Worship Book page 84) Those words from the Iona Community in Scotland are amazing, considering to whom they refer to as always being the guest. The word “guest” is defined as “a person entertained in one’s house, a person to whom hospitality is extended” We usually extend invitations to those we know, those we enjoy, those we like to be with. This could be family or friends. When we invite guests, we usually put out the best silver and china, put flowers on the table, and serve a splendid meal. But God as a guest in an ordinary human household? God who said let there be light, God, the creator of absolutely everything, God who said in the psalms: “For every wild animal of the forest is mine the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the air, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all that is in it is mine.” This God as the hungry guest of those he created? Yes, as amazing as it may seem, God comes to us as our guest. Even as far back as Genesis, several thousand years before God became incarnate and became the guest of humanity at Bethlehem, God, amazingly enough, in three persons appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre. Abraham looked up, saw three persons standing near him, and he gets up and runs to meet them, and he bows down before them He knew immediately who this was, for from the beginning he called them Lord…not Lords, but Lord. Them? All three of them Lord? How interesting that the icon of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is depicted as three identical angels seated around a table under an oak tree. I wonder what we would do if the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit showed up unannounced at our door? I wonder if we would be quick to recognize just who was paying us a divine visit? Abraham welcomed them to his table, invited them in, and on the spot, prepared for them a gourmet meal. After dinner they shared with him the good news that, at age 100, he would have become a father. If Abraham had not welcomed them in, if Abraham hadn’t fed them, he would have never known the good news that God had for him. Yes, my friends in Christ, God so desires to be our guest – to come into our hearts – to come into our lives – to be with us in our own place and our own time. The God of eternity wants to step into the moments of our lives. But, quite honestly, are we ready to welcome him in? We have a very dear organist friend, who, one Sunday evening, had just settled down for a quiet evening when the doorbell rang. Much to his dismay, standing at the door, were four friends he had invited to dinner. He had forgotten all about it, and was totally unprepared. How prepared are we today to welcome God? Jesus said: “Behold I stand at the door knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.” (Revelation 3:20) In today’s Gospel we find Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary. Martha is very busy being a good hostess, Mary is preoccupied with sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to what he has to say. Poor Martha gets a bad rep on the deal when she says “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me.” Jesus said, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing: Mary has chosen the better part.” On one hand we have to give Martha credit for being a good hostess – on the other we have to give Mary credit for taking time to listen to Jesus. So, perhaps we need to be a welcoming host, but also to be a welcoming listener at the feet of Jesus. Yes, my brothers and sisters, Christ is knocking on the door of every heart in this place, and he so desires to enter in. We like Abraham, like Mary, like Martha, need to welcome him in. But, as Christ is the guest, he is also the host. On the night of his betrayal he bent down, washed his disciples’ feet, got up, and gave them the bread and the wine, which is his body and his blood. In the words of the Iona community: “But here, at this table, he is the host. Those who wish to serve him must first be served by him. Those who would wash his feet must first let him make them clean. For this is the table where God intends us to be nourished; this is the time when Christ can make us new. So, come, you who hunger and thirst for a deeper faith, for a better life, for a fairer world. Jesus Christ, who has sat at our tables, now invites us to be guests at his.” (A Wee Worship Book, page 84) Kayla Nicholson, as a good hostess, has prepared a cup to welcome the presence of Christ to this table. In a few moments, Christ will take Kayla’s cup, and give himself to her as his special guest. But, then again, we are all special guests of Christ. He who the universe could not contain, is present to us in the bread. He who redeemed us and called us by name now meets us in the cup. So, my brothers and sisters in Christ, in a few moments let us take this bread and this wine. In them God comes to us so that we may come to God.