Note: This blog is meant to compliment the sermon on John 2 - 3, which you can hear via podcast on Good Shepherd's website (www.goodshepherdutah.com).
With the interpretive key of the language of hospitality, I am seeing, hearing, and experiencing Jesus in a new way as he is portrayed in the gospel of John. I am excited.
Brief Sermon Recap
Jesus did not entrust himself to people, because he knew what is in the hearts of men (John 2:24). The human heart is sinful and wicked from birth (Psalm 51:5). Therefore, the human heart needs to be purified or born again (John 3:1-15) through grace, the power of the Holy Spirit, by faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross. In this context, the cleansing of the temple makes perfect sense. The temple is the abiding place of God (cf. 1 Kings 6). But, the true temple is Jesus (John 2:20-21; Revelation 21:22). We are invited to dwell with him in his Father's house (John 14:1-3) and abide with him (John 15:1-17). John the Baptist affirmed that Jesus is the true bridegroom from heaven. (Those who believe in Jesus as the Son of God are his bride). He comes from heaven and speaks the heart of God, for the Father has given him all things. We would do well to listen and respond to his invitations (John 3:31-36).
Reflection and Questions
Our home is humble. Repairs need to be made. Walls need to be repainted. We have too much "stuff." Some rooms are cluttered. (Yes, we have a famous "locked door room" -- guests are forbidden from looking in that room). The garage is a jungle. There is always something out of place and our carpets are old and have stain spots.
Yet, we experience a deep joy when we welcome people into our home. In preparation, we launch into a cleaning frenzy to provide, as best we can, a clean, hospitable environment, in which our guests can feel welcomed and relaxed. We check to ensure that we have plenty of food, the bathrooms are cleaned, the hand towels are laundered, and we provide plenty of toilet paper.
When you walk into someone's home and dwell with them for a time, eat dinner, converse, work, laugh, and cry together, you get to know and love them as they truly are without facade or pretense. To be accepted and loved by another in this way, who knows all the beautiful, good, bad, and ugly things about you, and, yet is still glad to be with you, is an amazing and liberating experience. This is the kind of community we endeavor to nurture and protect at Good Shepherd. Constantly, loving each other as Christ loves us and moving together toward life and health in Christ.
I am learning to be more hospitable and welcoming of others into my home and life. My inspiration and model is Jesus, who invites and welcomes me into his Father's house to "gaze upon his beauty and dwell in his house all the days of my life (Psalm 27:4).
What feelings or experiences of hospitality do you have that you would be willing to share publicly via this blog? Please write!
I look forward to this journey in hospitality together!
-- Pastor Jeff
Your theme of hospitality especially relates to another story about Jesus and new wine. In Mt. 9:14-17 Jesus portrays the Pharisees and disciples of John the Baptist as old "wineskins," in whom is the old "wine" of emphasizing regular fasting; in contrast, Jesus and his disciples are new "wineskins" in whom is the new "wine" of celebrating the presence of the "bridegroom" (Jesus), as in the preceding story (9:9-13) about Jesus and his disciples dining with Levi and his fellow tax collectors. Jesus' new wine of showing mercy to even outcasts is what God desires, rather than the ritual sacrifices of fasting that give religious respectability. In another place Jesus says when you host a dinner, instead of inviting your friends and relatives, how about inviting the poor and needy, who can not repay you with a dinner of their own? To show this kind of hospitality, we may have to go to places we have never gone before--and make contact with people we have always avoided.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughtful comment. We are wrestling with the difference between a biblical view of hospitality and our present cultural view and experience of hospitality. Jesus came to his own, but they did not receive or welcome him (cf. John 1:11). So, Jesus went to the outsider, outcast, and strangers within his culture. If there is a heavenly wedding feast, who is invited? The answer immediately follows in John 4: a Samaritan Woman with 5 former husbands and a current paramour. A biblical view of hospitality images the self-giving, outward focused, creative love of God throughout his creation. It is a kind of love that seeks out the other to invite and welcome into community. We, as a church, will need to go out and seek people in places we tend to avoid. This journey will dramatically change our lives and experience of who Jesus truly is. I look forward to it.
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