Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 26 June 2011 by Dr. Hope S. Antone, Joint Executive Secretary for Faith, Mission and Unity of the Christian Conference of Asia. The scripture readings that day were Genesis 22:1-14 (The Command to Sacrifice Isaac), Romans 6:12-23 and Matthew 10:40-42.


‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. 41Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; 42and whoever gives even 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.’ [Matthew 10:40-42]

Greetings of peace to all of you, our dear brothers and sisters in Christ at Kowloon Union Church!

It is wonderful to be back to KUC where our children spent a good period of their childhood years. They have very special memories of their time here at KUC that it has not been easy finding a church like KUC in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I thank Pastor Phyllis Wong for this wonderful opportunity to share with you my reflection on the word of God today.

I also thank all of you who have welcomed us so warmly since we arrived in Hong Kong. We have truly enjoyed your warm hospitality and good company these past few days.

Taking our lectionary readings for this Sunday, I decided to draw mostly from the passage in Matthew 10:40-42. However, to properly understand this short passage and glean lessons for our time and context, we have to first of all take it within its wider context. The whole chapter of Matthew 10 consists of Jesus’ instructions for the twelve disciples who were being sent to drive out evil spirits and heal the people of every disease and sickness. Jesus’ words were to prepare them for what to expect when they went on their mission. Their mission was clearly not to go among the Gentiles or Samaritans, but only to the lost sheep of Israel (vvs. 5-6). This note of exclusivity reflects how Jesus understood his calling early in his ministry as being sent only to the Jews. But after Jesus’ death and resurrection (Mt 28:19, Mk 16:15, Acts 1:8) his commissioning statement was for the disciples to proclaim the message to all nations, the whole world, to the ends of the earth.

In this early commissioning statement, Jesus was preparing the disciples for the reality that the lost sheep of Israel would not be quite welcoming – not of prophets, not of disciples, not of righteous people. But he was also assuring the disciples that because he was with them – how they were going to be treated was how he himself would be treated; and that was also how the One who sent him (i.e. God) would then be treated. Pretty straightforward, isn’t it?

But who were the “lost sheep” of Israel then to whom the disciples were sent? How did they become the lost sheep or lost ones of Israel? We need to answer these questions before we can apply this passage to our context today.

To be lost means simply to lose the way; to lose direction. And in Jesus’ time, many people were lost – for they did not have much hope in life when they were pronounced unclean or impure (as when they were sick) or possessed by evil spirits (as when they had some mental or psychological problems). Many were lost because they were proclaimed unfaithful when they could not follow the letter of the law, including the specific rules and regulations of observing the Sabbath, or keeping themselves pure and holy. Many were lost – because they were not recognized and treated as equal human beings due to their gender, occupation, or health condition. Many were also lost because they were too enslaved to the letters of the law (i.e. of their religion), and also to the false and wrongful teachings by those who claimed to know the law.

The reading in Romans 6 (vss. 12-23) then is a reminder to those who believe in Jesus that they are no longer enslaved to the law – but to righteousness, and therefore, only to God. Being enslaved to God however means finding the way – the way to eternal life, the way to grace which comes from God.

I have titled this reflection, “Beyond Welcoming One Another,” because I know that many times, when we read this passage from Matthew 10, we immediately think of how welcoming we are or not as a church – and often times that boils down to improving the ways we welcome one another when we gather together on Sundays or on some special occasions. But I wish to stretch our minds further – beyond merely welcoming one another…

The first point I want to make is this: the call to be welcoming is given to followers of Christ Jesus who have already been welcomed by God with the lavishness of God’s grace. As the reading from Romans 6:12-23 says, God has given us the free gift of eternal life, therefore, we need no longer live under the law but under the grace of God. In the Latin sense of the word “hospitality”, there is very little difference between being a host and being a guest. We become more welcoming because we have already experienced what it is to be welcomed first of all by God. Likewise, we become more forgiving because we have already experienced what it is to be forgiven first of all by God.

What does it mean to be welcoming in our context and time?

To be welcoming means to reach out to people – not only to wait for people to come to our church. The sending out of the disciples is precisely so they can reach out to the lost ones. Now we do not have to think immediately of organizing evangelistic teams to go around Hong Kong in order to find the lost ones (although that might be one way). But right where we are living and working, we can already try to be welcoming as we reach out to people around us who are hurting and in despair; who have been discriminated against; or who have lost their hope. There are many of them even in a developed and affluent place like Hong Kong.

I wonder if you have seen the movie, “The Horsemen” – which while using a phrase from the book of Revelation is really about some bright and dynamic young people who feel so neglected, hurt and even abused by the very people who are supposed to love and accept them for who they are – i.e. their own parents, siblings, teachers. In order to hurt these people back they commit very gory suicides or kill someone they love. In a society where people work so hard, or where people feel they have to cope with their own problems instead of sharing them with others, people can end up not having enough time for others – not even their own family members. In this world of hi-tech communication, which is supposed to connect us more with one another, there is a lot of communication breakdown. Families cannot enjoy quality time together anymore – because there are now the ipad, the iphone, and the computer to which many of our family members tend to be glued. Still, many people feel not accepted or are even discriminated against, both in their homes and in the wider community, because of a different sexual orientation – i.e. the gays and lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people – or because of a different color, political or ideological persuasion. We have to recover the welcoming spirit within our families and to take this same spirit to our work places and to the wider community.

While my first point has to do with welcoming one another, my next point is a challenge for us all to go beyond welcoming one another.

My second point is this: the call to be welcoming involves an act of discernment on how we can be truly welcoming. In Genesis 22:1-14, we read how Abraham wanted to offer the best sacrifice he could ever give to God when he felt called to offer his beloved son Isaac. Sometimes I wonder if our perception, practice or tradition of being hospitable may actually not be the best way of hospitality. I vividly remember very real stories of sincere hospitality by my own people in the very remote parts of my country. Usually, when there are guests or visitors to these remote places, the hosts would offer the best food to their guests and visitors – they would kill a chicken, catch some fish, open their best canned food, and make special dishes for the guests. But their own children would have to wait until the guests have had their fill. One time, some guests felt so guilty because they overheard the little children say to each other from behind the curtain: “Oh look, they are already turning over the fish.”

We have to be very discerning in our ways of hospitality – for while we may be welcoming of others, we may be neglecting our own little ones. There is another story from which we can also draw some lessons about discerning how to be truly hospitable.

You probably know of the fable, “The Arab and His Camel” [1915 book of fables by Horace Scudder]. The story goes that one cold night, as an Arab sat in his tent, his camel thrust the flap of the tent aside, and looked in.

"Please, master, let me put my head inside the tent, for it is very cold," the camel said. "By all means, and welcome," said the Arab. So the camel stretched its head into the tent.

"May I also warm my neck?" the camel said. "Put your neck inside," said the Arab. Soon the camel, who had been turning its head from side to side, said again: "It will take only a little more room if I put my forelegs inside the tent." "You may also put your forelegs inside," said the Arab, moving a little to make room, for the tent was very small.

Then the camel said finally: "May I stand completely inside? I keep the tent open by having half of my body outside the tent." "Yes, yes," said the Arab. "I will have pity on you as well as on myself. Come wholly inside." So the camel came forward and crowded into the tent. But the tent was too small for both. "I think there is not enough room for both of us," the camel said. “It will be best for you to stand outside, as you are smaller; then there will be room enough for me." With that the camel pushed the Arab a little, who made haste to get outside the tent.

How to be truly welcoming needs a lot of discernment especially today, for hospitality can also be abused. The host can even become hostage to the guest’s permanent dependency, even victim mentality.

There is a Swahili (Kenya) proverb that goes: A guest for two days; on the third, give him a hoe. What this means is that a guest should not exceed the hospitality of the host by helping with the work in the home and the farm. We have a similar understanding in the Philippines because I remember that whenever we had a guest who would try to help in the house, my mother would immediately say, “No, you are a guest. You can help only after you have slept in our home.” Being a guest is temporary and being a guest requires also a sense of grateful responsibility.

We ourselves are guests in this world that God created. Indeed, we are guests, temporary sojourners or passersby, who have been so lavishly provided with the gifts of food, fresh air, clean water, land which are all needed to sustain our lives. But we need to realize that we have exceeded, even exhausted, the hospitality of God and the hospitality of creation. In a way we are like the camel that has completely entered the tent, kicking out the real owner/creator of the whole universe, misusing, overusing and abusing creation. How can we undo the harm that humankind has done throughout the generations? And how can we now pick the hoe and take responsibility in caring for God’s creation? This is our big challenge today.

Being guests and hosts are two sides of our responsibility as co-stewards with God, entrusted with all of God’s creation. Like the yin-yang principle, the two are not opposed to each other, but rather they complement one another. Welcoming one another is a very important dimension of our calling – and we do need to reach out to the lost ones among us. But we also need to think and go beyond just welcoming one another. For the household of God is not just our small community of faith – it is the whole universe – in which we must remember that we are guests but also called to be hosts.

Gracious God, you have been a very lavish host – giving us all the needed provisions so we can live fully in your world. Entrusting your creation to us, you have also called us to be your co-hosts. Forgive us for failing to live up to what you expected of us. Help us to remember our being guests as well as hosts – so we will not only work towards welcoming one another in this community, but also welcoming of every member and part of your household, the whole universe. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.