Homily   Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time  July 18, 2004

 

A man attending a crowded church service refused to take off his hat when asked to do so by the ushers.  Others also asked him to remove his hat, but he remained obstinate. 

 

The preacher was perturbed, too, and waited for the man after the service.  He told the man that the church was quite happy to have him as a guest, and invited him to join the church, but he explained the traditional decorum regarding men’s hats and said,  “I hope you will conform to that practice in the future.”

 

“Thank you,”  said the man.  “And thank you for taking time to talk to me.  It is good of you to invite me to join the congregation.  In fact, I joined it three years ago and have been coming regularly ever since, but today is the first time that anyone paid attention to me.

 

“After being an unknown for three years, today, by simply keeping on my hat, I have had the pleasure of talking with the ushers, several of the congregants and you. Thanks!”

 

 

And on a different note John L’Heureux, the Jesuit in a book entitled “The trouble with Epiphanies”, shares this.

 

Christ came into my room and stood there

And I was bored to death.
I had work to do.

I wouldn’t have minded if he’d been crippled or something

-I do well with cripples-

but he just stood there, all face

and with that damned guitar.

I didn’t ask him to sit down;

He’d have stayed all day.

Let’s be honest.  You can be crucified just so often –

Then you’ve had it.

I mean you’re useless; no good to God,

Let alone to anybody else.

So I said to him after a while,

Well, what’s up?  What do you want?

And he laughed, stupid,

Said he was just passing by

And thought he’d say hello.

Great, I said.  Hello

So he oeft.

And I was so mad

I couldn’t even listen to the radio. I went

And got some coffee.

The trouble with Christ is

He always comes at the wrong time.

 

Our scripture for this Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary time is about welcoming – about hospitality.  It’s a perfect theme for this beautiful summer time. Its about noticing the other and being attentive to the other.

 

In our first reading Abraham and Sarah go out of their way to entertain the stranger. It seems as if they have no expectation – they want nothing for what they will give. They seem to see it as their obligation, in a sense.  These strangers are passing through – a rigorous journey – and so Abraham and Sarah make their home the home of the stranger.

 

They are not just entertaining these strangers – they are showing hospitality. Someone pointed out the difference between the two.

 

Entertaining says,  “I want to impress you with my home, my decorating, my cooking.”  Hospitality seeks to minister, saying, “This home is God’s gift;  I use it as God desires.”

Entertaining puts things before people:  “As soon as I get the house finished, the living room decorated, my housecleaning done – then I’lls tart inviting people.”  Hospitality puts people first: “No furniture? We’ll eat on the floor!...the decorating may never get done – you come anyway…The house is amess, but you’re friends – come home with us.”

Entertaining subtly declares,  “This home is mine, an expression of my personality.  Look, please, and admire.”  Hospitality whispers,  “What is mine is ours.” 

 

Our reading from Genesis has two parts.  First we see Abraham running, greeting, bowing and hastening to make his unexpected guests welcome.  Baking the bread and butchering and roasting the steer and milking the sheep did not happen quickly. The preparation of this feast was remarkable.

But the second part of the story is God’s response – The birth announcement is a sign of the fulfillment of God’s promises of progeny, prosperity and a land for Abraham and Sarah.   It was hard for them to believe – Sarah actually laughed The message, or part of it is, that if we open our hearts and our homes to god the impossible can happened – God’s presence can overturn things.

 

Part of the  fact of hospitality is that we need to receive. Hospitality is not just running around and giving and doing and impressing. It is about letting the other enter – letting the other be present to us.

 

One theologian, Peter Gomes suggested that while it is more blessed to give than to receive, it is infinitely more difficult to receive.  Giving is power.  Receiving implies need and weakness.  Receiving makes one beholden; it cuts away autonomy; it creates, in some sense, a dependency.

 

And so we see Abraham and Sarah in the end receiving – They have allowed the stranger in and now they quietly receive. Hospitality is a real exchange.

With the Gospel we can get into trouble. Poor Martha is the worker. And we can feel sorry for her. But somehow Jesus takes Mary’s side. He reminds us that when we welcome him it is not to do for him but rather to sit at Jesus’ feet, to listen, to love, to learn, to be fed, to be graced and guided.  Our reason for welcoming him is not to try to impress Jesus with how good we’ve been but rather to allow him to  grace us.  Our posture of humility allows us to be visited by our savior.

 

Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister says that “Hospitality is the way we come out of ourselves.  It is the first step toward  dismantling the barriers of the world.  Hospitality is the way we turn a prejudiced world around one heart at a time.”

 

And so we have the opportunity this week and the summer weeks to come to practice the spirituality of hospitality. Its not just an action of feeding our friends and family but much more. It’s a posture of allowing the other in – allowing the other to be part of our lives.

 

The end result is we are more bound together.  And that transforms us – and our world.