Date: December 4th, 2011
Speaker: Pastor Kevin Snyder
Title: "When Did We See You?"
Advent Series: Making Room
Review
Last week we focused on God making room for us – in creation, redemption & in eternity.
And we said that central to the kingdom of God is the welcome.
We see this welcoming God in the practice of the Lord’s supper where the barriers are taken down. … the practice of the Lord’s Supper should inform our actions in the rest of our lives and inform how we practice Christmas.
Introduction
Story: La Chambron
From December 1940 to September 1944, the inhabitants of the French village of Le Chambon-sur-Lignon (population 5,000) and the villages on the surrounding plateau (population 24,000) provided refuge for an estimated 5,000 people. This number included an estimated 3,000-3,500 Jews who were fleeing from the Vichy authorities and the Germans.
Led by Pastor André Trocmé of the Reformed Church of France, his wife Magda, and his assistant, Pastor Edouard Theis, the residents of these villages offered shelter in private homes, in hotels, on farms, and in schools. They forged identification and ration cards for the refugees, and in some cases guided them across the border to neutral Switzerland. These actions of rescue were unusual during the period of the Holocaust insofar as they involved the majority of the population of an entire region.
Nobody asked who was Jewish and who was not. Nobody asked where you were from. Nobody asked who your father was or if you could pay. They just accepted each of us, taking us in with warmth, sheltering children, often without their parents -- children who cried in the night from nightmares. -- Elizabeth Koenig-Kaufman, a former child refugee in Le Chambon
The question:
What caused the people of La Chambron to think it was natural or normal to rescue Jews fleeing from the holocaust when many people in Europe were turning their backs on the Jews?
Ex 23:9 perhaps captures it:
9 “Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt. ?
Could it be that they were shaped by the biblical stories of the people of God ?
They caught that God is , on the one hand, the welcoming God.
But, on the other hand, they also caught that he comes often as the stranger in need of welcome. He comes in disguise.
It was the merging of those 2 truths – a welcoming God, and the possibility of Christ coming in disguise that created a powerful, broad, counter-cultural expression of Christian hospitality.
Point:
And this concept of “God coming in disguise” is displayed in several biblical stories….
1. Abraham & 3 visitors – Genesis 18: 1 - 17
Where in this story did Ab & Sarah discover their guests identities?
v.17 – when they got up to leave & God chose to tell Ab what he was going to do to Sodom & Gomorrah.
2. Lot & visitors to Sodom - Gen 19: 1 - 14 (p. 25)
This 1 st story connects hospitality with the presence of God, with promise, and blessing. This 2nd story is more troubling.
2 of the guests continue on to Sodom and meet Lot at the city gate. In that day there were no hotels or inns and so strangers travelling depended on hospitality for protection. They could be in danger.
Lot invites these strangers to his house and feeds them. Before everyone retired a mob comes to Lot’s door and demands he give up his guests for sexual exploitation. He pleaded with them to do nothing for these men were under his roof.(v. 8)
However, Lot’s appeal is dismissed because he is viewed as a foreigner and having no authority.
The disturbing part is Lot then bargains and offers his daughters instead which is beyond comprehension.
But in the end the strangers not only save Lot, but his entire household from destruction of Sodom.
Lot’s treatment of the strangers distinguished him from the culture and got him in trouble…
In this story hospitality is connected to God’s presence and protection…who knew the strangers would be his salvation.
Who knew what would have happened to him and his family hadhe not welcomed them?
3. Elijah & the widow
1 Kings 17 – 18
Elijah goes to a foreign town and asks a foreign widow for hospitality. Anticipating starvation for herself and her son , the widow of Zarapath responds helplessly to Elijah’s request.
Elijah assures her though that if she would share the last of her meager resources with him, the God of Israel would provide for her needs, her supplies of oil and flour would not run out until the drought ended.
The woman took him in as her guest and supplied him with food and shelter for a lengthy time. And God supplied her household, and even restored life to her dead son.
The prohet of in need turned to a woman in bigger need, and together they received God’s provision.
In each of these stories, the guests brought their hosts into a special connection with God. They all received some benefits following their hospitality.
We see another couple of stories in the New Testament
4. Christmas story
The Son of God enters this world in disguise – as a little baby, to a young poor woman….for the most part the world didn’t know. Herod the king had to be awoken by some travelling foreigners to the event.
A few years ago Gary Chapman did a song – Mary, did you know?
Here was God disguised in the humble flesh, of a vulnerable baby.
5.Luke 24 - road to Emmaus
Here we discover 2 men on their way back from Jerusalem to Emmaus after the crucifixion of Jesus. A stranger joins them as they are bewildered and perplexed by the events of Christ’s death. They walk and talk. When they get to Emmaus it is getting toward evening and the men invite their companion to be their guest for the night. He agrees.
While they are at the table the guest took bread, broke it, gave thanks and gave it to them. “Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.”
They discovered Jesus was in their midst…they walked and ate with and didn’t recognize him until he broke bread.
Consider in that context these 2 formative Scriptures
Hebrews 13:2
2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
Matthew 25: 31 – 46
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
The powerful truth is that as Christians we have 2 powerful truths that call us to hospitality, to welcoming and caring for strangers.
- A Welcoming God
- The possibility of God coming to us disguised as a stranger
What happens to us when we see “the disguised Jesus” in the people we encounter?
1. PEOPLE BECOME VISIBLE
“When did we see you hungry…thirsty…in prison…?
…when you did to the least of these brothers of mine you did it to me.”
The possibility that it is Jesus in “the stranger’s guise” suddenly causes them and their needs to become visible.
Many people who are not valued by the community become invisible to us. Their needs and concerns aren’t acknowledged and no one even notices the injustices they suffer.
Jim Wallis said once:
When you go into a project , such as the Center, you often don’t see the need. Once you are there you can’t hardly see anything else. You wonder how could you have missed it.
i.e.
Story in New Testament of Jesus healing a blind man.
He touches him first and says “What do you see?”
I see all men as trees.”
And Jesus gives him a second touch and heals him completely.
Sometimes I think we need a 2nd touch. We have a tendency to see people as trees – as objects… not as fully human. We can often use a 2nd touch…a touch to see people.
i.e.
Under the Overpass – most difficult thing was not when people didn’t give money but when walked by and didn’t even notice them…like invisible
i.e.
Contrast – girl from Millar at Center who saw a girl…looked down…sat down and began to talk with her….before night was over girl came to know Christ.
If only saw youth as a “problem waiting to happen,” “just another teen”….her needs would have been invisible to her. But when saw possibility of Jesus in disguise saw need.
2. PEOPLE GAIN DIGNITY
Listen to these words from practitioners of what this truth does to their perspective
- “Well, if they’re hungry , I see Christ hungry. If they’re suffering I see Christ on the cross.” Literal experience
- “I don’t know that I’m conscious of (Christ in every guest) as I open the door. I think that certainly is very present to me when I think…of what feeds and allows me to remain here. That sense that these are the Christ, present in flesh…once again.”
- “While I try to see Jesus …mostly what we are referring to is that every person is worthy of all the love we can give them. And Jesus will elicit that from us.”
Each of these people viewed this truth somewhat differently, but in each of them it caused them to see not just the persons need but their dignity.
If we only see their need we can become rather condescending. When we see their dignity as one who shares in our humanity, as one created in the image of God, we see them with value.
i.e.
Friend:”See yourself as a poor person. And see everyone else as a rich person. “
- poor people – something to receive
- rich people – something to give.
We discover and learn much when we see every person as having something to teach us.
3.PEOPLE SEE JESUS
I love this evaluative question:
Ask: “Did I see Jesus in them ? Did they see Jesus in me?”
Steve Jobs I understand had problem with Cnity. His issue was : “Christians don’t view people like Jesus did & they don’t treat people as Jesus did.”
When we see people as “angels in disguise”…our attitude and behavior often reflects Jesus.
Practice
Finish off today in a practical way & have some fun. Play a game.
I want you to turn and get in groups of 3 or 4 and introduce yourselves.
I am going to give you some scenarios. Then I am going to give you 2 words:
Exclude & Embrace
What you will discuss is what do each of those look like in that specific situation.
Reflect on the attitudes, gestures, how we see the person.
Situation #1:
A small group of Christians is walking down the street on way to Tim Hortens for coffee. They pass several homeless people huddled in a building entrance and asking for handouts.
Exclude
Embrace
(What distinguishes Christiann hospitality from social service model is the level of engagement. Social Services model is keep distance & give money. Hospitality is to enter into relationship.
Situation #2
A family comes to your church and a few of you go for lunch. He tells you he has served time in prison and they have moved here to get a new start as a family.
Exclude
Embrace
Situation #3
A person(s) of a different race has just moved into the country you’re your community. They come to your church. They are quiet because they have no confidence in their English.
Exclude
Embrace
Prayer
Jesus, make our hearts ever gentler
and more humble,
So that we may present
to those you have who have confided to our care,
And in this way
make us instruments of your love
Which gives life and joy and real freedom.
Amen
(Jean Vanier)
Click here to return to sermon page
The New International Version. 2011 (Ex 23:9). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
The New International Version. 2011 (Heb 13:2). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
The New International Version. 2011 (Mt 25:31–46). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.