Proper 4 C
We are
called to share the love of God with the stranger, welcoming all whom God calls
into his family.
Our first
reading today, takes place after King Solomon has completed building the Temple
in Jerusalem. What we see today is part of the prayers of the Temple dedication
ceremony. Solomon prays that God will
welcome even foreigners and answer their prayers. This is to fulfill the dream
that all will come to know the Lord.
Paul (in
our second reading) strives to establish his credentials as superior to that of
his detractors. That is, those who are preaching the “different gospel."
Paul sees the Galatians as being led astray by false teachers.
In today’s
gospel, Jesus heals the centurion's servant.
The Centurion is an officer in the Roman army of occupation, but he is
unusually accepting of the Jewish people and their religion. He is so loved by the Jewish community that
he can send emissaries to Jesus about his servant. They ask Jesus to bend the rules, to treat
him as he would a Jew. Jesus willingly agrees and they set out on their way to
the house. When another of the servants
of the centurion brings them the message which Jesus finds tremendously
amazing. The faith and trust of the
centurion is beyond compare. This
foreigner becomes an example to all of us who should have such faith.
This all
reminds me of a blacksmith who’s daughter asked him how he came to their
village and met their mom. His story went like this:
After earning his journeyman status he set out to find a place to start his business and make his home. At the first
village he came to he went to the inn and introduced himself to the innkeeper. The innkeeper introduced himself warmly and
asked how many nights the young man planned on staying in town. Our young journeyman immediately felt
uncomfortable because he had hoped to make this villages his new home. He responded to the innkeeper "I will be
staying just one night."
That
evening he sat in the common room of the inn eating and drinking and
introducing himself to people from the town.
Each shared various news about local events and persons but none
introduced him to their resident blacksmith or made any indication that they
were glad the young journeyman had stopped in town.
The next
morning he went on his way. At the end
of that next day's journey he arrived at yet another village, the response of
the people was very much the same. So he
left the very next morning.
On the
third day, his travels found him camping in the wilderness; between towns. On the fourth day he walked onto a third
village and again went straight to the inn.
This time when he introduced himself to the innkeeper, the man
introduced himself he and also said "I'm delighted you've come to our
town, we haven't had a blacksmith for over a year." Would you stay for a while and at least do
some work for us before you go on? The
young journeyman said "I would be delighted to do some work here, is there
a shop used by the former blacksmith still in town?" The innkeeper showed the young journeyman to
the empty blacksmith shop and promised him a hot meal and a clean room at the
inn each night he was in town.
After he
had cleaned up the unused shop and started a new fire in the forge it was
evening so the young journeyman returned to the inn for his meal and bed. The innkeeper introduced him to each of the
local business people and several of the farmers who were in town for the evening. Each were delighted to meet the young
journeyman and spoke about the blacksmith work that they needed.
The young
journeyman worked in that village from day to day and never really found an end
to the work that came his way.
Neighbors, around the blacksmith shop, help him clean out the old home
which was behind the shop so he could move in rather than staying at the
inn. Then he said to his little
daughter: “your mom was one of the next door neighbors!”
My
brothers and sisters, I'm sure we have all experienced being the outsider. It's that awkward feeling, when you're new to
a group or a place and don't know who to talk to or even what is going on. Sometimes an individual steps forward,
introduces themselves and helps us feel at home. Sometimes we assert ourselves and make
introductions. But even then we can
still feel awkward not knowing if or how we are being received.
As
Christians, our responsibility is not simply about welcoming new persons who
walk in the door of our church. It is also
about helping them feel at home, finding their niche (their place to be), that
is, showing them that they are really wanted.
Let us never allow ourselves to forget this lesson.
Posts
