Entertaining + Hosting = Ministering

Pentecost + 6 – Lectionary 16

Year C

20 July 2025

Genesis 18:1-10a

Psalm 15

Colossians 1:15-28

Luke 10:38-42

Ever-faithful God,

whose being is perfect righteousness:

you reconcile us in your Son

with the helpless and the needy,

with those we would ignore or oppress,

and with those we call our enemies,

so that we, as your hands of love, may serve all people

and sit at the feet of those

who need our compassionate care.   Amen.

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I’ve been pondering the idea of hospitality for quite some time, and one of the reasons is because my time, here at Zion, is by its very nature, an example of hospitality.

Looking at our time together through the lens of hospitality, you’ve welcomed me into your spiritual home. For the past several weeks we’ve had this incredible opportunity to get to know each other, and to share hospitality with each other, in this place.

So, when I looked at today’s readings they reminded me of an article on the sacred nature of hospitality, and the author, Prof. Monica Siddiqui actually refers to today’s passage from Genesis as the ancient foundation of hospitality that is still honoured and in use today.

In her research into the dimensions of hospitality, she has identified that it, by nature, has two vital virtues: public hospitality and private hospitality.

Our time together can be seen as public hospitality, because you’ve welcomed me into the community, and by our very association we not only aid each other, but we learn and are changed by the other, as well.

When we look at Abraham, in today’s reading from Genesis, we see that he welcomes three strangers who happen across his camp, his home, at the trees of Mamre, in the midst of wilderness. This comes under the idea of private hospitality, as these individuals came to Abraham’s home.

Genesis tells us: “The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. ² Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

³ He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by.” (Gen 18:1-3)

He shows us the private nature of hospitality. Like a dinner party, we, like Abraham, welcome guests to our home, and we provide a dining experience for them.

Siddiqui points out that the story of Abraham and the angels is also about something larger. She comments on the nomadic and Bedouin practice of hospitality as a fact of survival for nomadic peoples, but Abraham’s response also points to the central role hospitality that plays within our spiritual lives. (Siddiqui: “More than a dinner party…”)

Today’s gospel also shows us the private spiritual nature of hospitality when Jesus is a guest of Martha and Mary in their home.

Luke’s gospel tells us: “³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.” (Lk 10:38-40a)

And here is where, when we look at the gospel we can identify with Martha’s desire to dust off the good china, to dig out that bundt cake from the back of the freezer that’s been waiting for the right guest, and putting on the coffee / tea / juice as she sorts out the napkins.

But if we look closely, an occasion of hospitality isn’t just a one-sided experience, those we’ve invited into our homes, into our communities also provide hospitality by participating in the experience, as well, and this is also seen in today’s gospel, as well as the passage from Genesis.

I admit, during my time with you, that you’ve been quite welcoming. I’ve seen this in how you’ve received the sermons that have been proclaimed.

I’ve seen it in the conversations we’ve shared over “kukkenkaffe,” following the service each week as we gradually get to know each other.

In today’s gospel, we see that Martha is rushing around trying to provide all that is perceived to be needed, from a perspective of hospitality, for Jesus’ unexpected visit to her home.

Martha tries to live up to the expectation of hospitality set by Abraham: a meal; the ability to wash the dust from one’s feet, and to know that you are welcome in this place. And, to be frank, all of this ‘expectation’ has her run off of her feet.

As she rushes through the house, through the kitchen, back and forth to prepare for this sudden influx of guests, she ponders what else is needed, what has she left out, and this is what’s running through her mind as she races around the kitchen.

At that point, then, she looks out into the dining room, and she sees Mary.

As she’s bustling about trying to accomplish what she envisions as perfection, she sees her sister just sitting there listening to the conversation in the room and participating in the discussions.

Martha “came to [Jesus] and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

⁴¹ “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”” (Lk 10:40-42)

Through such acts of hospitality, we are given the opportunity to get to know each other, we are able to lean into topics of conversation and interest and broaden our horizons across cultures as well, and this is what Jesus is getting at, when he speaks with Martha.

Her heart is in the right place, and in Abraham’s time this and more is expected as we see in the passage from Genesis, but Jesus has other plans and wants to include Martha as well as Mary in this sharing of ideas, of learning of the love of God for all.

Hospitality, then, is about crossing boundaries, thresholds, even boarders.

In her research, Prof. Siddiqui includes the Benedictine model of hospitality, which has at its focus the emphasis to slow down, and to offer respite from the pressures of life.

The Benedictine model seeks to nurture spiritual development in both those who provide and those who receive hospitality, and this is important. As much as we desire to be the great host, we are equally transformed by our guests as they are changed by our hospitality.

The noted Benedictine, Henri Nouwen said: “Hospitality is not to change people but to offer them space where change can take place… The paradox of hospitality is that it wants to create emptiness, but a friendly emptiness where strangers can enter and discover themselves as created free.”

When we share hospitality, then not only do we find the divine in our midst and at our table, but we see the virtue of hospitality expanded exponentially about welcome and then both the host and the guest find themselves changed, transformed by the experience.

This week, as I worked, the movie has been “La Dolce Villa” which describes a young lady who takes advantage of the One Euro House plan in Italy, and how her father starts by trying to talk her out of it, but in the end joins her in a love of the region, the community, and the hospitality that is both given and received.

During her rehabilitation of an old house, she and her father become part of the community. They reach out to those in the community who are long term residents, and in response they become a part of the community themselves.

In the plot twist, when it appears that this father and daughter are about to lose the house they’ve been working on and rehabilitating the friends they’ve made in the community, these new friends come together and discover a spelling variance that helps them to remain and continue to be a part of the region they’ve come to call home.

Those whose lives have been impacted, changed by these newcomers, as the newcomers have been impacted by the community come together to search out a solution so that the house can remain in the hands of the daughter and father.

And, naturally there are other programs, documentaries, and shows that imply the sacred in hospitality, and I hope that some become part of your favourite play lists.

But that brings us back to the fact that hospitality embraces our human diversity. Hospitality creates a space for dialogue between peoples, between different faiths, and across cultures.

And this brings us firmly to the public, yet sacred aspect of hospitality when we look at the variety of cultures that make up not only our own families, our family of faith, but also our city, our province, and our nation.

How do we see, perceive, receive the stranger in our midst, both in the church and in the wider community?

Are we willing to engage in hospitality and learn something about them, their journey, their history and what brings them to this time and place? In exchange, they learn something of us, as well.

I recall my husband telling me of his grandmother who would constantly keep a pot of soup on the back of the stove for those who might come to the door, for those in need of a warm meal, who might need a place to get warm or even an overnight stay.

This sense of hospitality extended beyond humans. Apparently, a duck unexpectedly spent two weeks in the bathtub as it’s wing was mended before she set it free.

Now you would think that this lady lived on her own, but you’d be wrong. This duck took over the bathtub used by a family of six while it healed.

Hospitality, at its most simple is opens us to being a new creation. It opens us to being willing to be changed by those to whom hospitality is extended.

In Genesis, the three who were hosted were bringing a message that Abraham and Sarah would have a child of their own before the year was out. In today’s gospel we see Jesus firmly including all in his ministry, not just men in the front room and women in the kitchen. Rather the message of God’s love is for all in the household and for that message to travel out into the community and the world on such beautiful lips.

How are we equally changed by our acts of hospitality? How does the love of God, the gospel of Jesus open paths we hadn’t seen before so that such a message can go into the world and continue to change lives?

All of this is possible because hospitality, whether in our own homes, or in the community, brings us together, shares the love of God, and opens our hearts, our eyes to something we may not have experienced before.

Amen.