The Stranger as Sacrament--July 26, 2023

The Stranger as Sacrament--July 26, 2023

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." [Hebrews 13:2]

Be kind to strangers... to "the other," says the Bible, because you just might have been brought face to face with the messengers of God. All of a sudden the stakes of your short temper with the single mom juggling three kids ahead of you in line at the grocery store just got a lot higher, eh? The writer of Hebrews whispers, "Mighta been angels, the whole lot of 'em. Now... just how important was it that you got your plastic box of pre-washed spring mix salad greens and bag of Oreos three minutes faster if those kids wouldn't have been holding up the line? More important than the way you treat a quartet of the heavenly host?"

Jesus, too, never himself one to fold in a game of cards, doubles down on this train of thought in those familiar words, "As you did it to the least of these... you did it to me." And now all of a sudden, the hungry face I turned away because I thought he might be a freeloader... and the shadowed face behind bars that I ignored because I thought all prisoners were worthy of my condemnation... and the lonely face... and the sick face... and the... uh-oh, stranger's face... all of those faces now bear the eyes of Jesus himself. Jesus upped the ante even from where the book of Hebrews had set it--now the face of the stranger is not just a potential angel. The stranger is Jesus himself... and, of course, as we insist in the ancient words of orthodoxy in the Creed week by week, wherever Jesus is, none other than God is there, too. So now, the way you treat a stranger is... <gulp> the way you have just treated the almighty Maker of all things.  And the ways we bear with the needs of a stranger, even if their needs are different from our own, become the ways we show love to none other than God.

There's a line of C. S. Lewis, the great 20th century British theologian and writer, who says, "Next to the blessed sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses."  That is, as much as we recognize the real presence of Christ in the bread and cup at Holy Communion, Christ himself has also promised his presence among the "least of these."  And classically, the language the church has used for "things in which Christ's presence is communicated through ordinary means" is... a sacrament.  If Christ can be truly presence in bread that someone baked this morning, and if Christ's promise can be made real through water that just came out of our tap, then certainly Christ can choose to be present in the face of another human being, who is already made in the image of God.

Now, if those stakes weren't high enough, even the word the Bible uses for "stranger" is loaded. Our English translations use the word "hospitality" in this verse--"do not neglect to show hospitality...". But to be truthful, most of us hear "hospitality," and we picture someone who offers a coaster and a glass of lemonade to the company they have invited... or the concierge desk at the hotel who offers bathrobes for use of paying customers. "Hospitality," in those circumstances, is not much of a gamble, and you only have to show it to people who have either given you money to do it, or people who you already like enough to invite to your house. But the Bible's word is more...adventuresome. The word beneath our English "hospitality" here in this verse is the Greek "philoxenia," which is made up of the two words "phile-" (which you probably already know is one of the words for "love," as in Philadelphia or "bibliophile" for book-lover) and the word "xenos," which means... well, "stranger," or "outsider," or "foreigner," or just... "the other." The one thing it does NOT mean is "people who are already like you in every way." Hebrews is not merely saying, "Be nice to other Christians whom you haven't met yet." Other Christians aren't called "stranger" in the New Testament--they are brothers and sisters. For the writer of Hebrews to talk about "strangers"/"xenos/xenia", it means we are, by definition, talking about people who are not already part of the "family" we call church. It is not just a welcome to "safe" people... it is a welcome to "the other." Those are the stakes when the Bible uses the word "xenos."

You know the word "xenos" already because you almost certainly already know the word "xenophobia," the fear of outsiders and foreigners. And even if you didn't know the word for it, you know what it is to live in a culture of xenophobia... because we are living in one. As polarized as we are, often from even the neighbor across the street or down the block, and as much as the loud voices from the screens around us encourage us to fear "the other" as a threat to us... to our way of life... to everything, we are increasingly baited to be afraid of whomever and whatever is different from what I already think, or look like, or believe, or hold dear. We live in a culture that is not predisposed to welcome "the other" these days, however you take the phrase.

And yet--rather than saying, "Beware of those strangers who don't share our culture, our faith, our language, our way of life... they are dangerous!" (and in the supremely cosmopolitan Roman Empire, you couldn't help but cross paths with peoples from all sorts of places, cultures, and creeds), the writer of Hebrews says, those very strangers just might be angels you do not have the eyes to see yet. Like Jesus' own words about "the least of these," the writer of Hebrews dares us see in a new way--a daring, risky way. The "other," the "stranger," the faces who are different, they are the very people we are commanded to receive, to care for, and to love--not out of condescending pity for "those poor souls," but in fact because they may well be the ones God has sent as divine holy messengers across your path.

Curious, isn't it, how we can be so concerned in our Facebook posts about wanting to call our country "back to the Bible"... and yet to forget, stifle, or silence the clear command of Scripture when it comes to how we see the "stranger" and the "other" who cross our path in real life off of the screens. Go ahead, protest about how it sounds impractical or dangerous or foolish to welcome those the Bible would call "foreigners", if you want--but you cannot do so on the grounds that the Bible is backing your argument. The living voice of the Scripture is always pushing us to do things that strike the world as impractical, dangerous, and foolish--that's one of the ways you know it is really the living God and not just our own self-interest talking.

So today, let us dare to hear the words of the Bible in all their force. We are not given an "inspirational suggestion" to "be nice to the guests at your dinner party," but a firm command to love--to love!--those who would get labeled "foreigner," "stranger," "outsider," and "other." And in order to love them, rather than pitying them, we have to follow the other directive Hebrews gives us: we must learn to see the "stranger" and the "other" as quite possibly the very angels of God, come to fill the empty places around us. Let us dare to actually do what Jesus says, and to open our eyes to seeing that "the least of these" bring us face to face with none other than the living God.

Lord Jesus, help us to see you and to see your messengers everywhere you show up... let us recognize your real presence in the sacrament of the stranger.