Day 27 – GRACE EXPRESSIONS – Hospitality #4 

Matthew 9:9-13 

PAUSE –
Take a deep breath, offer this time and your focus to the Lord with the Psalmist

      Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. 

     Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.   Psalm 90:1-2

REJOICE in his goodness with Psalm 90:17

      May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; 

      Establish the work of our hands for us - 

      Yes, establish the work of our hands.

More thoughts on Hospitality:

Radically ordinary hospitality – those who live it see strangers as neighbors and neighbors as family of God. They recoil at reducing a person to a category or a label. They see God’s image reflected in the eyes of every human being on earth….

Those who live out radically ordinary hospitality see their homes not as theirs at all but as God’s gift to use for the furtherance of his kingdom. They open doors; they seek out the underprivileged. They know that the gospel comes with a house key.

(The Gospel Comes with a House Key: Practicing Radically Ordinary Hospitality in Our Post-Christian World, Rosaria Champagne Butterfield, p. 11)

Read and REFLECT on Matthew 9:9-13

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. 

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 

On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Jesus has called Matthew, a tax collector, to be one of his disciples. Then he goes to Matthew’s house for a dinner party with all of his friends – perhaps as a farewell before Matthew leaves his friends and family to become a disciple of Jesus.  There is nothing to indicate that Matthew has already cleaned up his act, been baptized, and he surely hasn’t completed his basic courses to become a Conference Ministerial Candidate. Everyone is watching to see who Jesus is spending his time with.  They are horrified because it’s – Tax Collectors and Sinners!  

In response to the accusations of the Pharisees Jesus quotes the prophet Hosea. “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” By quoting Hosea Jesus implies that a religious life without mercy for sinners and enemies of the kingdom is as offensive to God as idol worship. 

Hospitality is revealed in who we are willing to welcome at our table or join at theirs.

Over the years Kim and I have been blessed to have many different and diverse people live with us, dine at our table, and welcome us into their homes.

We’ve hosted guests from India, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Chile, China, Spain, Japan, at least 3 African countries, Singapore, and Iran. We have also had people in crisis live with us: marriage crisis, legal trouble, family chaos, and other transitions. Among those there have been 2 people with gang ties, two with drug addictions, and some who just needed a place for the holidays or a summer. One holiday meal we were blessed to have people at our table from 5 different countries - these were our kids’ friends from Greenville University.

Something happens when you live as if strangers are neighbors, and neighbors are part of God’s family. It strips away the labels and categories. You listen to the news differently.  You pray differently. And you see people from all backgrounds as those created in the image of God who Jesus died for. People to be treasured. 

Reread and REFLECT –
Reread the passage aloud. 

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. 

While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” 

On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Who do you imagine might be labeled as “sinners” and “undesirables” in your community? Imagine sitting at a table in the local restaurant with a group like this where you live. How would you feel? What might be awkward about that dinner? Who would you not want to see you? Have you ever felt that you were one of those sinners that Christians avoided? 

ASK –
Ask the Lord what a radically ordinary pattern of hospitality might look like for you. What might need to change about your schedule? Your weekly patterns?  Pray for opportunities for you and your church to offer hospitality to “those people” and for an increased heart of mercy. Give thanks to the Lord for inviting us all to his table of forgiveness.

YIELD –
Don’t rush this yielding prayer. What needs to be surrendered? What is the Lord saying to you? How can you fit new forms of hospitality into your calendar? What needs to be forgiven? Who needs mercy and grace?

Lord, help us as we join in your mission to proclaim and provide…

• Freedom – of those held captive, imprisoned

• Recovery – of sight for the blind (restoration of what once was)

• Release – of those held in bondage, trapped, with no rights or resources

• Favor – Jubilee, the year/season of forgiveness of debts and new beginnings

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.