How can we best welcome God into our daily lives?
In Genesis, God appears
to Abraham by the terebinth of Mamre in the form of three men. Bowing before
them, Abraham offers them every kind of hospitality, bringing water so that
they may bathe their feet, showing
them a place to rest, and presenting them with a little food – in reality, a veritable feast for which his servant
prepares a tender, choice steer. Abraham’s hospitality is lavish, though he
does not immediately recognize that he is in the presence of God; this will be
made known to him later, when the men promise him a son through his wife Sarah.
Likewise, in Luke’s Gospel, Martha and Mary offer their
friend Jesus ample hospitality: Martha welcomes him and busies herself serving, while Mary sits beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Both Mary and Martha are committed disciples,
and both, in a sense, are getting it right:
we are called to serve the Lord, but also to be present to him. Most importantly, we are to recognize his
presence among us, and extend him every hospitality. But how?
Psalm 15 states that He
who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord, with numerous reminders
of what it means to be in right relationship with God. God created us out of love; to live out that
divine attribute is to live in community, blamelessly,
not harming our fellow man, nor causing him any kind of difficulty. It is in
community, the psalmist suggests, that we find God; we are called to recognize
the Lord in each other, to make loving kindness a way of life, so that all may
know the justice that is life-giving, the kind of justice – or hospitality – Abraham
offers the three men and Martha and Mary offer to Jesus. This is the stewardship of which Paul speaks in his Letter to the Colossians,
an effort to bring to completion for all
the word of God, that is, the love of
God and all that that love calls us to. It is Christ in us whom we must
recognize, welcome, and proclaim, Christ
in us who is the conduit of God’s love, enabling us to bring that love,
through every form of hospitality, to the world.
This post is based on OLMC's Scripture class.
Image source: Wordle
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