Reflection on Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

 

What Jesus does is so often unexpected, but it is also very good.

To light up our imaginations with the unexpected, but very good nature of the kingdom of heaven, Jesus puts before us a number of parables. 

In case your memory is as good as mine, and most of you know just how great is my memory (Memory?  What memory?), I will remind you that a parable is a story (usually made up) that is used to engage us in thinking through things in a deeper way.  Parables do not have a “right” or “wrong” way to understand their meaning.  That is not the way they work.  Jesus chooses to use parables to engage us in thinking about God and the world in a new way.  Engagement is exactly what Jesus wants from us.  He wants us to engage with the kingdom of heaven.

So, just what is the kingdom of heaven?  Jesus is going to tell us in a confusing parable sort of way.  Like all good teachers, Jesus refuses to give straight answers.  I had a very frustrating seminary professor who would answer in the most unhelpful of ways.  “Professor, what does it mean that Jesus can walk on the water?”  He would respond, “What do you think it means that Jesus walks on the water?”  Thank a lot!

Parables are a lot like that.  They force us to search for our own answers because they do not actually offer any of their own. 

Now, I do not want to keep you hanging completely as we dive into these parables, so to aid you in exploring these parables, I would just like to remind you that the kingdom of heaven is much more than the place that we go after we die.  The kingdom of heaven is near whenever God comes down to be with us.  For example, when Jesus, who the Bible says is “God with us,” first shows up on the scene he preaches, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.”  It’s like Jesus bursts open the doors of the after game party, beats his chest and says, “Heaven has just arrived!” 

And, if we think about it, we know what the kingdom of heaven is like.  We see the kingdom of heaven when God walks through the trees in the Garden of Eden and creates and molds all life.  We see the kingdom of heaven when God meets with Moses on the mountain and gives his people the Ten Commandments.  If everyone would live a life in line with the commandments, it would suddenly seem as if we were living in the Garden of Eden once again.  And, we see the kingdom of heaven when Jesus comes to walk and talk with us, his every step and action a spreading of the life and goodness of the Garden of Eden.  The kingdom of heaven is present whenever God is with us.

And, the kingdom of heaven often appears in an unexpected way, but it is always very good.

Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches” (Matthew 13:31).

It is so fascinating to me that Jesus describes the kingdom of heaven as being a scrappy little plant, whose seed someone intentionally sneaks into the middle of a field. 

Who plants a random scrappy bush in the middle of a field?  Apparently, Jesus does. 

According to rabbinic law, mustard could rightly be planted in a very orderly fashion between other rows of crops.  You would want to plant some of it.  It had medicinal value, and it tasted great on steak.  This farmer does not plant it in an orderly way.  He sneaks the seed into the middle of the field. 

Apparently, Jesus is trying to say that he intentionally plants scrappy bushes in our nicely ordered lives.  Another way to put it, Jesus’ kingdom has a tendency to disrupt our nicely ordered and controlled lives so that Jesus’ priorities can take over.  Who likes giving up control?  Who appreciates the control of their lives being taken away?

The kingdom of heaven is like intentionally planting a stalk of corn in the middle of your soy bean field.  When I was young we would go into the field and spray those things down.  If we did not, other farmers would drive past the field, see that weed right square in the middle, and wonder why that farmer does not have better control over his field. 

But, Jesus likes that thing growing in the middle of the field.  It just might grow into a tree and give the birds someplace to live.  Again, it seems that the kingdom of heaven runs according to different priorities in life.  Who cares about the birds?  Well, Jesus does!

“Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26).

What Jesus does is so often unexpected, but it is also very good.

How about that parable with the woman making bread? 

“The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

Now, I am not a baker, so this parable has generally just gone completely over my head in the past.  Do not get me wrong, I know what yeast is, it is the little packet of stuff in the door of the fridge that supposedly makes the bread rise, if we were to actually open it and make bread.  I just see it there, month after month, as a little packet of unused potential.

But, this parable came to life for me when I learned that what the woman “hides” in her dough is not yeast like we know it, but rather, more like sour dough starter.  This is an active soupy and sticky mix of natural yeast and bacteria that is often maintained over generations of bakers in order to make bread again and again.  Talk about using something old and something new.  Furthermore, the woman in the parable hides that soupy starter in three measures of flour.  I think to myself, “Three cups of flour; big deal!”  This is where my baking ignorance truly shows.  Three measures of flour in the ancient world would make about 40-60 pounds of dough.  You heard that right.  This woman hides some sour dough starter in enough flour to raise bread for the entire village! 

The kingdom of heaven is like that!  The kingdom of heaven is one in which the whole village is fed.  And, my mind is immediately drawn to the secret that Jesus hides in the basket of bread in order to feed the crowds of over 4,000 and 5,000 people.  My mind is drawn to the tree in Revelation that bears fruit that feeds the nations.  My mind is drawn to the fact that Jesus cares about people’s very real needs to eat and live.

My mind is drawn to the secret group of neighbors and friends who made sure to order months worth of meals for a young couple who lost everything in a home fire.  The couple has no idea who did it, but one day their favorite meal from a local Louisiana restaurant showed up at the door of their temporary hotel room.  The meals did not stop coming.  Some force of nature, hidden from them, was keeping them fed through the worst days of their life. Their family and friends were firmly living in Jesus’ kingdom.  They lived in kingdom of heaven ways as they followed Jesus’ instruction: “When you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:3-4).  This young couple was sustained with hidden sour dough starter.  It is the kingdom of heaven breaking into our world.

What Jesus does is so often unexpected, but it is also very good.

This kingdom of heaven is where birds are housed through the growth of weeds and entire villages are fed through secret bread making sabotage.  It is almost as if Jesus puts the value of life above every other concern in life.  It is almost as if Jesus desires all life to thrive in the kingdom of heaven, just as they did in the Garden of Eden.  It is almost as if this value for life is so important that a person would buy an entire field in order to dig up such a treasure, or someone would sell all they had in order to buy such a valuable pearl.

It is almost as if Jesus puts the value of those he loves (all the created world) above even his own life, going to the cross to save the world that he loves.  Jesus dies on the cross in order to give the kingdom of life to those he cares about.  In the Bible, we read about a rich man going away in distress when Jesus tells him to sell all that he owns and give the money to the poor.  Jesus actually does it on the cross, giving his life in order to preserve the lives of all of us who are poor in spirit.

What Jesus does is so often unexpected, but it is also very good.

It is almost as if the kingdom of heaven is like a fisherman who threw out a net and drew close to him fish of every kind.  It is a kingdom of goodness.  It is a kingdom where life is valued and all that disregards life is itself discarded.  It is a kingdom that comes in strange and unexpected ways, but also is very good.

Reflection on Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

 

I have been fooled before. 

I will freely admit that sometimes I have been very wrong about people.  I had a friend in college who, we were convinced, was a kind, go-lucky, church camp leader sort of fellow.  In fact, he was a church camp counselor for a number of years, and a beloved one at that.  Everyone loved him.  So, you can please forgive us when I tell you that we, his friends, were shocked to learn that he had taken his own life because there was proof that he had mistreated children in the worst kind of way. 

And, in the opposite sense, I had a professor who seemed arrogant, walking around stuck up and self-absorbed, but once you got to know him, you discovered that he was a very generous person, giving extra time at the end of the day to help out students.  He cared so much about students who seemed to begin their new career in a hole, that he gave significant amounts of money toward those disadvantaged student’s education. 

And, I will have to admit that my own thoughts about people’s character have at times been influenced by the color of that person’s skin rather than the content of their character.  So, I do admit that I have been very wrong about people before.

But, even so, I will say that for the most part…maybe 80 percent of the time…I am able to pick out the good from the bad.  I can usually tell the difference between people who are completely self-absorbed and self-serving, and those who love their neighbors as much as they love themselves.  Around 80 percent of the time I can absolutely distinguish between the wheat and the weeds.  How many of you know someone who is so much a weed in society that they are easy to pick out in a crowd?

So, it is easy to cast our metaphorical stones.  It is easy to point out people’s hurtful actions or words, try them in a jury of our friends, and declare a verdict of guilty.  It is easy to point out the enemy; the children of the evil one.  It is easy to yank out the weeds.  You have no idea how many people I have marked for weed pulling as I go about my day.

But, before I wrap my hands around the stalks of the enemy, and before I put my back into it and pull, there are some words from someone who is pretty influential in my life that give me pause.

Jesus says in Matthew 5:43-44 to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  And, further in 5:45 he says that God, the one who judges all of us, “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good.”  That alone gives me pause before I consider yanking out the weeds to be a worthwhile goal.  Certainly, loving your enemy looks nothing like destroying them.  The Bible says that God treats the evil just as well as God treats you or I. 

And then, there is Matthew 10:36, where Jesus tells the disciples that he is sending them out as sheep among wolves, where “one’s enemies will be members of one’s own household.” 

I know this to be true.  How many of you have that one weed in your family?  That weed is the reason so and so will not come to the family picnic.  Weeds waving in our faces from afar do not pose too much of a threat, but when those weeds are those closest to us, the thought of pulling them up and leaving them to die changes the dynamic altogether.  Some of you would pull up that weed in a second.  Blood has nothing on you.  Others wonder, “I don’t know if we should do that to family.”

But, Jesus does not expect us to attempt to get rid of these weeds at all.  He has a very good reason for this.  Jesus teaches: “for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.” 

My wife and I have some beautiful irises that we planted years ago.  Unfortunately, they are planted in area of our yard that is the Wal-Mart of weeds.  You name the weed, you can find it there.  The weeds are everywhere, so we let the weeds share the space with the irises because Irises’ roots are just so shallow and bound up with the weeds.  It is so easy to pull up the irises with the weeds.  In pulling the weeds, you can also destroy what is beautiful.

A few years ago, I heard about a brand new pastor who witnessed firsthand the evil that a young woman in his congregation was inflicting upon her family.  Believe me; what she was doing was truly evil. 

So, the pastor decided that he was going to get up into the pulpit and point a finger at the evil, and pull that weed.  His new church was not going to be infested.  The day after he preached his finger-pointing sermon, he received a letter from a couple of the congregation’s most devoted and loving members.

You have to understand, this husband and wife were those quiet sorts of servants who were at every event, setting up the tables, making the food, and hugging the depressed.  They were the ones who ran the hunger walk every year which raised thousands of dollars for the most destitute in the world.  They were the ones who probably understood Jesus’ self-giving love on the cross the best.  They were also the parents of the “evil” young woman in the congregation. 

Do not misunderstand, these parents were not hoodwinked.  They knew the trouble that their daughter had gotten into more than anybody.  But, they were also working on a task that Jesus had explicitly set out for his disciples: forgiveness and reconciliation.

As the pastor read the letter, he discovered that these two disciples of the congregation were not coming back.  Nor, did they think they would go to another church for the time being.  The very public hurt and shaming that was caused by his callous attempt at plucking weeds was too much.  Some fine wheat suffered from his weed pulling.

Lord, “do you want us to go and gather up” the weeds?  

"No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.”

It is not our job to point out and gather up the weeds.  Jesus says that is clearly the job of the reaping angels.  “They will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers.”  It is not our job to condemn the weeds that are so clearly coming to a head in the field.  “Vengeance is mine” says the Lord as quoted in Romans 12:19.  Condemnation is not our job.

After-all, did I not just admit at the top of the sermon that I am only correct 80 percent of the time on who is evil and who is good?  That means that 20 percent of the time I am completely wrong and condemning someone who does not deserve it. 

And, to be brutally honest, that 80/20 percent of goodness and evil can probably also apply to myself, and also to you.  The truth is, all of us are a field mixed with wheat and weed.  All of us need the reaping angels to be sent into our lives to clear out what is terrible.  All of us need the forgiving and saving love of Jesus on the cross.  All of us need Jesus.

We are not the reaping angels.  We have only one job given to us by Jesus.  And, that job is to trend to the growth of the seeds that God planted.  It is to love our neighbor, sharing Jesus’ good news.  That sort of tending just may mean forgiving many, many times over.  That sort of tending means leading others toward Jesus’ love and forgiveness. 

Just to be clear, making someone aware of their sin is not the same as condemning.  Making people aware of their sin is done out of love.  We truly want others to experience the freeing power of forgiveness.  Our task as followers of the one who gave his life on the cross to save the world is not to condemn, but to love. 

The gospel of John remind us that “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). 

So, how about we actually listen to Jesus and let the field grow with wheat and weed together?  How about we allow Jesus to care for the entire field?  It is OK.  We do not have to remove the weeds.  We just use our opportunities in life to raise and grow that field the best we can, and love it until the great harvest of the Lord.  That is loving your neighbor as yourself.  That is loving your enemy.  That is sharing the love of Jesus.  That is more than enough.

Reflection on Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

She is definitely good soil.  The woman works with troubled children, pouring her heart and soul into children who others would view as lost causes.  She mentors the children, makes sure they and their families get all of the basic things that they need, and she even splurges on the kid’s behalf, taking them out for ice cream.  She is good soil.

She even convinced her husband to adopt the hardest child with which she ever worked.  This child was not place-able.  He destroyed every relationship and every home in which the foster care system tried to find him a place.  With no other options, she adopted the boy.  Was it hard?  Yes.  Was it sometimes impossible?  Yes.  Was it what Jesus would want her to do?  She did not even need to ask.

Without hesitation, if you ask her about her life Bible verse, the verse that she uses to guide her life and her personal ministry, she would tell you that it is definitely Matthew 19:14 which reads, “Jesus said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.’”  The love that Jesus has for children is seen bearing fruit in everything that she focuses upon in her life.  She is good soil.

But, she was not always good soil.  She was not always that type of soil that hears God’s word, absorbs in into her soul, and allows it to bear fruit of goodness for others.  When I first met her, about twenty years ago, she was quite the opposite.

But, before I tell you about the first time I met her, I would just like to say that I think that sometimes we spend a little too much time thinking about what type of soil we are.

Most of us know this parable of the different types of soil very well.  Most of us have heard it at least fifty times, and most of us have considered what type of soil we might be at least that many times.

I know that I have.  I know for certain that there have been times that have found myself to be the hard soil of the path upon which the seed is thrown, but the birds just eat it up.  You have no idea how many times I have had God’s Word thrown onto the pathway of my soul, whether in church or while trying to read the Bible while drifting off to sleep, and somehow I completely missed it.  Tell me, how many times have you been looking up at the preacher when you suddenly realize, “I have no idea what that pastor is talking about!  I hope he does not ask us some random question!”  Some of you are saying to yourselves, I think that just happened.

It is like the Word has been thrown onto a parking lot and it never even had a chance to take root with all of the birds around and the obvious lack of fertile ground. 

Other times, I would sit through church and be moved by the Word either through the preaching or through the beauty of the music as it travels through the air and penetrates my soul.  I would walk out the doors of the church, my heart burning, ready to let God’s Word move me and shape my actions. 

But, my burning heart has so often had a very short burn time, like a couple of unimpressive fireworks I just set off last week, squeaking and fizzing sparks pathetically until ending a small poof of smoke.  So many times I have been like some rocky soil that excitedly allowed God’s word to grow up fast and tall, but as soon as my life took the slightest of unexpected turns, some struggle or some complication blocked the way, I inexplicably allowed the loving things that God desired me to do to wither and die.

Then, there were the times that I heard the Word, but it just did nothing at all.  It fell among the shopping lists and worries about family and friends that were at the forefront of my mind and never had a chance to even be noticed among the thorns of life that grow up and get in the way. 

As I said, we make a lot of the seeds that fell on the path and the birds ate it up; or fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly and were scorched; or fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.  We make a lot of these types of soil and reflect a lot on which one we may or may not be…or if you are like me worry a lot about what type of soil is the person next to me.  “Her soil has no depth.”  “He’s a man full of thorns.”

Thorns were what plagued the woman the first time I met her twenty years ago.  She came to the church, looking for help paying for her rent.  It was one of those cases where she desperately needed money to keep a roof over the heads of her children, but as she asked for some help I noticed the perfectly manicured nails and the pack of cigarettes in her back pocket.  She flippantly talked about her night at the bar, and I knew where all of her rent money was going.  She was a woman whose soil was being choked by thorns of selfishness and concerns for things like fancy nails over the very real needs of her children.  Her wants were choking out her ability to see her needs, and it was destroying her life.  We helped her anyway, but it was obvious that she was the soil being choked out by the thorns.

At the time, we discussed if helping her was a good idea or not, but, as I said before, sometimes we spend way too much time focusing on the soil and not enough time focusing on the only character in Jesus’ story: the sower.

He is mentioned so briefly that he is easily forgotten, but he is the one who starts off the entire story.  In fact, the story would not even happen if it were not for his actions.  The Bible reads, “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell…” (Matthew 13:3-4).  I am going to stop the story right there, because I do not want us to forget about him again.  This farmer goes out and does not create fine little rows in which the seeds can be nicely planted in order to increase the yield, rather, the farmer throws seeds left and right, scattering them everywhere.  The sower throws them on the path.  The sower throws them on the rocky soil.  The sower even pitches the seed haphazardly near the edge of the field where the briars and weeds have taken hold.

Now, that is my kind of farmer.  The farmer just pitches the seeds around and is like, “Close enough.”  I like that.

But, the important thing in the story is that the sower of the seed throws the seed everywhere, hoping that it will reach some good soil, hoping that no good soil is missed. 

And, the important thing about that woman’s story was that Jesus just kept throwing seeds of God’s Word onto that woman who was trapped in the thorns.  Yes, she was soil full of thorns, but what if the seed just happened to reach some good soil one of those times?  The sower did not care that the soil was full of thorns.  Jesus does not stop loving just because he sees thorns or hard hearts or rocky lives.  Jesus does not stop trying to sew the Word of his grace into people’s lives.  And, it is a good thing, because that once thorny woman is now the good, healthy soil of Jesus out of which a bountiful harvest of love grows for troubled children within our community. 

She is who she is because Jesus did not give up sewing.  We are who we are because Jesus does not give up showering us with seeds of grace and love.

And, as we look up, watching Jesus’ never-ending seeds of grace fall down upon us, we sing out a prayer that our hearts be good soil.

Lord, let my heart be good soil,

open to the seed of your word.

Lord, let my heart be good soil,

where love can grow and peace is understood.

When my heart is hard, break the stone away.

When my heart is cold, warm it with the day.

When my heart is lost, lead me on your way.

Lord, let my heart, Lord, let my heart,

Lord, let my heart be good soil.

                        Evangelical Lutheran Worship #512

Reflection on Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

 

Jesus has some words of grace for quite a few of us this week.  Of course, there are the dark valleys of grief that many of us are experiencing because beloved friends and family have ended their journey in this world and now live their new lives with Jesus Christ.  Of course, we are joyful for the eternal life that they now enjoy with Jesus, but it still leaves a heavy weight of sadness on our own shoulders.

Others are struggling with problems in jobs and relationships; problems that they would have never guessed that they would ever encounter.  “These are struggles that others encounter, not us,” we say to ourselves.  Yet, the struggles have clamped their jaws around our necks anyway, and we struggle to find any sort of peace and grace in our lives.  We need some words of grace.

And, Jesus has the words ready for us to hear.  “Come,” Jesus says.  “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”  “Come to me…and find rest for your souls,” he beckons.  “Come.”

Come to the Altar

https://youtu.be/PcTdgojd7p0 

Some of the burdens thrown on our shoulders come completely from the outside of our bodies and lives.  Jesus points this out clearly.  He points out how people burden us with their expectations and demands.  The powerful people of his time try to throw their own expectations of life upon John the Baptist.  They “tisk” as they observe him fasting from food and drink.  He, of course, is identifying with his own people, the Israelites, calling them to repent as their ancestors did in the wilderness.  The powerful ignore his call to faithfulness, though they should not, and they dismiss him as having a demon. 

Jesus, on the other hand, is accused by the same people as being a glutton and drunkard, as he spends his time with those who need him; those enslaved by disease and sin.  The leaders would prefer he not associate with such sinners…the scum of the streets. 

These powerful leaders want to throw a cattle yoke upon them both, chastising them and picking on them, so that they can make John and Jesus bend to their own wills.  And, there are a great many of us who have felt this sort of pressure from the outside to bend to other people’s wills, ever though we are pretty certain they are wrong.

Sometimes, we throw that cattle yoke upon ourselves, expecting the impossible from ourselves and chastising ourselves for our failures.  Sometimes that critical voice in our heads can be just as enslaving as those leaders of Jesus’ time.

But, Jesus has a better idea.  How about we strive for his kingdom?  It is a kingdom of love and forgiveness.  It is an easy yoke.  God’s love is easy to accept and easy to share, if you allow Jesus to lead.

Let Your Kingdom Come

https://youtu.be/RIhcrDFz8FA

“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Come to Jesus and find rest.  Come to Jesus and be refreshed by a gushing water that never stops flowing from within.  Come to Jesus and drink in the easy life of love and grace.

The Well

https://youtu.be/DdaawxgDg5w

 

 

 

Reflection on Matthew 10:40-42

 

 

As Jesus sends his disciples out into the neighboring towns to teach, and perform healings in his name, Jesus desperately hopes that his disciples will be welcomed in his name.  After-all, his name is starting to become famous.  His name has started to spread as people have heard about the wonderful things that he has been doing and teaching.  A girl has been raised back to life.  Two blind men have been healed.  A paralytic can walk.  The mute can talk.  Words of Jesus blessing the poor in spirit have spread and everyone is starting to talk about Jesus.  Jesus is hopeful that people of the neighboring towns will be just as welcoming to his followers as they would be to him. 

Jesus said to the twelve disciples, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me” (Matthew 10:40).  Whenever someone welcomes one of the disciples, they are welcoming Jesus.  And, if they welcome Jesus, then they are welcoming God the Father who sent them all.  In other words, Jesus prays that the people of these towns see the presence of Jesus when the disciples enter into their towns.

Now, in order for the people to welcome these disciples (to welcome them as if they were Jesus) they would need to fight against a very innate assumption that we all have.  This assumption is very powerful; it seems to be baked into our brains from the moment we are born.  These townspeople would need to fight against the assumption that the stranger is evil and not to be trusted.

It is much more prevalent than we nice people would like to admit.  You see it in the eyes of school children as they line up for the first day of school and stare at the new girl who seems to be invading their sliver of sidewalk.  They could be nice and introduce themselves, but they do not.  They stare, sizing her up, afraid of the unknown, afraid of the stranger.

In time they will likely become friends, but not without first assuming the worst.  It makes sense.  We can all come up with a story about how trusting the stranger has turned out bad.  Just a few weeks ago the Emmanuel Nine were commemorated in churches across the nation.  In case you were not certain what that commemoration was all about, we marked the anniversary of the evening that nine faithful church people were shot and killed during a Bible study at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C.  These faithful, people did exactly what Jesus hopes that the people of these neighboring towns would do for his followers.  They welcomed a young man, a complete stranger, into their Bible Study, offering him a seat, and offering him the hospitality that Jesus offered to everyone who came to him. 

Horrifically, this young man squandered their hospitality, pulled out a gun, and murdered nine faithful followers of Jesus Christ because of the color of their skin. 

Lutherans in particular commemorate this tragedy every year, even though the rest of the world has mostly forgotten, because that young man who murdered those nine faithful people was a Lutheran.  He was born, bred, and raised Lutheran, yet he somehow did not learn to see the stranger as Jesus.  Those nine saw him as Jesus, but that vision was not reciprocated.  All he saw were people who had a hue of skin that somehow he thought deserved to be hated and eliminated.

Of course, that is not the only instance that welcoming the stranger has gone wrong.  Unfortunately, there are many, many others.  As a result, we very easily fall into our innate patterns of behavior that distrusts the stranger rather than welcoming the stranger.  It causes us to regulate others, keeping them from helping the stranger.  People who leave water for migrants are criminalized in some areas, as if caring about a person’s life and giving a cup of cold water is a crime.  People who give food to the poor in some areas are arrested, as if multiplying loaves and fishes is a criminal act. 

Now, I am in no way calling those who would try to keep others safe from the stranger evil.  They are merely trying to build a wall of protection so that the stranger cannot accomplish the type of evil thing that the young man accomplished when he shot up that Bible study. 

In fact, building a city with walls was one of the very first things that humans did after they were shut out of the Garden of Eden.  Way in the beginning of the Bible, after Cain kills his brother Abel, Cain is worried that other people will retaliate against him and seek to take his life.  God offers to protect Cain, but Cain does not trust God’s protection, so he builds a city with walls. 

The walls are the important detail in this story.  There is nothing wrong with creating a city that is vibrant, full of life, full of art, and overflowing with an abundance of great food and socializing.  It is the walls that trouble God.  The walls prove that we do not trust God.  The walls prove that deep down we actually think that we must take matters into our own hands to keep ourselves safe.  This mistrust of God just leads to an abundance of murder and mayhem in the early pages of scripture; so much so that God sends a flood to wipe it all away.

Obviously, this sort of mistrust is not the way to live an abundant life.  This sort of mistrust where all we know is creating walls between us and others will never allow Jesus to enter into anyone’s life.  This sort of mistrust literally blocks the love of Jesus behind a wall of fear.

Jesus hopes and prays that his followers will not come up against people who throw up such walls.  Jesus hopes and prays that the people they encounter see his own face in the faces of his disciples.  He hopes and prays that they give the disciples a cup of cold water, and welcome them into their homes and into their lives.  After-all, when the people welcome the followers of Jesus, they are welcoming Jesus himself and his love.  

Jesus hopes and prays that a basic sense of compassion, giving water to someone who needs it, is an opening into their hearts where Jesus can pour something much, much better.  “Whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward” (Matthew 10:42). 

That reminds me of an individual who most people considered a racist, a bigot, and a misogynist.  This is a true story by the way.  By reading this person’s posts on social media, you would think that they were one of the most hateful people on the planet.  I will not even get into the types of things that they post on social media, nor will I get specific about the types of people who they explicitly hate as they type out their posts, but I am certain that you could probably guess.

Well, it just so happened that their literal neighbor down the road, who fell into one of their categories of hated people, was thrown out of their home one night because of an abusive person.  The neighbor in need walked barefoot to their house, with only a pillowcase of belongings.  They knocked on this racist, misogynistic, bigot’s door asking for help…any sort of help…and the hateful person stared at them, looked at their bloody feet, and responded by inviting them in.  More than giving cold water to drink and a bath that might, they let their neighbor live in their home for five months until they could get their feet under them.

The story seems too astonishing to be true, but I assure you that it is true.  And, when asked why they did it, since it seemed to go against every personal value that the person held, they simply said,

“We are supposed to see people like that as Jesus, aren’t we?  They asked for a cup of cold water and I gave it.  Isn’t it what we are supposed to do?”

“But, you have actively and very publicly stated that people like them are sinful!”

“Well, I’m sinful too,” they responded.  “I may not agree with them, but that does not mean Jesus can’t use them in some way.  Again, they asked for a cup of cold water and I gave it.  It is what we are supposed to do.”

This was the very person that I would have assumed would stand in front of the throne of Jesus in the end times and hear, “You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me” (Matthew 25:41-43).

But, I was so very wrong.  The person, who I assumed was a wall, was actually an open gate.  So, I am convinced now that when they stand in front of the throne of Jesus Christ, they will hear, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me” (Matthew 25:34-36).

Jesus never ceases to amaze me.  I cannot tell you the amount of times that I have seen Jesus in the most unlikely of people.  Jesus never ceases to amaze me.  But, maybe I should not be so amazed.  Maybe, I need to try looking harder at those around me.  Maybe, I need to stop assuming the other person to be evil.  Maybe, I need to start opening my eyes to the presence of Jesus in those around me.  Maybe, there are more people out there who need a fount of eternal water gushing up in them than I have ever realized.