Hosting Jesus, The Vip (Luke 7:36-50) Series

One of the things we've talked about several times in the gospel of Luke, is the idea of God "visiting" his people. That's a big part of today's message, so let's read Luke 1:68, to get us off on the right foot:

I'll read from the RSV (and here, the translation absolutely matters):

“Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

for he has "visited" and redeemed his people,

69 and has raised up a horn of salvation for us

in the house of his servant David,

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On "visiting":

?p?s??pt?µa?

BDAG:

? to go to see a pers. with helpful intent, visit t??? someone (Demosth. 9, 12; PLille 6, 5 [III B.C.] d?aß??t?? µ?? … ?p?s???as?a? t. ?de?f??; Judg 15:1) ???ß? ?p? t?? ?a?d?a? a?t?? ?p?s???as?a? t??? ?de?f??? a?t?? (Moses) felt strongly about visiting his people Ac 7:23 (for the note of solicitude cp. X., Mem. 3, 11, 10 f???t?st????); 15:36. ???????? Hv 3, 9, 2. Esp. of visiting the sick (X., Mem. 3, 11, 10; Plut., Mor. 129c; Lucian, Philops. 6; Herodian 4, 2, 4; Sir 7, 35; TestJob 28:2; Jos., Ant. 9, 178) Mt 25:36, 43; Pol 6:1. W. special suggestion in the context on care to be bestowed: look after widows and orphans ?? t? ????e? a?t?? in their distress Js 1:27; cp. Hs 1:8. ??fa???? ?a? ?ste???µ????? Hm 8:10.

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So the idea here-- and really, one of the key themes in this book-- is that God has visited his people through two people: John the Baptist (Luke 1:76), and Messiah Jesus. Picture a really important person coming to town-- Donald Trump, or Ed Sheeran, or Kirk Cousins. This VIP shows up, wanting to do good to the community, and it's a great honor to have this person come to town. Now, there's also a practical question that arises from this "visitation." Who gets to host this VIP? Who has the privilege of inviting him over for supper, serving him a nice meal, maybe, even, giving him a place to sleep that night on your very best sheets, in your own bed. Being a good host to a person like this is a privilege, and it's a matter of honor.

Now, when we turn back to Luke, we see that it's a little more complicated than the picture I tried to paint. God is the Very Important Person, and when God sends John and Jesus to visit, the kind of welcome you give his "sent ones" ("apostles"), is also the kind of welcome you give God. So if you are the perfect host to John and Jesus, in part because you recognize The One Who Sent them, you are also acting as the perfect host to God. And if you fail John or Jesus, you are also failing God.

Now, in our culture, we struggle with the idea of hospitality. It's foreign to us, really. We tend to meet people in neutral settings like coffee shops, or in church buildings. Maybe, it's because we have the classic "man" view of our home. Our home is our castle. Our lawn is our moat, and those pesky neighbor kids need to stay off our grass. And our front door is our drawbridge, carefully secured by two locks. Trespassers will be shot. Survivors will be shot again. Our home is the place where we keep our family safe from a wicked world, trusting in God and guns.

Or, maybe the reason we meet people in coffee shops is because our lives are a chaotic mess, and that chaotic mess spills over very naturally into our houses. We go through life just barely hanging in there, just scraping by. We have enough energy to make it through the day, because we have to. But we sure don't have enough energy to clean up the day's mess, and organize all of the clutter that we really thought we needed to buy off Amazon to be happy. Meeting in coffee shops is a way to keep a wall between us and other people, as a way to protect ourselves maybe from embarrassment, or shame, or just from getting quite so close to people. It's a place to meet people, where you don't have to feel like you should lose half a day to organizing and cleaning. Coffee shops are great. I mean that sincerely. They are a nice place to meet. They are a nice way to put less strain on my marriage when I want to hang out with people. But, at the same time, they are not a home. So coffee shops are an imperfect compromise.

But in the first century, and (more importantly) in the gospel of Luke/Acts, this idea of hospitality turns out to be a core (gospel) value. What kind of a welcome do you give God, and Jesus? What kind of a welcome do you give to outsiders? What kind of welcome do you give to one another?