God’s Love Knows No Borders, Leviticus 19:33-34
Introduction
In a large stone cathedral in Europe there was a large, magnificent pipe organ. It was a Saturday afternoon, and the sexton was making one final check of the choir and organ loft high in the balcony at the back of the church. He was startled to hear footsteps echoing up the stone stairway, as he thought the doors were all locked and no one was around. He turned to see a man in slightly tattered traveling clothes coming toward him. “Excuse me, sir,” the stranger said. “I have come from quite a distance to see the great organ in this cathedral. Would you mind opening the console so that I might get a closer look at it?” The custodian at first refused, but the stranger seemed so eager and insistent that he finally gave in. “May I sit on the bench?” That request of the stranger was met with absolute refusal by the cathedral custodian. “What if the organist came in and found you sitting there? I would probably lose my job!” But again the stranger was so persistent that the sexton gave in. “But only for a moment,” he added.
The custodian noticed that the stranger seemed to be very much at home on the organ bench, so he was not completely surprised when he was asked by the stranger to be allowed to play the organ. “No! Definitely not!” said the custodian. “No one is allowed to play it except the cathedral organist.” The man’s face fell, and his deep disappointment was obvious. He reminded the custodian how far he had come and assured him that no damage would be done. Finally the sexton relented and told the stranger he could play the instrument, but only a few notes and then he would have to leave. Overjoyed, the stranger pulled out some stops and began to play. Suddenly the cathedral was filled with the most beautiful music the custodian had ever heard in all his years in that place. The music seemed to transport him heavenward.
In what seemed all too short a time, the dowdy stranger stopped playing and slid off the organ bench. And started down the stairway. “Wait!” cried the custodian. “That was the most beautiful music I have ever heard in the cathedral. Who are you?” The stranger turned for just a moment as he replied, “Mendelssohn.” The man was none other than Felix Mendelssohn, one of the greatest organists and composers of the nineteenth century!
The cathedral sexton was alone now in that great stone edifice, the beautiful organ music still ringing in his ears. “Just think,” he said softly, “I almost kept the master from playing his music in my cathedral!”
Transition
The cathedral sexton almost missed out on the beauty of hearing the music of one of the greatest organ musicians that the world has known due to his reluctance to honor a stranger who had made his way into the cathedral.
I wonder how much beautiful music you and I have missed out on because we fail to honor the strangers in our lives. How often do we miss out on the joy of hearing the music of another’s life because someone is a stranger to us?
What wondrous sounds are ringing forth from the lives of others around us that fall on our ears, as though we are deaf – purely for a lack of choosing to listen?
Scripture
Leviticus 19:33-34 is today’s Scripture. It reads, “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” (ESV)
Exposition
Pastor Erwin W. Lutzer of The Moody Church in Chicago said, “Hospitality is a test for godliness because those who are selfish do not like strangers (especially needy ones) to intrude upon their private lives. They prefer their own friends who share their life-style. Only the humble have the necessary resources to give of themselves to those who could never give of themselves in return.”
Hospitality seems like a forgotten word on our culture. I remember when I was a child growing in a large family, there were always aunts & uncles, cousins, neighbors, family, and friends around my grandmother’s house.
Her house was a beehive of sounds of conversation, smells of cornbread and beans, but of all it was full of a casual, hospitable atmosphere. Why is it that so many have forgotten the value of hospitality? Why is it that so many have stopped listening for the sounds of the music radiating from the lives of others?
The writer of this text in Leviticus is specifically speaking to the Israelites. The writer is encouraging them to be hospitable to strangers who settle among them in order that they should be brought to the knowledge and worship of the true God.
The Israelites had themselves been strangers in a foreign land. The nation of Israel was held in captivity for many years as slaves of the Egyptians.
God saw their affliction and according to His grace, He set them free through His servant Moses. God commands His people to remain humble, recognizing that His love knows no boundaries. We are all strangers – travelers on life’s journey.
There is one God who brings freedom to all those who are oppressed. There is but one God who makes the sun to shine on all of humanity by day and the stars to declare His majesty and glory by night.
In the Old Testament we are told the story of God setting His people free from the bondage of slavery to the Egyptians, through His servant Moses.
In the New Testament we are told the story of God setting His people free from the bondage of slavery to sin, through His Son Jesus.
Christianity is the story of the traveler. It is the story the Jesus Christ traveling to earth to show the way to the sojourner – you and I – as we travel the paths and highways of this life.
We are all of us strangers in this world. We are here but for a short time; travelers, strangers in strange lands, pilgrims on a journey of faith.
The 19th century Pastor, Charles Spurgeon, said, “Living in the midst of the church of God is like sailing down the Nile in a boat. One is charmed with the luxuriance of either bank, and with much that is beautiful immediately around; but alas!
At a little distance on either side lies a vast uncultivated, almost hopeless, desert. Some are at rest because they never look beyond the borders of the church, but those whose sympathies reach to all humanity will have to carry a lifelong “burden of the Lord.”
As we float down the river of this life are we looking outside of the borders of our church? Do we love the unlovely or do we only love others who are like us? Do our lives reflect the love and mercy that Jesus showed us on the Cross?
What is our attitude toward strangers or foreigners? Do we recognize that they are our fellow pilgrims who are also traveling along their journey through this life?
There is an ancient Jewish proverb which says, “Hospitality is a form of worship.” When we show hospitality to the stranger, we worship our God and King.
Matthew 25:31-40, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who 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 drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (ESV)
I remember one day when I was about 10 or 11 years old and I had decided to go all the way across town to my grandmother’s house one summer afternoon. It was a scorching hot day in Northern California and I had about 6 miles to walk to my grandmother’s house because my bicycle had a flat tire.
I started to walk and by the time I had gotten about half way to her house I began to get exhausted from the heat. I had not brought anything with me to drink and I as I was unemployed at the time, I didn’t have any money!
I was finally so thirsty and exhausted that I stopped in somebody’s yard and tried to very nonchalantly take a drink from their water hose! I remember that the water tasted terrible, probably from whatever the hose was made from.
As I began to drink, a man came out of the house and asked me what I was doing. He really startled me and I almost ran. I thought that perhaps he was angry because I was using his water hose. Instead of becoming angry though, he told me to have a seat on his front steps while he went inside to get me something to drink.
He returned with a large glass of iced tea and it was wonderful! The man had taken pity on a young boy had rather rudely walked through his bushes and flowers to pilfer a drink of water from his garden hose.
Conclusion
Today, I encourage you to look for ways to show hospitality to those around you. Don’t miss out on the music waiting around you like the cathedral sexton nearly did because he was skeptical of a stranger.
A stranger may be an unlikely friend waiting to be made or they may be an opportunity to worship God as you show hospitality to them. Christ has loved us and in response we are to love others.
God’s love knows no borders. We are to love others the way that we have been loved; nationality, race, color, these things matter not in the economy of God.
As it has been said, he who practices hospitality entertains God himself.
Amen.
