Genesis 18:1-15, (21:1-7)
Matthew 9:35 - 10:8, (9-23)
On an average day 93 Americans are killed by guns
The Harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few:
11 million undocumented at risk of deportation
The Harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
24 million risk losing their health insurance
The Harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.
14.5 million Children live in poverty
The Harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.
Close to 45% of seniors are at below twice the poverty threshold
The Harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.
39 million cannot afford their housing
The Harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few
For the hundreds of thousands people affected by voter suppression laws this past year – the first time without the protection of the Voter Protection Act
The Harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few
For the somewhere between 23% and 28% of American adults have no religious affiliation, and these so-called “nones” are not only growing in number, but they are becoming increasingly secular in their behaviors and beliefs. What is the relevance of religion in face of all the social ills of our society, let alone personal search for meaning and truth? Who is Jesus and the kingdom of God to these people?
The Harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers.
Jesus looked not upon wheat or barley fields when he spoke these words but on the multitude of people, the crowds he encountered in the towns and villages as he taught in the synagogues and cured every disease and illness. Jesus had compassion on them; a verb used at least 11 times in the gospels by Jesus in the face of human suffering. Compassion is not an abstract concept. It is a physical gutsy reaction, translating directly as the bowels or guts of a person; where the ancients placed the experience of care, pity, of compassion. Compassion means “with passion,” standing with someone who is suffering. And Jesus stood with those crowds and looked at those fields of downtrodden, afflicted by poverty, oppression, illness, hunger and by the forces of evil. And Jesus had compassion.
This is at the core of Jesus’ ministry; that compassion leads the way and dictates the response to those in need. And one of Jesus’s response to address the suffering and need he encountered was to summon his disciples, equip them with the skills to heal, to confront evil, and preach about the goodness and righteousness of the kingdom of God. As he sent them forth Jesus taught his disciples to travel light – no bag or silver coins for the journey. This was so in order that the disciples would learn to be dependent on God and one with the people they were sent out to serve. This focus on mutual generosity- between the disciples and those they are sent to help. Generosity is the common thread in all the acts of ministry. It moves our guts to reach out and care and to make a difference in the lives of others. As disciples, we are summoned to embrace the generosity of our time, talent and resources, which are borne from compassion, the hallmark of a living faith. Go forth into the harvest.
Our Hebrew lessons about Abraham and Sarah, and Lot, describe for significant acts of generosity for us to learn from. Our passages from Genesis suggest that the primary way we can be laborers in the Harvest of our world is through acts of generosity.
At the beginning of chapter 18 we hear about how, on one hot summer day, God appeared to Abraham in the guise of three men. Abraham’s immediate reaction was to invite these men into his dwelling. He’s never seen these men before; they are complete strangers to him. Yet he says, “Please come into my house where I can serve you. I’ll have some water brought, so you can wash your feet, (a cardinal act of hospitality which Jesus also performs as he washes his disciples’ feet the night before his death ) and you can rest under the tree. Let me get you some food to give you strength before you leave.” Abraham tells Sarah to make bread, and Abraham hurries off to pick a calf to be killed and cooked for his guests, and he himself serves his guests yogurt and milk with the meat. Imagine the time, energy and resources Abraham expended to serve three unknown visitors. Imagine if as a nation, as individuals we could expend our resources in such a generous way.
It is this elaborate act of hospitality that creates the context in which prophecy and the fulfillment of a long-cherished dream occurs. While eating the guests foretell that within a year’s time, Sarah, Abraham’s wife with give birth to a son. A son they had waited for 75-80 years, now surely a miracle in Sarah’s old age. The hospitality is returned in an unthinkable way. Generosity creates a cascade of good deeds that transforms lives.
After this, the men leave, and Abraham walks with them. This isn’t in our passage but it is a text that bridges to our story of Lot. During this walk, the Lord tells Abraham of their intent to visit Sodom and Gomorrah and see what is going on, and if the place is truly filled with evil acts to have that place destroyed. Abraham in converses with the Lord, imploring on God’s mercy to save the city, first if there are 50 righteous, until Abraham gets God down to promise that if there are only 10 righteous people there in Sodom, the town won’t be destroyed. At this point Abraham and the Lord part ways. Abraham demonstrates generosity toward his neighboring cities, knowing his nephew Lot lived in Sodom. The Lord demonstrates generosity in his willingness to not destroy Sodom if there are just a handful of righteous people.
The story continues. When the angels/men arrive at Sodom they are initially greeted by Abraham’s nephew Lot, who in turn, like Abraham offers hospitality. Gentlemen, I am your servant, please come to my home. You can wash your feet, spend the night and be on your way it says Lot “baked some bread, cooked a meal and they ate.”
Because of the depravity of the people, Genesis tells us that Sodom and Gomorrah were ultimately destroyed, not because the residents were homosexual as it has been often erroneously taught for centuries, but because the town people failed the laws of hospitality. They were violent, self-absorbed, cruel, and they lacked compassion. They sought to violate and hurt the guests who had come under Lot’s house. They threatened Lot and attempted to break into his house. Their judgement was ultimately that they were not a generous people, which was an affront to God. Because God summons us to be generous. God summons us to see the harvest waiting to be gathered. God summons us to feel compassion and respond.
What we are allowed to see is that generosity opens the door to questions long held, prayers long lifted up. Abraham and Sarah got their child. Lot and his family was saved from destruction. This is why Jesus gives authority to his disciples to go forth into the harvest. Hospitality widens the heart to receive the Divine dream of peace and justice on earth.
What we are allowed to see is that our God likes to be hidden seen through the traveler, the foreigner, and the guest who appears at our doorstep or the homeless on our streets, the immigrant who appears at our border. Those are moments when we are challenged like Abraham and Lot to open our doors wide.
God desires our generosity, our hospitality, to enter our homes, to walk with us, to dialogue with us, and to engage us in the welfare of the world. And our Hospitality, our prayers our acts of kindness can create change in how people think and act, can mitigate, can heal and can confront evil. Generosity is the basis of justice, for it calls us to be laborers for the needy and the strangers.
As we stand amidst the fields heavy with, the Rev. Dr. William Barber, pastor, the leader of the “Moral Monday” movements in Raliegh NC, which was organized to oppose voter rights restrictions and other repressive policies that affect the poor and marginalized -- talks about the “theological malpractice” when we ignore the 2000 plus verses in the Bible that speak out against the poor, the orphan & widow and foreigner. His Forward Together movement is reaching laborers for the Harvest across the country. And the laborers are springing up across the nation in many grassroots way: Through the Repairers of the Breech movement, sanctuary coalitions, Matthew 25 movement whose pledge is this: “I Pledge to protect and defend vulnerable people in the name of Jesus.” The laborers are coming forward because of compassion stirring within – laborers of every creed, color, age, sexual orientation.
Today we too are summoned to reach out with holy hospitality to the stranger like Abraham and Sarah did, like Lot did. We are summoned by Jesus to see the crowds who are suffering, like sheep without a shepherd. We are summoned to experience compassion in the depths of our being for the suffering, for those ignorant of God’s love for them. In the name of Jesus, we have authority to confront evil, to work for the cure of the illness that plagues our people. We are Laborers, and although there are few, still we are summoned, and we are summoned to share the compassion of Jesus –the hospitality of Abraham, Sarah and Lot: call forth the compassion that kindles within us that proclaims: “I pledge to protect and defend the vulnerable in the name of Jesus.”
Go forth, and proclaim in your good deeds the prophetic words: for the Kingdom of God is near.
Because the harvest is plentiful all around us, and the laborers are few. May the Lord of the harvest send us forth. Amen.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/phil-zuckerman/religion-declining-secula_b_9889398.html
Matthew 9:35 - 10:8, (9-23)
On an average day 93 Americans are killed by guns
The Harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few:
11 million undocumented at risk of deportation
The Harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
24 million risk losing their health insurance
The Harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.
14.5 million Children live in poverty
The Harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.
Close to 45% of seniors are at below twice the poverty threshold
The Harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few.
39 million cannot afford their housing
The Harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few
For the hundreds of thousands people affected by voter suppression laws this past year – the first time without the protection of the Voter Protection Act
The Harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few
For the somewhere between 23% and 28% of American adults have no religious affiliation, and these so-called “nones” are not only growing in number, but they are becoming increasingly secular in their behaviors and beliefs. What is the relevance of religion in face of all the social ills of our society, let alone personal search for meaning and truth? Who is Jesus and the kingdom of God to these people?
The Harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers.
Jesus looked not upon wheat or barley fields when he spoke these words but on the multitude of people, the crowds he encountered in the towns and villages as he taught in the synagogues and cured every disease and illness. Jesus had compassion on them; a verb used at least 11 times in the gospels by Jesus in the face of human suffering. Compassion is not an abstract concept. It is a physical gutsy reaction, translating directly as the bowels or guts of a person; where the ancients placed the experience of care, pity, of compassion. Compassion means “with passion,” standing with someone who is suffering. And Jesus stood with those crowds and looked at those fields of downtrodden, afflicted by poverty, oppression, illness, hunger and by the forces of evil. And Jesus had compassion.
This is at the core of Jesus’ ministry; that compassion leads the way and dictates the response to those in need. And one of Jesus’s response to address the suffering and need he encountered was to summon his disciples, equip them with the skills to heal, to confront evil, and preach about the goodness and righteousness of the kingdom of God. As he sent them forth Jesus taught his disciples to travel light – no bag or silver coins for the journey. This was so in order that the disciples would learn to be dependent on God and one with the people they were sent out to serve. This focus on mutual generosity- between the disciples and those they are sent to help. Generosity is the common thread in all the acts of ministry. It moves our guts to reach out and care and to make a difference in the lives of others. As disciples, we are summoned to embrace the generosity of our time, talent and resources, which are borne from compassion, the hallmark of a living faith. Go forth into the harvest.
Our Hebrew lessons about Abraham and Sarah, and Lot, describe for significant acts of generosity for us to learn from. Our passages from Genesis suggest that the primary way we can be laborers in the Harvest of our world is through acts of generosity.
At the beginning of chapter 18 we hear about how, on one hot summer day, God appeared to Abraham in the guise of three men. Abraham’s immediate reaction was to invite these men into his dwelling. He’s never seen these men before; they are complete strangers to him. Yet he says, “Please come into my house where I can serve you. I’ll have some water brought, so you can wash your feet, (a cardinal act of hospitality which Jesus also performs as he washes his disciples’ feet the night before his death ) and you can rest under the tree. Let me get you some food to give you strength before you leave.” Abraham tells Sarah to make bread, and Abraham hurries off to pick a calf to be killed and cooked for his guests, and he himself serves his guests yogurt and milk with the meat. Imagine the time, energy and resources Abraham expended to serve three unknown visitors. Imagine if as a nation, as individuals we could expend our resources in such a generous way.
It is this elaborate act of hospitality that creates the context in which prophecy and the fulfillment of a long-cherished dream occurs. While eating the guests foretell that within a year’s time, Sarah, Abraham’s wife with give birth to a son. A son they had waited for 75-80 years, now surely a miracle in Sarah’s old age. The hospitality is returned in an unthinkable way. Generosity creates a cascade of good deeds that transforms lives.
After this, the men leave, and Abraham walks with them. This isn’t in our passage but it is a text that bridges to our story of Lot. During this walk, the Lord tells Abraham of their intent to visit Sodom and Gomorrah and see what is going on, and if the place is truly filled with evil acts to have that place destroyed. Abraham in converses with the Lord, imploring on God’s mercy to save the city, first if there are 50 righteous, until Abraham gets God down to promise that if there are only 10 righteous people there in Sodom, the town won’t be destroyed. At this point Abraham and the Lord part ways. Abraham demonstrates generosity toward his neighboring cities, knowing his nephew Lot lived in Sodom. The Lord demonstrates generosity in his willingness to not destroy Sodom if there are just a handful of righteous people.
The story continues. When the angels/men arrive at Sodom they are initially greeted by Abraham’s nephew Lot, who in turn, like Abraham offers hospitality. Gentlemen, I am your servant, please come to my home. You can wash your feet, spend the night and be on your way it says Lot “baked some bread, cooked a meal and they ate.”
Because of the depravity of the people, Genesis tells us that Sodom and Gomorrah were ultimately destroyed, not because the residents were homosexual as it has been often erroneously taught for centuries, but because the town people failed the laws of hospitality. They were violent, self-absorbed, cruel, and they lacked compassion. They sought to violate and hurt the guests who had come under Lot’s house. They threatened Lot and attempted to break into his house. Their judgement was ultimately that they were not a generous people, which was an affront to God. Because God summons us to be generous. God summons us to see the harvest waiting to be gathered. God summons us to feel compassion and respond.
What we are allowed to see is that generosity opens the door to questions long held, prayers long lifted up. Abraham and Sarah got their child. Lot and his family was saved from destruction. This is why Jesus gives authority to his disciples to go forth into the harvest. Hospitality widens the heart to receive the Divine dream of peace and justice on earth.
What we are allowed to see is that our God likes to be hidden seen through the traveler, the foreigner, and the guest who appears at our doorstep or the homeless on our streets, the immigrant who appears at our border. Those are moments when we are challenged like Abraham and Lot to open our doors wide.
God desires our generosity, our hospitality, to enter our homes, to walk with us, to dialogue with us, and to engage us in the welfare of the world. And our Hospitality, our prayers our acts of kindness can create change in how people think and act, can mitigate, can heal and can confront evil. Generosity is the basis of justice, for it calls us to be laborers for the needy and the strangers.
As we stand amidst the fields heavy with, the Rev. Dr. William Barber, pastor, the leader of the “Moral Monday” movements in Raliegh NC, which was organized to oppose voter rights restrictions and other repressive policies that affect the poor and marginalized -- talks about the “theological malpractice” when we ignore the 2000 plus verses in the Bible that speak out against the poor, the orphan & widow and foreigner. His Forward Together movement is reaching laborers for the Harvest across the country. And the laborers are springing up across the nation in many grassroots way: Through the Repairers of the Breech movement, sanctuary coalitions, Matthew 25 movement whose pledge is this: “I Pledge to protect and defend vulnerable people in the name of Jesus.” The laborers are coming forward because of compassion stirring within – laborers of every creed, color, age, sexual orientation.
Today we too are summoned to reach out with holy hospitality to the stranger like Abraham and Sarah did, like Lot did. We are summoned by Jesus to see the crowds who are suffering, like sheep without a shepherd. We are summoned to experience compassion in the depths of our being for the suffering, for those ignorant of God’s love for them. In the name of Jesus, we have authority to confront evil, to work for the cure of the illness that plagues our people. We are Laborers, and although there are few, still we are summoned, and we are summoned to share the compassion of Jesus –the hospitality of Abraham, Sarah and Lot: call forth the compassion that kindles within us that proclaims: “I pledge to protect and defend the vulnerable in the name of Jesus.”
Go forth, and proclaim in your good deeds the prophetic words: for the Kingdom of God is near.
Because the harvest is plentiful all around us, and the laborers are few. May the Lord of the harvest send us forth. Amen.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/phil-zuckerman/religion-declining-secula_b_9889398.html
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