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Sunday, January 17, 1999
WHERE ARE YOU STAYING (John
1:29-42)
Our text is from the fourth gospel of John, and at
l:29 we pick up on John's version of the baptism and
blessing of Jesus by the Spirit. If you were here last
Sunday you'll recognize it differs from Matthew's version
which we looked at then: Let's hear the opening of
today's text: John 1:29-34:
"THE NEXT DAY HE SAW JESUS COMING TOWARD HIM AND
DECLARED, "HERE IS THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN
OF THE WORLD! THIS IS HE OF WHOM I SAID, 'AFTER ME COMES
A MAN WHO RANKS AHEAD OF ME BECAUSE HE WAS BEFORE ME.' I
MYSELF DID NOT KNOW HIM; BUT I CAME BAPTIZING WITH WATER
FOR THIS REASON, THAT HE MIGHT BE REVEALED TO ISRAEL.'
AND JOHN TESTIFIED, 'I SAW THE SPIRIT DESCENDING FROM
HEAVEN LIKE A DOVE, AND IT REMAINED ON HIM. I MYSELF DID
NOT KNOW HIM, BUT THE ONE WHO SENT ME TO BAPTIZE WITH
WATER SAID TO ME, 'HE ON WHOM YOU SEE THE SPIRIT DESCEND
AND REMAIN IS THE ONE WHO BAPTIZES WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT.'
AND I MYSELF HAVE SEEN AND HAVE TESTIFIED THAT THIS IS
THE SON OF GOD.'"
Often when reading the assigned text for each Sunday,
a singular phrase from the text will jump out at us. That
happened to me when I heard the next verses in this
reading:
"THE NEXT DAY JOHN AGAIN WAS STANDING WITH TWO OF HIS
DISCIPLES, AND AS HE WATCHED JESUS WALK BY, HE EXCLAIMED,
'LOOK, HERE IS THE LAMB OF GOD!' THE TWO DISCIPLES HEARD
HIM SAY THIS, AND THEY FOLLOWED JESUS. WHEN JESUS TURNED
AND SAW THEM FOLLOWING, HE SAID TO THEM, 'WHAT ARE YOU
LOOKING FOR?" THEY SAID TO HIM, "RABBI" (WHICH TRANSLATED
MEANS TEACHER), "WHERE ARE YOU STAYING?' HE SAID TO THEM,
'COME AND SEE' THEY CAME AND SAW WHERE HE WAS STAYING,
AND THEY REMAINED WITH HIM THAT DAY. IT WAS ABOUT FOUR
O'CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON. ONE OF THE TWO WHO HEARD JOHN
SPEAK AND FOLLOWED HIM WAS ANDREW, SIMON PETER'S BROTHER.
HE FIRST FOUND HIS BROTHER SIMON AND SAID TO HIM, 'WE
HAVE FOUND THE MESSIAH' (WHICH IS TRANSLATED ANOINTED).
HE BROUGHT SIMON TO JESUS, WHO LOOKED AT HIM AN SAID,
'YOU ARE SIMON SON OF JOHN. YOU ARE TO BE CALLED CEPHAS
(which is translated Peter)."
WHERE ARE YOU STAYING? That's the verse that jumped
out at me: WHERE ARE YOU STAYING? And Jesus' answer: COME
AND SEE. And both are prefaced by the all important
question: WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
*****
WHERE ARE YOU STAYING? That is a question exchanged
among business travelers, backpackers, retirees on a
journey, all classes of travelers every day. The dramatic
story in Alex Garland's novel THE BEACH, now being filmed
in Thailand with considerable public attention because
Leonardo DiCaprio is the star and Phi Phi Marine Park is
the site, begins when three backpackers in Bangkok
casually inquire: WHERE ARE YOU STAYING? Their answer was
THE BEACH. And their search for the perfect beach evolves
the rather fantastic story of travel through the body and
through the mind.
Casual though the question is, WHERE ARE YOU STAYING?
a question readily put between strangers, it is often
heavy with implication, usually in retrospect, as the
characters in the story THE BEACH eventually learn as
their lark of finding the perfect beach turns into
unremitting horror.
On January 27, the Cathedral of St. John will be
packed with people called to honor the late Hong Kong
lawyer Peter Carey. The tragedy of that family began just
about a month ago at the Colombo airport when they rented
a vehicle with driver and the driver must have asked
Peter: WHERE ARE YOU STAYING? At a rented house in Gall
was the answer. The profound tragedy of the Carey family
unfolded from that simple question and answer when the
driver, unable to find the address of the house parked
his vehicle to make inquiries.
The exchange between Andrew and his brother with Jesus
became one of the most consequential in history: WHERE
ARE YOU STAYING? And Jesus answer: COME AND SEE. From the
exchange there followed the introduction of Simon Peter
to Jesus and the incorporation of Simon, his brother
Andrew, and others into the Jesus movement. Little could
Andrew have known that the discipleship of his brother
and his own commitment to Jesus, their eventual
martyrdoms because of their loyalty to Jesus, and their
enshrinement in the Church and in Heaven as Apostles and
Saints of the faith would follow from their simple
question: WHERE ARE YOU STAYING?
There are three significant themes that flow from
today's question: WHERE ARE YOU STAYING? They are the
themes of hospitality, partnership, and destiny.
******
HOSPITALITY: The offer and practice of hospitality was
a sacred duty in New Testament times. It's different
today. Nancy and I have learned that four dear friends
are descending upon us later this month; and another four
family friends at Easter. It is somewhat a strain to fit
one person into our new apartment, much less four. You
can be sure our e-mail response to both quartets of
visitors was not: WHERE ARE YOU STAYING? But WHAT HOTEL
ARE YOU STAYING AT?
Not so in the first century and earlier. Ancient
hospitality had a moral and even spiritual quality to it
which largely escapes our modern approach to hospitality
which is calculated on our personal convenience, which is
easily rationalized as our guest's convenience - they
really would be more comfortable at the Marriott - and
our limited sense of obligatory hospitality: the boss and
the mother-in-law must be received well as must the
couple who loaned us their apartment in Paris two years
ago!
The distinctive quality of New Testament hospitality
is caught in that winsome phrase from the letter to the
Hebrews: DO NOT NEGLECT TO SHOW HOSPITALLITY TO
STRANGERS, FOR THEREBY SOME HAVE ENTERTAINED ANGELS
UNAWARES. (13:2)
On first hearing their guru John describe the stranger
as "the Lamb of God" the two men dash after Jesus, maybe
to offer home hospitality to the stranger. But Jesus
preempts the role of host: WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? They
reply:. WHERE ARE YOU STAYING? And Jesus becomes host to
them by responding: COME AND SEE.
Because Jesus was an itinerant rabbi, whose personal
possessions were limited almost literally to the clothes
and sandals he wore, we may tend to imagine that Jesus
was, like some contemporary homeless person, constantly
in doubt as to his abode for the night and his meals for
the day. Jesus himself encouraged this image through one
of his sayings: FOXES HAVE LAIRS AND BIRDS OF THE AIR
HAVE TREES BUT THE SON OF MAN HAS NO PLACE TO LAY HIS
HEAD. With phrases we grab onto from the bible, it's best
to understand the context: This melancholy comment by
Jesus is spoken at the end of a long and exhausting day
in which the crowds had laid upon Jesus their unending
demands for healings and miracles, teachings and more
wisdom. I believe that Jesus had a place to sleep that
night; it was just that the crowd would not let him get
to it!
In truth, there is ample evidence that Jesus almost
always had a place to pass the night. The network of
friends and sponsors and thus hosts of Jesus was well
developed especially as his public ministry went on. He
also had a circle of women friends, some with means, who
regularly traveled with him or ahead of him to arrange
hospitality for him and his group. And there was the
quite extensive family relationships of his followers
which could be relied upon. Even when unknown in a new
place, Jesus could generally count upon the sacred duty
of hospitality, especially toward a spiritual personage
like a rabbi, to open doors and tables to himself and
even to his fellow travelers who at times must have been
so numerous as to test, if not stretch, that sacred duty
of hospitality to the strangers. And Jesus was quick and
insightful in advising his followers not to waste their
time with inhospitable, mean-spirited folks: IF ANY PLACE
WILL NOT WELCOME YOU…SHAKE OFF THE DUST OF YOUR FEET
AS A TESTIMONY AGAINST THEM. (Mark 6:ll)
*****
PARTNERSHIP. The significance of this encounter in
John l is that the partnership of Jesus with Peter and
Andrew emerged directly from the encounter about
hospitality expressed in concern about where a stranger
was staying. Such partnership hinges, of course, on what
we are looking for in the first place. The threesome in
THE BEACH were seeking the archtypical secular vision of
our times: the perfect beach to retreat from the world,
to find inner peace and worthy fellowship freed from the
guidance, restraints and hypocrisies of society.
When Moses fled Egypt to Midian he was looking for
safety and a new life. He received hospitality there,
even though he was a perfect stranger. He settled into a
working partnership with Reuel, the priest of Midian,
married his daughter, had two children by Zipporah, and
remained many years.
When Paul sought communities for starting new
fellowships in the name of Jesus he stayed where he was
warmly and hospitably received and congregations thrived
at Philippi, Thessalonike, and Corinth.
When I returned to Hong Kong just two years ago last
Friday, I was seeking a small group of like-minded
believers who wanted to try to create a mainstream
Christian congregation which was appreciative of the
2,000 years of church history which had gone before,
laying worthy foundation for our new venture, but which
sought to be led by God to do something new in Hong Kong
and to form a people of God who would be tuned to God's
call in the next century for this great but troubled
city. I needed to be well received and I was most
hospitably received as we began our partnership in this
Community Church.
Hospitality and the partnerships that evolve from
hospitality are fundamental reasons for the Church of
Jesus Christ to continue. Christians have never, never,
been able to evade the direct command of their leader to
show hospitality to the poor, the stranger, the
abandoned, the sick, the imprisoned. But centuries before
we modern people locked ourselves into overly tight daily
agendas, Christians had figured out that individually and
personally they could not do much to offer hospitality to
the world of strangers. Quite early Christians figured
out that effective hospitality depended upon partnership
through the church.
Should we come across a quite sick person, we no
longer take them into our own homes; we take them to a
hospital and all hospitals began under Christian
collective sponsorship. Rarely, a Christian might take a
homeless or hungry person into their homes; usually they
refer them to a Christian agency or ask the pastor if he
can advise about one. We are partners through building
our church to undertake forms of caring and outreach
which individually we are not capable to accomplish.
Worship time is the one wonderful opportunity for
every Christian to practice New Testament hospitality. We
say it at the beginning of our bulletin that the visitor
is welcomed. That is only words. Do you say it in
personal ways? As you ascend in the elevator do you
pretend you're making an impersonal journey together to
separate addresses, or do you introduce yourself and
welcome the stranger. It's a way of commencing that
crucial dialogue: WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? WHERE ARE YOU
STAYING? COME AND SEE!
The ushers are our first line of official welcome but
anyone in the congregation can welcome the stranger by
pointing out where we are in the bulletin or handing the
songbook turned to the song being sung.
We offer hospitality when we greet someone after
worship and invite them to accompany us to fellowship
time downstairs. Most of all we say YOU ARE WELCOMED and
COME AND SEE when WE offer the Good News and attend to
the Holy Spirit through our worship of preaching, singing
and praying. A scriptural and Spirit-filled congregation
will palpably convey to visitors: YOU ARE
WELCOMED…YOU ARE OKAY WITH US….WE'D LIKE TO GET
ACQUAINTED WITH YOU…YOU CAN RELAX AND TAKE OFF YOUR
PRETENCES BECAUSE YOU'RE AMONG FRIENDS WHO ALSO KNOW WHAT
IT'S LIKE TO BE SEARCHING.
At many points Christian hospitality and Christian
evangelism merge but there can never be authentic
evangelism without genuine hospitality.
*****
DESTINY. Meeting under the umbrella of Christian
hospitality can never be only chance and circumstantial
encounter. Meetings under the umbrella of Christian
hospitality are profoundly rich in the implications of
Jesus' invitation to all of us: COME AND SEE. Even the
most casual visitor, whom you may never see again, can be
touched, sometimes profoundly.
A visitor told me at lunch last week that he had met
me five years ago at a wedding reception where I gave a
little talk for the couple whom I had just married. He
said my homily cut him to the heart because of where he
was in his marriage at the time. He then unfolded a
series of episodes, some of them seemingly miraculous,
which altered his life and brought him five years later
to our worship last Sunday. Christian encounter is rich
in divine destiny.
To be certain, our congregation does not principally
exist to challenge the lives of one time visitors. We
exist to influence, and we do so profoundly, our mutual
lives, we who make up the regular, recurring
congregation. Some of you may not know that I spent 24
years of my life as an American diplomat. My wife and I
attended hundreds of obligatory hospitality occasions and
we hosted quite a few ourselves. We made hundreds of
contacts over those years, some of them fairly intimate
and genuine at the time. But it has all passed into
memory. There was no genuine destiny in working for the
US State Department. And how disappointed must be, or so
I imagine, persons whose entire life destiny is defined
by working for one bureaucracy or another, be it a
superduper government agency or the gas company.
William H. Whyte died at 8l this past week. Whyte, a
social critic, was most famous for his best selling THE
ORGANIZTION MAN in l956. He warned that the corporate
culture, just then taking off to its' present global
dominance, was strongly oriented toward conformity and
the pursuit or security and safety. My experience is that
neither great vitality in our lives nor salvation can be
derived from making the company, the corps, the
government, the system are place of life influences
Destiny, by which I mean profoundly life changing
insights, relationships and commitments for me and Nancy,
has always happened only in our church life. The friends
we retain from our years in Pakistan and Nigeria and
Greece are not the folks we met at cocktail parties and
in the foreign ministries. They are the people we got to
know in the churches of those foreign places. It is my
experience that only in the Christian congregation are
those existential questions encountered and answered:
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? WHERE ARE YOU STAYING? COME
AND SEE!
*****
.
Our favourite story teller, Nury Vittachi, included a
personal maxim in his article about childish wisdom last
Sunday: He said he had told his own kids: "Make a new
friend every day and you'll never have to pay big hotel
bills." I would change Nury's guidance: MAKE A REAL
FRIEND AT CHURCH AND YOU'LL NEVER BE ALONE, NOR WITHOUT A
GENUINE WELCOME, AGAIN IN LIFE.
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? WHERE ARE YOU STAYING? These
are questions of life. These are questions for which
Community Church was begun and exists now.
Isn't that reason for supporting the stewardship
appeal of our church so that in the year ahead we can
continue as a Christian congregation to say to others:
COME AND SEE.
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