Risky Business

        Pentecost 24 year B
        Mt 25:31-40

Where ever Jesus was...people were fed. Only his disciples

hadn't really noticed. They just took it for granted

or ignored it because there was so much going on.

And that's probably why they didn't understand...

when Jesus told the parable of the kingdom you just heard

and it sounds like he didn’t expect them to understand.

But you heard it didn't you…

where people are being fed...

that's where Jesus is going to be.

Where the Kingdom of God is going to be.

And to help Jesus bring it in...it's crystal clear

he expected his followers to feed people too.

To feed people with food yes …feed people with love…

with teaching... with guidance…but always food…

the breaking of bread, picking corn on the Sabbath,

party time at Matthew’s house, the crumbs from under the table,
the kingly banquet, the loaves and the fishes…

Jesus...the people are hungry... let them go home…

no answers Jesus…......you give them something to eat!

there was food at the last supper...

barbequed fish on the beach at sunrise...

and Jesus telling Peter… 'feed my sheep'…

The kingdom of God is a feast…Jesus is saying...don’t you get it…didn't Isaiah foretell it… Come all who are hungry and eat without price…

And in today's parable… Put two and two together Jesus is telling them…offer bread to everyone…and just in case
you’re resistant to this level of generosity…I'll tell you
something…Jesus says...feed everyone…because you
never know when it's me…

[pause]

offer bread to everyone... because everyone’s invited to the
banquet...especially the widow, the orphan and the stranger…
the people you don’t know…

According to Jesus…the kingdom of God is synonymous with
lavish hospitality to people you don’t even know...

unholy people...unclean people...sinners...

and the Pharisee’s objected didn't they…

holiness they maintain...holiness...

is about keeping yourself apart…

refusing to touch the impure...keeping yourself clean...

our movement should remain pure

our race should remain pure...our religion... our temple

must keep the unclean out…

and this Jesus fellow is acting like it doesn't matter.

But Jesus' spiritual home wasn't in the Temple...

in fact the son of God had no place to lay his head

and everywhere he went…people were fed.

Jesus has no house …from which the unclean can be excluded…

he has a people of the new covenant...a movement... his church... his body... a people called out ...to feed others…with good news.

You give them something to eat ...Jesus tells his disciples.

You go out and invite everyone to the banquet…

How do you tell where Jesus is…well it's where people
are being fed…one way or another…body…mind and
spirit…

[pause]

you know I have spiritual visions occasionally…not very often…

I’ve shared a few with you…

a couple of weeks ago…

I saw a vision of the kingdom of God... embodied… incarnate…

in the women who share themselves like bread...

with the hundreds of mothers and fathers and children who come
to mainly music…in Wanaka and Hawea

Week after week... month after month… they offer hospitality
and  a place of nourishment ...for people in our community…

they set a welcome table …where no one is turned away.

I saw... that these women are bread…their identity is bread...

broken and shared...with young mothers and fathers...with screaming toddlers and babies with dirty nappies…

they give themselves…in obedience to Christ

In this vision I could see what they were doing was a form of
Holy Communion...with our women as the bread...
and mainly music as a  table around which anyone may gather…
and at which the very Word of God is shared…
I could see our mainly music teams...were a manifestation of the Body of Christ…broken and shared

But setting up this kind of hospitality was a risky business...there was opposition...at first...some people in our church just couldn’t get it...it didn't make sense to them...

why put ourselves out...why pay for all that heating…

and go to all that work... why feed all those people who don't
come to church?

…and at Hawea…the very idea of using our place of worship

as a space for dancing and singing and eating and playing…
and noise...offering hospitality without strings…

the very idea of children yelling and running around and eating in the church ...just drove some people to distraction...

Until they saw how beautiful the work really was...

the friendships formed...the generous feeding of bodies

minds and spirits.

And I think some were at first reluctant... because they’d never
quite caught Jesus vision of the kingdom of God as a feast...

as a banquet table to whom all are invited.

They’d never heard him saying…

You give them something to eat...

It never occurred to them Jesus was speaking directly to them.

[pause]

But that was almost ten years ago…

a lot of water has flowed under the bridge…

since then our church has embraced the hospitality of Christ 

as one of the cornerstones of who we are...

When we marched across the road and into the Hall

back in May...how many of you were part of that...

do you remember what we did once we gathered over here?

Ask?

Right...we shared bread and wine around this table...we
shared food...for body mind and spirit...we allowed the
Christ to feed us...with his very Body... we knew right then

that the Church was not a building... but a people...gathered
around his table... [pause]

That's why I asked in this months newsletter...what kind of image do we project of ourselves... as a church to this community...

Do people see us as a castle surrounded by a deep moat...

with the drawbridge up and locked up tight against the outside
world? Unwelcoming and impossible to get in. Does the
community think to be a part of it you have to be inside already ..and is what goes on inside the castle walls... a complete mystery.

Or maybe our community sees us as another kind of castle ...
maybe with the drawbridge down...and the big doors open.

Imposing and grand... towering above the surrounding village

And yes, you could summon up all your courage... to walk across the bridge...ready to run at moment’s notice...
in case your not welcome...especially since you haven't
been invited. Another image we could have...not only with our community ...but with other churches too...might look like a big shiny apple... being constantly washed and
polished...to create better music...better messages...
better us...

If we are a shiny apple congregation ...people might be shy about coming in...because they're afraid they might not be shiny enough... or talented enough...or wealthy enough...or smart enough...or
wearing the right clothes...

maybe people stay away because they think they'll be
embarrassed by not knowing enough or rejected because they're
 not good enough...or spiritual enough.

But there is a fourth kind of church…whenever the community
thinks about this kind of church... the first thing that pops into
their minds ...is a big cup of steaming coffee ...

or the smell of freshly baked bread.

In this fourth kind of church... people know they're welcome

 because the whole community has already been invited. They

 know that in some way... through the hospitality of the

community of faith...in some way... they will be fed...

because they know those who welcome them see their very

identity as Christ's Body... bread and wine broken and poured out.... for the salvation of the world.

I really really ...really pray... that we will continue to be a

cup of coffee or fresh loaf of bread...kind of church...

offering the hospitality of Christ to the stranger... because Jesus

had divine insight about the place of outsiders in God's purposes.

And of course Jesus' generosity was a risky business… 
wasn’t it? His vision of the kingdom of God...as an open
banquet table...got him crucified…

but that wasn't the end of the story...was it. It's after the
resurrection at that early morning barbeque on the beach ...that Jesus tells Peter to feed his sheep...

and here we are ... at the ends of the earth…

getting ready to obey...preparing to offer ourselves to our

community…

breaking open our resources like freshly baked bread...

opening our doors to strangers... with signs of welcome and

hospitality...and smells of  the best coffee in town...who knows? 

What I do know... is that everywhere Jesus is people are fed

 ...and that he told his followers to give them something to eat.

And of course we remember that he promised...

whatever you do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters

of mine, you do for me.