Genesis 18:1-15, (21:1-7)
18:1 The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day.
18:2 He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground.
18:3 He said, "My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant.
18:4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.
18:5 Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on--since you have come to your servant." So they said, "Do as you have said."
18:6 And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes."
18:7 Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it.
18:8 Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.
18:9 They said to him, "Where is your wife Sarah?" And he said, "There, in the tent."
18:10 Then one said, "I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son." And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him.
18:11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.
18:12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?"
18:13 The LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?'
18:14 Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son."
18:15 But Sarah denied, saying, "I did not laugh"; for she was afraid. He said, "Oh yes, you did laugh."
Romans 5:1-8
5:1 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
5:2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.
5:3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,
5:4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,
5:5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
5:6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
5:7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die.
5:8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.
Matthew 9:35-10:8, (9-23)
9:35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness.
9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
9:37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;
9:38 therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
10:1 Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness.
10:2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John;
10:3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;
10:4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.
10:5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: "Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans,
10:6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
10:7 As you go, proclaim the good news, 'The kingdom of heaven has come near.'
10:8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.
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Reflections by the Rev. Jill Mills given at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation on June 18th, 2017. (Propers 6A: Genesis 18:1-15, 21:1-7, Psalm 116:1,10-17, Romans 5:1-8, Matthew 9:35-10:8(9-23)
I’m grateful to Joe for offering to Wade and I this particular week to share our reflections, because there is so much in these passages that speaks so closely to our journeys and to my own experience of God throughout my life. Wade has touched upon the Hebrew Bible reading and the Gospel, and I will focus primarily on the Romans reading, with a few connections to the others as well.
Paul’s description of God’s love in this passage, I think, gives us plenty of reason for hope. He begins by reminding us that we have peace with God – not that we will have peace someday, if we pray and work hard enough – but that we have peace with God right now.
He proclaims that God’s love has been poured into all our hearts through the Holy Spirit. All God’s children have been filled with God’s love. This is the basis and the proof of our reconciliation with God, and this is also the basis and the proof that we have it within us to share God’s love with the world, with those around us, with those close to us and far from us, with those who are part of our everyday lives and those who just happen to show up one day. With those who are receptive to it and those who just can’t accept it.
When strangers show up on Abraham and Sarah’s doorstep, so to speak, they jump up and get the grill started, get the side dishes going, and they prepare a feast for them. There is no evidence that they know who these people are – but that is not their motivation. They abundantly share what they have, not knowing anything about what the outcome will be. And the outcome is beyond Abraham and Sarah’s wildest imagination – and it is well worth the laughter that rises up in her.
I was privileged to grow up in a family that practiced this sort of hospitality – my mom and dad invited people they had just met to come or to stay for a meal, they took in people who were struggling to stay for a while until they could get back on their feet, they were the ones others called upon when they needed help of all kinds. I learned hospitality through their example, especially that it wasn’t about expecting anything to be reciprocated – it was just what we were expected to do.
When Jesus sends the disciples out with instructions and authority to do what he has been doing, he doesn’t guarantee success for them. He expects them to go out in hope, and to not get hung up on things like success rates. Later in the passage, he tells them that if the peace they offer does not take hold, to shake off the dust – to let go of the outcome – and to continue on.
It’s not up to them, and it’s not up to us today, to bring this work to completion. We get to practice trusting in God every time we simply act in love and then move on, trusting that God will work within our actions and the actions of others to bring things to completion in a way we cannot possibly imagine, let alone take responsibility for.
The Presbyterian church I was raised in practiced this kind of self-giving love. The pastor had served in the south, had marched with Dr King, had had a cross burned on his front lawn by the KKK. We were active in social justice in the middle of Highland Park Michigan in the 1960s and 70s. We considered our actions to be one link in the chain, never knowing where it would all lead, but trusting that God worked with us to bring all those links together for good, beyond our ability to do so on our own.
Paul is telling us that in the midst of suffering, in the midst of joy, in the midst of every experience of our lives, we have peace of God, we are reconciled with God, we are in an intimate relationship with God, and our hearts are full of the love of God. No matter what. We can’t earn it, we can’t lose it, and we can’t use it up. This abundance of love is there for us to share and to trust that God will work with it to bring about the needed outcomes.
I have been learning all through my life how to rely more and more in that abundance, and to trust in it, especially when I can’t see any reason to do so, and even when I can’t predict the outcome.
I have been pulled out of a cushy job and income that was sucking my soul dry, out of a marriage that felt safe for 33 years but actually had me living under a dark cloud for much of that time, into a new path that included seminary, early retirement, ordination as a Presbyterian pastor, serving a church in Sterling Heights, a process of remembering who I had always been once I was single again, and then meeting Wade, and finding in him an unexpected soulmate and partner for the journey, and now we are discovering new paths and opportunities that let us be together and work together in new ways that God seems to be showing us.
The one thing I know for sure is that God is love, and that God loves all God’s people, unconditionally, and that we all are called to share that love as the purpose and meaning of our lives. It sounds hard, but I think that once we claim it, it becomes easier and easier because it doesn’t require us to decide who we will love and who we will hate; who we will share our joy and peace and hope with and who we will withhold it from. It doesn’t require us to own the outcomes. I think this is what Jesus meant when he said, take my yoke upon you and learn from me; my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
As Dr Martin Luther King Jr said, “I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.” The harvest is plenty, and the laborers are few. So it’s up to us all to get in there and love without reservation, to share God’s love in every way we can.
So my joy these days is found in abundantly sharing what we have whenever the opportunity arises, in becoming part of this beloved community learning how God is working through us all in so many ways, in finding how we can participate in God’s work through this congregation, in letting go of hate and hanging onto hope for things unseen, in drawing closer to God through deepening our relationships with the people in our lives and those we encounter every day.
And always giving thanks for the hope that is in us, for the love that has been poured into our hearts, and for the peace we have in God.
Amen.
