Hebrews 13:1--13:8 (NRSV)
1Let mutual love continue. 2Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. 4Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. 5Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” 6So we can say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?”
7Remember your leaders, those who spoke the
word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate
their faith. 8Jesus
Hebrews
15Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
The title of my sermon this
morning “More of the Same” is derived from the opening verse of Hebrews Chapter
13, “Let mutual love continue.” I would
like to continue the theme from
I venture to say that if I asked
the question, “Do we want our church to grow and prosper as a place that gives
witness to and service in the name of
Therefore, let me say that what I see as the cornerstone of the church’s ministry and witness is to love what God loves. A critical component of that love, believe it or not, as the writer of the book of Hebrews points out is hospitality. The passages we have heard read this morning are packed with theological, spiritual, and ethical content. However, I want to focus primarily on hospitality.
Hebrews is another one of those books I would rather teach from than preach from because of its depth and breadth of theological content.
Having said that let me say that
almost from the beginning there was disagreement over who wrote the book of
Hebrews. The King James Version of the
bible based upon
I, on the other hand, would rather allow the Holy Spirit to help me discern God’s truths from Scripture that are contained in its various metaphors, analogies, hyperboles, and allegories regardless of who authored the Scriptures. In this way, I believe Scripture is living Scripture and relevant to people everywhere and for all time.
The book of Hebrews is written by
someone in Christian authority. It is a
pastoral address of theological and practical encouragement. It is widely believed to have been written to
a Hellenistic, Jewish Christian community in
It appears that some members have
grown lax in attending church and fulfilling their Christian
responsibilities. This may be in part
due to the demoralizing affects of the delay of the final return of
We often see
Shame, dishonor, and social disgrace were and are major social values in the ancient and modern, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean world. In many Middle Eastern countries today, there are still honor killings of women and men who shame their families or dishonor their people. In Western civilizations and cultures, contrarily, we are highly individualistic. In fact, we have elevated individualism to the level of idolatry and worship it. In general, Westerners are taught to think about individual achievements, self-actualization, and our wants and wishes above all else. If anyone else or society in general benefits, then so much the better.
As one source[1] stated: Individualistic cultures did not exist before the sixteenth century, and such a mindset would be considered a pathology in the New Testament world. (Malina and Neyrey, 1996, 11, 13)
Therefore, in the ancient world a person’s identity, status, and worth was determined by their family and group affiliations and vice-a-versa. An individual’s behavior brought honor or dishonor, shame or praise upon his or her group as well as helped maintain and reinforce the group’s identity. Furthermore, the idea of honor and dishonor, shame and praise are powerful, life determining concepts throughout the entire bible. In fact, our writer touches on several things that would have been the possible sources of dishonor among Christians.
We can summarize these first seven
verses of Chapter 13 by saying love one another, behave yourselves
sexually—love your neighbor, but don’t love his or her spouse too much. Christians are to take care of, visit,
encourage, and provided for those imprisoned and their families because of
their faith in
In verse 8, the writer tells us
that
Now, let me point out the verses that I believe are critical to understanding the maintenance and growth of the church’s ministry. Remember, the book of Hebrews is written to Christians, for Christians.
Let mutual love continue. This is straightforward. People in the church love one another. In this, you show your love for God. In the practical, share with those who have needs, take care of the needy, be kind to one another, be respectful, and supportive of one another. Such things as much of a sacrifice as they may be please God.
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some
have entertained angels without knowing it.
It is amazing that the book of Hebrews, which has one of the highest and
most sophisticated understandings of
I might mention that given the
high chances of infiltration by disreputable people and spies from the Jewish
synagogues, strangers were often subjected to a bit of questioning and
interrogation before being extended the fullest measures of hospitality. This makes even more sense if the first
audience of the book of Hebrews was in
In the Ancient Near East, there were no Days Inns or Motel 6s, no Denny’s, or IHOPS strategically located along the major travel routes or in small towns and villages. Furthermore, given the fact that the earliest Christians were from the slave and lower socio-economic classes motels and roadside diners would have been out of the question anyway. Therefore, the author evokes the Ancient Near Eastern code of hospitality for Christian travelers and sojourners.
In the Old Testament, the author’s primary source of
scripture, we read were Abraham, the father and archetype of the Hebrew race,
entertained three strangers “messengers from God” at his house and showed them
many kindnesses (Gen. xviii. 1-8) to his great benefit and blessing. Through out the Old Testament we read of
instance after instance of the importance of hospitality.
Suffice it to say from the biblical references, hospitality—simply welcoming, offering a place at the table, a helping hand, protection, shelter, kindness, and a sense of belonging to an unfamiliar person—is a paramount injunction in our Christian life and witness.
Welcoming visitors by simply recognizing them in the congregation is not enough. We must be willing to take them into our lives—get to know them, let them know us, befriend them with sincere care, concern, and Christian love.
The best information available tells us that many of the people in our country that seek out churches and faith-based groups do so because they are experiencing soulful isolation and loneliness. People today need to belong to a caring group of like-minded, spiritually oriented people, who value their individuality while offering them a caring, human community.
Viola! What an opportunity for
the
The writer of Hebrews tells us
that failure to show love for one another or hospitality to those who come
among us is to bring dishonor on the name of
Ah, but this church knows all this stuff. I know that I am preaching to the choir, but I thought a little refresher sermon wouldn’t hurt.
[1]
Cosner, Lita. Honor and Group Orientation in the New Testament World. http://www.tektonic.org/print.php4