Turning Strangers into Friends

 Dr. John Roy

Luke 16

May 7, 2006

Jesus said, "There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed and who lived each day in luxury. At his door lay a diseased beggar named Lazarus. As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man's table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores. Finally, the beggar died and was carried by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried, and his soul went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Lazarus in the far distance with Abraham.

 "The rich man shouted, `Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in anguish in these flames.'

  "But Abraham said to him, `Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish.

Every day this man had an opportunity to be hospitable. I mean every day he had a chance to lend a hand but he stepped over Lazarus on his way to the mail box. What if Lazarus wasn’t a beggar, would he have spoken with him? What if he was only a stranger? What if he dressed differently, would he have spoken with him then? What if Lazarus was older and the rich man younger would he have spoken? Truth be told the rich man was apathetic. His concern was about himself, maybe his children, but certainly not Lazarus. Indifference is what sent him to torment.

The community of Christ is cemented together by the Cross of Jesus. This new community is bound to God but also to one another. In this new community the stranger is missing. There are no strangers.

“Welcome one another, therefore just as Christ has welcomed you”
                                                --Romans 15:7

INDIFFERENCE HAS NO PLACE IN A BODY THAT CLAIMS THE NAME CHRIST.

The Christian alternative to apathy is welcome. We welcome one another because Christ has welcomed us. No more strangers, only friends.  We like to speak of a personal relationship with Jesus. We like to think Jesus and us are “buds.”  The gospel has not been and should not be today a purely personal matter. It has a social dimension, the church is “US” not “ME.”

Who can blame the rich man. No one wants to go beyond their comfort zone. We don’t like going beyond our comfort zone, but God is always calling us to a uncomfortable place. The call to welcome the stranger may seem difficult but when you compare it with leading the children of Israel or finding the promise land or building an ark during a drought, it seems like such a reasonable task.

GOD CALLS US TO BE UNCOMFORTABLE SO OTHERS WILL BE MADE COMFORTABLE THIS IS CALLED HOSPITALITY.

Just as the need for hospitality is a constant, so it seems is the human fear of the stranger. We long for others to make us welcome but we struggle to welcome others is the great irony.

A man chooses a bride. Who is to make whom comfortable. Should the bride extend a welcome to the mother-in-law or is it the other way around. We are offended if we are not welcomed but we are fearful to embrace another. How hypocritical.

The only way to turn strangers into friends that I know of is hospitality. If people remain strangers this is only one step removed from enemy. Look around the world, people who start off as strangers and make no attempt to be more usually become less, enemies. Jesus said; pray for your enemies, making them friends. Jesus said; welcome the stranger, making them a friend. Jesus’ diplomacy was welcome one another because you have been welcomed. If we refuse to welcome, if we practice indifference we will continue to get a world of estranged people. Such a world is only a step away from conflict, misunderstanding, and disaster. Wait a minute we may already be there? Oddly as the world becomes a more crowded place we become a less friendly people.

Furthermore we are no longer hospitable to those closest to us. While we refuse or ignore or are indifferent to the stranger we are suspiciously not welcoming to our own. We forget cousins, we move away from siblings. Our friends we once loved in school have now fallen to the annual Christmas card list.

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.

You invited me in. That’s all we have to do. Turn strangers into friends. To invite someone in is to make them a name not a number, to invite someone in is to care, to invite someone in is to move beyond being friendly.

The Kingdom of God struggles, not because we are bad, evil, corrupt, but because we are indifferent. God’s kingdom is imperfect but our calling as disciples is to care. To care about the people we meet daily, to care about our neighbors, to care about those who we worship. To welcome one another. This includes the stranger but it also includes one another.

“How are you.” “I’m OK,” is our Sunday answer. I shake your hand and I look around for another person. God ask a little bit more. More than being friendly, we are to be hospitable. Make each other comfortable.

Cindy Morris was the hard nose financial secretary. Our usual conversation went this way. “John please explain a four minute telephone call you made, which was long distance at 3:00 on Monday afternoon? What was it related to?”  “Uh . . . uh I think I called someone’s kin, they were in our emergency shelter and I called to check to see it their mother.” “Nevermind John, I don’t think this was necessary, certainly not in our protocol. God’s money cannot be wasted $2.89 could have been used elsewhere, you and I will give an account one day.” She doesn’t sound too friendly does she? When I first arrived to the church she and her husband brought Jo Ann and I a ton of groceries. She may not sound friendly but she was more than hospitable. Mrs. Morris always made us feel at home; in the end she actually opened her home to us. Our lease ran out at the beginning of June, but we needed to stay in New Orleans until Wesley was born. So the Morris’s allowed us to live in their home until Wesley was born on July 6. She watched God’s money like a hawk but she shared what she had like she was made of money. She would not allow us to be strangers, she turned us into friends. She wasn’t afraid to check my expense account but she made me and anyone else feel special. She wasn’t always friendly but you were always comfortable.

Many of us know that we should offer hospitality, but we wonder whether we can. Can we do more than shake a hand? Can we do more than offer a kind word? There is a gulf between can and should. This is the honest world we live within. Jesus haunts us with “do unto others as you would have them do to you.” Do we just want our hand shaken, is all that we desire is to exchange kind words? If so . . . then treat others this way. Yet if you desire more yourself then, welcoming people, embracing people, either at school, work, bible study, or anywhere will not be easier but we see the joy and necessity of it.

There is a diner in Bessemer, Alabama called “HOBO JOE’S.” It’s one of those places most towns have. Meat and three sort of place. It had sort of revolving ownership so you couldn’t always count on the quality being the same, but the menu never changed. It seemed to always struggle. Was it the location, was it the menu, what was it? About the time I finished high school Mr. Weeks bought the place. He didn’t change the menu or even hire new kitchen help. He started manning the cash register and his daughter became the hostess. In a month if you wanted lunch without a wait you needed to show up about 11:00. At dinner, the wait was almost an hour. What was the change? Mr. Weeks couldn’t remember every customer’s name, but he knew faces. You were only a customer for your first visit from then on you were a friend. Strangers were not welcome they were converted to HOBO’S. Without any significant change in the building, employees, menu, or atmosphere HOBO JOE’S became the place to go. As Mr. Week’s once said, “Customer’s might be wrong, but friends are never wrong.” We need to build on our strength of being a friendly place and become a place of genuine hospitality. I’m sure this will move us out of our comfort zone into new territory, yet our calling is not to hoard but to give, not to afraid but to believe, and not to sit but go. Can we truly call any place God sends us, uncomfortable? The truly uncomfortable place is to stay the same when God has asked us to embrace the stranger and welcome the future.