To Beg

We are properly annoyed when, as I heard the other day, a local person turned down a good paying job in his field because he discovered that he can get 13 more weeks of unemployment compensation instead.

He even had the nerve to ask if the job would still be available after the 13 weeks were over!

With our sense of responsibility, if we were that employer, we'd say that no, you're not the type of employee we want if you so casually abuse the welfare system that way.

Responsibility involves voting for a politician not on the basis of color or cuteness, but on the basis of the policies that he or she advocates.

Responsibility involves responding in a timely way to an RSVP on an invitation,

showing up regularly for worship,

sharing in the tasks of leading and doing the work of ministry in the congregation,

not waiting for “someone else” to take over,

caring for children or grandchildren just because...

etc. etc.

To be self-starting, self-reliant, ...

these are the attributes we honor.

And yet ... that is not the whole story.

A writer asked a startling question:

How did Jesus eat?

I don't mean “With his hands, of course,” but rather where did he get the food that he ate? How did he live?

The scriptures do not record Jesus as having a job.

Oh, yes, there is the old tradition that he learned carpentry in Joseph's shop, but we hear nothing about him dragging a bunch of tools around the countryside with him.

We don't hear of him being employed anywhere during those three years.

The gospels report that the disciples “left everything and followed him”

How did they all live?

They must have been depending on the generosity of strangers.

When Jesus talks about shaking the dust from one's feet and going on to another place when one is not received in a particular house,

it is not just figurative or spiritual; it is a matter of survival.

Were Jesus and the disciples beggars?

Now that is a counter-cultural thought!

For us, begging is usually bad, a sign that someone is lazy or inept.

We tend to give to social services such as our own Family Promise rather than to the panhandler on the street, so that we can do things that help someone to help themselves and become self-sufficient, ....to help them not need anybody else.

Ironically, this seems to mean that we are in the spiritual sense becoming less human when we, or they, think that any of us can go it alone!

This perspective really troubles us, doesn't it?

It was summarized years ago by a great missionary in the far east who said

Evangelism is one beggar telling another beggar where to find food.

And Marin Luther's deathbed comment fits here as well: We are beggars; this is true.

So Jesus and the disciples are depending on the hospitality of those whom they encounter.

As he has on many other occasions, on one particular Sabbath Jesus is invited to a person's home, this time a prominent Pharisee.

From the very beginning of the encounter, Jesus is challenging all of the social customs and expectations of the people.

A meal such as this is a semi-public affair.

The guests and host have places at the table, but other people hang around, perhaps squatting in the shadows in the hopes of not only hearing the latest news but also in getting some of the leftovers from the meal, since there is no refrigeration.

Scripture doesn't give this detail exactly, but I can imagine that when Jesus approached the house, he didn't sally in looking for the place of honor, but instead crouched in the corner with the poor and curious.

He will not be demanding food as a person deserving honor, but instead will be asking for food as do the rest of the crowd there around the door.

Imagine how confused and distressed the Pharisee must have been.

“What is going on here?

What is this man doing?

This upsets everything!”

That is what Jesus is always doing; upsetting all the usual organization.

Jesus is a person who needs something; food,

And he wants to show the Pharisee who thinks that he has everything and is on top of the pile that the Pharisee is in need also.

Jesus needs food, but the Pharisee needs a plate full of humility;

he needs to recognize the humanity he has in common with the poor and sick;

he needs bread of forgiveness from Jesus and the wine of God's future which brings the opportunity of starting again,

he needs the whole community, and not just his favored exclusive portion.

Those are the things which Jesus is offering to him.

Jesus the beggar is teaching the Pharisee that he too is a beggar....

and also he is teaching us right along with him.

When we listen carefully here, we discover that our claim of complete elf-sufficiency is a lie.

We really do need each other and the Lord Jesus.

We can't earn Christ's gifts; we can only receive them.

And all of these gifts, the physical ones like food, shelter, job, family, etc,

and the spiritual ones like hope, love, final promise, and community with Christ,

are the things which we have for the purpose of sharing.

What happens when we ask for something that we really need, and it is given.

We are admitting that we are dependent on someone else; we're indebted.

We have made a claim on someone else's life, and they on ours.

Our self-sufficiency is shattered.

A woman had just come through a terrible illness.

She said, “Even out of the worst of circumstances, good could come.”

What did she mean?

“I didn't know ho many friends I actually had until I was sick,” she said.

She suddenly realized how dependent we are on good friends in times like these.

Every week, actually almost every day anymore, I get telephone calls from folks asking for financial help with utility shut-offs and unpaid bills.

It forces me to think again and again about what has been entrusted to me and how I ought to be using it.

It is quite annoying...and distressing.... and embarrassing... and convicting.

It drives me to confession, and I hope, to amendment of life,

where I both recognize and ask for what I need.

I know this is not the way the TV commercials assume that we want to live our lives.

The church of the Lord Jesus is up to something different here.

Jesus is intending to train us in inter-dependency.

We come from all directions, bearing all sorts of names, and yet we are one family – brothers and sisters connected through the Lord Jesus – who need each others' gifts.

As we begin to recognize this,

you won't be shocked when a catechetical student asks you to be a mentor for him/her.

You won't be shocked when Joyce asks you to be a lector;

or when Becky asks you to be an overnight host for Family Promise,

or Mel asks you to be a companion to a candidate in The Way,

or you have questions about the faith and ask for assistance in sorting them out,

or a friend asks you to sit down for a serious conversation,

or you know your need for that conversation and you ask for a Stephen Minister

or the Lord Jesus asks you by way of scripture or sermon to account for all that he has entrusted to you for the benefit of your neighbor as well as yourself,

or you discover that the hospitality table in the narthex is just the beginning of the hospitality we need to be both offering and receiving, each day.

We are all beggars before God;

we are all responders in Jesus' name.

What we need is not ours to earn;

what we need is only God's to give.

We learn that we should open our hands to give the gifts we have to give,

and to open our hands to receive the gifts we need.

We are beggars who by the grace of God will not go hungry.

As a sign of this truth, we come to the Lord's Table this and every Sunday, with hands outstretched and empty.

We, the ones who are pridefully self-sufficient, are admitting that we are not.

We join Luther in proclaiming, “We are beggars, this is true.”

Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.