A Cup of Cold Water
Tuesday, May 5, 2009 at 6:32PM By Dr. Maria Teresa Palmer
This reflection first appeared in the North Carolina Council of Churches lectionary-based worship resource, "Acts of Faith."
In the book of Matthew, chapter 10 highlights the importance of hospitality among the faithful. It took courage and commitment for the persecuted Christian community of the 1st century to offer hospitality to prophets and preachers, so Matthew reminds his readers that they are ministering to Jesus himself in welcoming his disciples and brothers and sisters in the faith who might come from unknown places. The verses before our focus passage give us an idea of why this might be such risky business: "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. I came to set sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers..." (Matthew 10:34).
As a mother, and even as a pastor, I want to forget the context and move quickly to verse 40 to talk about the joy of Christian fellowship, but this doesn't do justice to the text, especially when we read this passage in light of the topic of immigration. Offering Christian hospitality to the immigrants among us is about as controversial today as welcoming a Christian prophet was under Roman rule. I performed a marriage in the home of an Anglo middle-class family whose daughter was marrying a young Hispanic man. It was a small ceremony, due to the lack of approval of their church and family. The parents had to choose between welcoming their new son-in-law and enjoying the fellowship of their extended family and Christian community.
I know of six churches in North Carolina where the result of ministering to immigrants has cost the pastors their jobs, split the congregation, or divided families. I also have a colleague, pastor of a thriving Hispanic ministry, who has been asked to find another home for his congregation because the mother church doesn't want to "inadvertently aid illegals."
If I had not lived it through many years of ministry, I wouldn't believe that church people could behave so unwelcomingly. But of course many other groups have known this truth for decades: the church can be very un-Christ-like.
Perhaps, in some congregations, it's more a sin of omission: we don't notice the "alien" among us and forget to be hospitable. We forget to be intentional about our welcome. But the message we present to the foreign visitor is clearly conveyed by how we behave when a newcomer ventures into our congregations: We demand that they adopt our cultural norms-fill out the contact forms, keep their kids quiet and off our new carpet, learn our language and our hymns, pledge allegiance to the flag, volunteer for VBS, contribute to the capital campaign - and then maybe they can earn that glass of water.
The cup of water that Matthew asks us to offer is a dangerous thing. It assumes we have looked at our visitor and noticed his or her thirst. We are willing to be inconvenienced, to go to the well and draw the pure clean water and offer it in hospitality-which might lead us to pulling out a chair and inquiring about the rest of the family. It might lead to prayer, to phone calls, and being drawn into this person's life. It could lead to learning about his or her fears and hopes, and we might find ourselves praying with Solomon: "God, when a foreigner comes to this place because of your great name... listen to his prayer." And what then? If God responded to all those prayers, we might have to change our immigration laws, our foreign policy...
The US government, regardless of many politicians' claims to the contrary, does not hold itself to biblical standards of behavior. Leviticus 24:22 clearly calls us to have "one law for the alien and for the citizen," but our courts have said that labor protection laws do not apply to aliens. The courts interpret what is right or wrong in light of existing (and ever-changing) legislation dictated by the political climate.
The Christian church, however, is not free to decide what biblical teachings are expedient. All through the Hebrew Bible the prophets call us to treat the alien/foreigner with justice and compassion. Jesus calls us to treat foreigners with the concern and love we would show him. Throughout the New Testament we are reminded to show hospitality to the stranger, to help meet the basic needs of those who are new and needy among us: to notice their thirst, their loneliness, and their need for Christian fellowship; to respond to their arrival as if Christ himself were at our door. May God give us the courage to be the first ones to set up the welcome table and pour the water.
Dr. Palmer is the Director of the Multicultural Student Center at North Carolina A&T State University in Greensboro, NC. She brings many years of experience in education, having been a teacher, elementary school principal, pastor, university financial aid officer, career counselor, program administrator, and State Board of Education member. Dr. Palmer has worked for many years to build strong multicultural communities.
Reader Comments (1)
There is a lot of misunderstanding and fear out there concerning areas like church liability. It's deeply saddening, however, to think that some congregations let a designation by the US Government determine how they respond to hungry sisters and brothers who are in need.