One of the most neglected questions is why? In particular why should we bring people to the table? Can’t people find the table themselves? We cook the food the least they can do is come to the table. Can’t they fend for themselves?

We are all recovering. Not one of us, including those of us already at the table, have it together. What is a Christian response to brokenness? Recently some documentary and news magazines have been broaching the question, “What is a Christian?” People from all over the theological map, and some off the map have been interviewed. Some believe Christianity rest on acknowledging certain beliefs, the virgin birth, a sinless Jesus. Others believe being a Christian is practicing certain behavior, many of which have political overtones. I wish Christianity was as simple as believing a set of doctrines or as clear cut as voting a certain way.

In a broken and recovering world what does it mean to be Christian? “When Jesus went ashore, he saw a great crowd and had compassion on them.” Jesus’ response to a broken situation was compassion. I imagine we have compassion. But we also overlook  plenty of folks. There are plenty of people we walk pass and do not offer hospitality to. We are not mean, just preoccupied.

Last Sunday we wore name tags. I’m sure some of you returned home and commented on that.  “We already know everyone we need to know, I don’t go to church to meet people I go to worship God.” God was not asked to wear a name tag. I realize what it sounds like, but names are important. When I call someone by name this is hospitality. I remembered them. Even if I need a name tag for a few weeks it helps. I can be angry at a Mr. or Mrs. I can ignore someone who’s name I can’t recall, but I cannot ignore Bill or Sue. To know you by name is to approach you, I can welcome someone I know. If I know your name you are no longer a stranger.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Jesus was hosting this multitude when evening came. The disciples approach Jesus with this comment, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is late. Send the multitudes away, they may need to go into the city and by food for themselves.” The disciples were thinking ahead. We can’t feed this group Jesus better send them on their way. Jesus’ response is, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

Was Jesus saying we are responsible or was Jesus saying there’s no where else to go? Let’s begin with the second possibility.

Maybe there was no where else to go. A deserted place would imply not a settled area so there weren’t the standard homes to provide hospitality. Without homes and in a day before Ruby Tuesday’s maybe there was no where else to go.

If we don’t invite people to the table? If we are not hospitable? Where else can they go? Think beyond Sunday morning. People go many places on Sunday morning. Where else can people go to hear and see gospel? Well I suppose a person could hear the gospel on television. Some might argue a good movie preaches gospel. Yet a place to hear and see gospel might be like looking for a Civil War battlefield in Minnesota.

In the absence of such people are still going to seek their best alternative. They are hungry mine you. While they may not be able to find gospel to eat they will find some fast food. It might be conversation at Starbucks or hanging out with friends at Cleveland Park. They will not starve, but will they be nourished. A meal from McDonalds will sustain you but it will not nourish you. In the absence of good food people will turn to any food. Maybe there are alternatives and Jesus knows this so when he says, “They do not need to go away” he is saying for their own good they do not need to be eating at places which do not nourish the soul. Nevertheless people will go as long as they find the gospel place inhospitable. The quality of our food does not matter if they cannot receive good service.

Where else could they go? I mean where else could they go where they would hear and feel gospel? When we send people away where do they go?  I know we don’t feel like we send people away, but when people are not made to feel comfortable where do they go? Do you think Starbuck’s is popular because of overpriced coffee? Are bars popular because of there watered down drinks? Are internet chat rooms popular because of the truthful and raw chatter? People will find a place it may be a bad place, even a lonely place, but people will not starve they will find something.

Now consider the first possibility. Who’s responsible for feeding this crew? It might be as simple as saying, “this is your job, don’t pawn it off on someone else.” We lament when the mental health system breaks down and allows something like the Virginia Tech massacre to take place. We lament that our world is becoming less civil. We even lament that people don’t measure up to our standard of faith. Maybe we are to blame. Maybe the mental health crisis can be traced back to people not seeing a person and caring about their problems. Maybe the lack of civility can be traced back to us, we don’t welcome the stranger or we don’t make others feel comfortable. Maybe people would rather be treated as a friend than to be treated friendly. So maybe it is our responsibility to stand and feed others. To be the host, to not send people away.

Jesus is offering a good meal, a healthy meal, but when the other guest at the table are not inviting, people would rather eat a burger and fries than a healthy balance meal. The problem is not with the food on the table but with the company at the table.

So why do we bring people to the table because they have no where else to go. Of course they can go somewhere but this somewhere is not a good place. When a person falls through the cracks of  the mental health system we blame the system but how about us? When a person tries but fails to land in a congregation are we not to blame? When a young person cannot make a friend in a Christian youth group and they end up using drugs and falling into a culture of destruction are we not to blame? Jesus cooks the food, but we make the place hospitable.

Jesus took the table to the people. He was the host and he looked at the people and he had compassion. His compassion did not end with his words, in fact his words lead to his compassion. Read carefully it all begins with “seeing.”

Sight is wonderful, but so few of us see. We look and we overlook but we seldom see. Do we see people sitting in worship by themselves? Do we notice people sitting at tables alone on Wednesday night? Do we notice children who cannot play with others? Do we see how poverty creates an educational disparity and then the cycle continues? Do we see people or do we see through people?

Could the problem be our eyesight? Notice in the following examples what is going on.

So as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them and healed them.[i]

Then some people appeared, bringing him a paralytic stretched out on a bed seeing their faith, Jesus said . . .[ii]

As he went along, he saw a man who had been blind from birth.[iii]

Hospitality does not begin with a welcome mat it begins with opening our eyes. Jesus saw. He did not ignore or look around, Jesus saw. What he saw caused him to welcome. He saw people broken by this world, he saw people in need of a conversation, he saw and this made him hospitable.

What do we see?

We communicate welcome and our appreciation for people when we remember their names, and when we make sure they are oriented to the practices of the group. When people are easily included in celebrations, when we invite participation in the life of the community, and when there is mutual sharing of lives and life stories, gracious welcome is evident. When we give people time and space, and create an environment that is respectful of them, strangers know they have found a safe place.

 When we are concerned about the needs of strangers, offering hospitality requires both courage and humility. It involves not only a willingness to take some risks in welcoming others, but it also requires the kind of courage that lives close to our limits, continually pressing against the possible, yet always aware of the incompleteness and the inadequacy of our own responses. At the same time, living so close to the edge of sufficient resources increases our dependence on and our awareness of God’s interventions and provision.

 We invite people to the table because anywhere else they go is destructive. Can’t we see this? Hospitality is not the new evangelism, it is the original. To see, to care, to act, to become friends this is what faith in God is about.

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