Sermon
For some reason this text Bonnie read for us today, seems like a collection of sentences that are not connected by anything. Part of the reason might be that the chapter we are reading from today is the end of the book of Hebrews, and is kind of a summary. The book of Hebrews isn't really a book and it isn't really a letter. It's more like an instruction or teaching instrument. Throughout the book, the author pushes over and over, the idea of doing things by faith. By faith Abram and Sarai had children in their old age. By faith Israelites crossed the red sea. Having faith is the reason given throughout the book, why all of the stories from the Jewish faith that the Jewish Christians would already know, came to fruition and brought the Israelites to where they are. In the first 12 chapters the author has given a treatise on how Jesus has become a replacement for some of their temple rituals. Jesus as the High Priest for example. Jesus who doesn't want burnt offerings, but wants the offering of the one who believes.
In chapter 13 then, this summary chapter, the author puts his most important instructions into four words. Let mutual love continue. No longer speaking only about individuals behaviors, the author deepens to discuss behaviors that are for the benefit of the community. He is teaching them how to live in community. If we have mutual love, the community will be healthy.
For something to be mutual, there needs to be two or more – two people, two groups, two entities. Mutuality is about relationships.
Mutuality itself applies to all kinds of circumstances. Even a bad relationship can be mutual! “I hate this job. I quit!” “The feeling is mutual! You're fired!” Or “I feel really uncomfortable here.” “The feeling's mutual. Let's go.” We can all think of sentences using the word mutual.
Let's take a closer look at the kind of mutual love we are reading about in today's text. First “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” The relationship here is between ourselves and a stranger. A stranger is someone distant from us – they don't know us, we don't love or like or dislike each other, we don't know anything about them or what they represent. Yet, mutual love between strangers is essential to community because without it, the stranger will always remain a stranger. “Hospitality played a significant role in expanding and connecting early Christian communities. This general practice is given particular nuance in Hebrews. The author envisions the audience as sojourners, like Abraham and the other heroes of faith, seeking the city of God.” 1
If a community was not welcoming to that stranger, helpful connections would be missed. So despite the emotional distance, there is a strong need for the community, to welcome the stranger.
Next, we read, “Remember 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.” Nobody wants to be in prison. Especially then. Prisons weren't state sponsored places where you could get “three meals and a cot” and not be on the street anymore. Nobody was visiting you. Nobody was bringing you food, or caring for your medical needs, and you were probably being tortured. So actually visiting one in prison, would be a life line for them. Prisons today are still places of various types of cruelty, leading to fear, isolation, rejection, serious harm. As a matter of fact, all but two states in the US currently have what's called “pay to stay” laws that charge prisoners $249 per day for the duration of their incarceration.2 So even when one has paid their debt, they still are burdened with financial debt. Of all the things that prevent a rehabilitated convict from re-entering society, if they're lucky enough to get a job and a place to stay, they can never really escape from their jail. Prisoners may or may not be as emotionally distant as a stranger. If someone we know or care about, or support is interacting with the law, we might be attached at some level. Regardless, visiting the prisoner and other community outcasts is something we need to do in order to engage in mutual love.
And finally, the text says, “Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers.”
The emotional connection described here is the closest of the three examples given today. The emotional connection between partners is probably the first thing we think of when we think of mutual love. A sermon about excesses, love of money, breaking relationships, and God's judgement is for another day. The key is, God will judge, not us.
The three examples in today's text are true examples for the time and place of the writing of this letter, but they also represent three types of relationships in the lives of our communities. Strangers, those who we are the most distant from. Prisoners, outcasts, people we may be distant from emotionally, but may be close to physically as we interact with the world. And partners, those people we are committed to for life that our hearts are closest too. The love a community needs to show is mutual love no matter the distance from our hearts. “In Hebrews, mutual love is a shorthand for practices and dispositions that preserve and strengthen the community. In this sense, mutual love is an important and tangible consequence of continuing to meet together.”1
And here's the final example: “…be content with what you have.” I put contentment in the category of those places where mutual love belongs also because I think contentment requires a cumulation of wisdom that comes from a life that includes reflection. As we are often our own worst enemy, reflection helps us discover how to stop the things that are getting in our own way. While the author of Hebrews is teaching the hearers how to be in community, even within a community, it is our obligation to be our true selves as individuals. Being content does not mean being okay with the things that are wrong. Contentment isn't settling for what is if it's not right. Contentment is a feeling of satisfaction, a state of being at ease with ourselves in body and mind and spirit.
Our worship is one way that we are in community together. The community we share when we worship is tied by a mutual sense of purpose and love. God has said “I will never leave you or forsake you.” In worship we give thanks for that constant presence. No matter how our other relationships of any kind struggle, our relationship with Jesus Christ is constant and steady. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever – cue Suzanne Toolin's song of the same name. Christ in us and for us, is the same – not any different than the day before, not moody, not too tired, not distracted, not needing a break, and not out of reach. Christ is our best example of mutual love in action.
The reliability of Christ in our lives is becoming more and more important as the world seems to spin even faster these days. The effects of climate change on the weather events around the globe, the number of places that are at war or in conflict is growing, in our own country we are more exposed to a growing number of people and groups who are basically gaslighting people. There's a literary style called nihilism, where stories are about things being hopeless, or untrustworthy, nothing is as it seems, nothing is certain. These kinds of stories or philosophies or outlooks are bleak and dark as you might expect. An article in Psychology Today discusses this nihilistic trend and says, “A culture in which such ideas are batted about among intellectuals may be admirably brave, creative, and open. A culture in which such ideas are generally accepted is in trouble: concrete, physical-world trouble, and psychological trouble, too.”3 The overabundance of conspiracies and fake news makes us feel this nihilistic tendency ourselves and we want to latch onto something to believe in, something that makes us feel certain. Our basic need to belong, during these times when hunkering down in our own bubbles seems safer, leads some to latch on to places like Proud Boys or other such groups.
Society needs the best aspects of faith more than ever right now. People need to witness people of faith doing the work of the Gospel. People need to witness the struggles and wins of good people of faith. The certainties, the constancy, the stories of people of faith who stand tall and who falter just like others, who return again and again to the place of renewal, are exactly what people are in need of. The mark of a vital Christian community is according to one commentator, “the demonstration of deep love, radical hospitality, solidarity with those on the margins of society…sharing possessions, practicing contentment, and emulating the exemplary behavior of those who have gone before them.” No one particular religion contains 100% of the great truth of God. As Christians our faith teaches us that the consistency we need, the ever present goodness that we need is here now in Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Let us pray,
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2 At $249 per day, prison stays leave ex-inmates deep in debt
3 An Increase in Nihilism Plays Havoc With Mental Health