Some thoughts on the Bible readings found in the Revised Common Lectionary
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Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Luke 24:13-25
I smile every time I read the story of the two disciples walking with a stranger on the road to Emmaus. I smile because after all their time with Jesus it seems that not only did they not recognise him they didn't know much 'sound' theology either. But they had learnt something and that was about hospitality, about welcoming the stranger. They had experienced hospitality during their time spent with Jesus travelling amongst strangers and being strangers to others; being welcomed by tax collectors and 'sinners'. Hospitality and the welcome of the stranger, the traveller, the alien can be found in religion throughout the world. It was not in the words of explanation that they recognised Jesus but he was made known to them in the breaking of bread. Jesus is not to be found in unique beliefs about him but in the everyday, the ordinary: the sharing of food, the sharing of life, the making of love. If there is a uniqueness about Jesus it is in how he makes life liveable. I guess this is why he said I have come that you might have life, and have it to the full.
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well, he didn't quite talk about 'life to the full' on the road to Emmaus [this is reported only in John's Gospel, not in Luke's]...rather he upbraided the disciples as foolish and slow to believe...and it wasn't him who offered hospitality, since the bread they ate was presumably provided by the host of the house in which they stopped.
ReplyDeleteIt is an interesting point you raise. Who actually was offering hospitality? The disciples invited the stranger (Jesus) to stay with them whether it was at their home or at the home of another. Jesus broke the bread and gave it to them. In this way Jesus was hosting them. I would have thought that the host (the owner of the house) would have been the one to give thanks and offer the bread to the guests. Perhaps they were all being hospitable to one another. I guess what I'm trying to explore is the nature of hospitality as somewhere (a space) where people can meet or even encounter God beyond what we believe or understand about God. Maybe somewhere beyond our understanding God can be found or is found or is there in some special way when people and especially strangers, even enemies sit down to eat and drink together. Jesus remarks in Luke 7 that he has been accused of being a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners and in Luke 15 he is accused of welcoming them. I just wonder if there is more to be found in this than I already see?
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