Ted Johnston—Year C Proper 17
Anthony: Our final passage of the month is Hebrews 13:1–8, 15–16. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for Proper 17 in Ordinary Time, August 31.
Let mutual affection continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 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. 4 Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for he himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” 6 So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?” 7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
“Keep your lives free from the love of money,” verse 5 says, “and be content with what you have.” What might you say about this? A prophetic word, a social commentary. What does the church need to hear about this, Ted?
Ted: Don’t get me going.
Anthony: Well, I’m inviting you to, actually.
Ted: I don’t mean to get on my high horse because this speaks to my heart and is convicting, but I must say that the author of Hebrews …
Anthony: Yes.
Ted: … is certainly focusing in now on ethical matters. He is getting at the reality of his readers’ everyday life, and what they are thinking, what really motivates them, and therefore what they are doing. And he’s urging them to embrace, and through a Christ-like life, show forth the truth and power of the gospel.
You talk about evangelism; you talk about our Christ-like example in the world has a lot to do with how we live. And we don’t do it to impress people. We don’t do it for the favor of people. We do it because that’s the way Christ is, and we’re participating in his life.
And one specific behavior that he zeroes in on is living in contentment — free from a love of money is part of that. Money representing material goods, certainly an issue for these folks because following Jesus was often leading to them losing their way to make money. Their businesses were being closed down because of it. Their Jewish neighbors wouldn’t do business with them.
And that’s an issue for us today. Did they, do we, love money more than Jesus? It’s a challenge in a world that it becomes increasingly materialistic. Maybe we don’t have the same kinds of problems or temptations that they did in that respect, but we certainly face that challenge today.
And we are challenged to ask ourselves, are we generous with what we possess? Do we use our resources in order to offer hospitality to strangers, is the example he gives, which by the way, them being Jews familiar with the Old Testament, with Hebrew scriptures would have thought of those passages in the Hebrew scriptures that talk about the necessity of caring for people who are strangers among us — foreigners, if you will.
That’s certainly an issue in our world today, especially in the United States and other fairly wealthy nations. If you don’t mind, I’d like to read something that I ran across from Walter Brueggeman on that very issue. This is from Away, Other Than Our Own devotional for Lent. He said:
I believe the crisis in the United States Church has almost nothing to do with being liberal or conservative. It has everything to do with giving up on the faith and discipline of our Christian baptism, settling for a common
Published on 5 months, 3 weeks ago
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