Text: Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Concluding Exhortations
1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”
6 So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”
7 Remember your leaders, 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.
15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
New International Version - for other versions see 
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Sermon
In our text today, the writer of Hebrews gives a series of instructions to the church on how to represent Jesus in their individual and community lives. It has been a common temptation of the church in every age to turn inward and develop increasing self-concern rather than concern for others. It takes intentional effort to resist this natural tendency. There are always many reasons to fear strangers, shun prisoners, and ignore the suffering of others.
This is a powerful set of concerns raised by the author of Hebrews. A preacher could develop an entire series of sermons from these eight verses that would be relevant in any age.
Let us take one principal idea that touches most of these instructions. It is the call to have “open hearts, open minds, and open doors.” This is the kind of openness the writer of Hebrews has in mind and is certainly worth striving for.
From earliest times the world has honored and admired the virtue of hospitality. This was, and still is, one of the primary virtues in the Jewish faith. Jesus did not invent the virtues of hospitality and concern for the poor, the sick, the prisoner, and the oppressed. The faith in which he was nurtured claimed these as primary virtues. Jesus also lifted them up as central concerns in his teachings and practice when he told the synagogue, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” (Luke 4:18) Little wonder that these virtues are still proclaimed as central in the life and practice of the Christian Church from the beginning.
There seems to be, however, a growing intensity in the fear of strangers in this generation. We recently heard both political parties promise us that they will “stop the boats, send the boats back or process them off shore”. We have become concerned with the risk of opening our borders, churches, homes, and lives to the stranger. We have seen “Good Samaritans” stop and help, to open their doors, only to be taken advantage of as they were seen as soft targets. We speak of the stranger as an “alien,” which has become a negative term. And yet, in the Old Testament, the Israelites were told to care for the aliens (for example, see Leviticus 19:10). And, if we go back far enough, we were all aliens in this land we live in, except for our indigenous Australians.
Hospitality for the stranger, the poor, the homeless, and the oppressed is a virtue proclaimed by God and encouraged, or even commanded by God of us. This is the kind of hospitality the writer of Hebrews had in mind. It is said that virtue is its own reward, but Hebrews suggests an even more compelling reason for such hospitality: “For by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2).
Many blessings await those who are prepared to run the risk of offering hospitality to strangers. Abraham and Sarah offered hospitality to three strangers who turned out to be angels of God, who came to announce that this aged and childless couple would have a son (see Genesis 18:1-33). In the New Testament, two dispirited followers of Jesus were on their way home after the crucifixion when they were joined on the road to Emmaus by a stranger (see Luke 24:13-35). They were so taken by him that when they got home they invited him to stay with them for the evening meal. The stranger blessed and broke the bread and gave it to them. They suddenly recognized him to be the risen Christ!
Maybe you, too, have entertained an angel unaware. Or maybe we have rejected an angel unaware. God will show up in strange ways, strange places, and strange persons. Offering hospitality to the stranger invites God’s blessing on all. This is what the author of Hebrews wants his readers to hear and understand.
Our Gospel reading also speaks about hospitality (Luke 14:1, 7-14). The key phrase in this passage is, “They were watching him” (Luke14:1). Jesus is aware of the fact that he was under the scrutiny of enemies. They were watching and waiting for him to do or say something they could construe as a violation of Jewish law. We are barely past the halfway point in Luke’s Gospel, and Jesus is being watched by people whose goal and purpose it is to destroy him.
The road to the cross starts much sooner than most of us are aware. Jesus was skating on thin ice when he healed on the Sabbath day. Now he gives them a lesson on God’s hospitality that runs counter to common practice. Jesus says you should not invite those who will invite you back in return. Instead invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind, who cannot repay you. Then you will receive your reward at the resurrection of the righteous. (Luke 14:12-14).
What would you have said to Jesus? Every community, every society, has its outcasts. These are the people Jesus wants the party host to invite to the party. These are the people Jesus wants to see included in our lives - our personal life, our life as a church. Does it sound threatening to you? Or maybe just a little bit impossible? It might mean some changes in our expectations. It might mean some changes in the way we do things. It might mean stepping out of our comfort zone.
Who do you consider to be the outcast? Who is on your list of undesirables? I'm sure each of us can name a few:
Is it the poor person, the one who can't maintain the social standards and graces that you and I find so attractive?
Is it the sick of body, of mind or soul, whose demands upon the resources of the community or individuals for time, patience, money and prayer seem more than we are able to manage sometimes?
Is it the person who looks or sounds different than we do, because their background is different from ours?
Who's the undesirable for you?
Now recognize that Jesus is inviting us to include them in our lives not only for their good, but for our good also. We often think of doing good for others as a blessing for them. We think of the Community Meal as opportunity for us to do good for others. Jesus says, "No, you've got it backwards." Jesus said to the host in our Gospel, “You invite these people to your table because that's what it means to be the people of God. They give you the chance to live the faith you claim." They're not charity cases or objects of pity, but people made in the image of our God, and maybe the person who will sit next to you at God's eternal banquet.
Jesus is teaching us about the Kingdom of God – the party that will be hosted by God. And to that party God just keeps on inviting and inviting and inviting any who will come. The invitations come, but not due to our efforts, not due to our merits, not due to our wealth or social status. The invitations to the banquet come as a result of God's great love and as God's free gift. They cannot be earned, they cannot be purchased. The invitation comes as a free gift of grace and can only be received in faith.
If seats at the table in the Kingdom of Heaven are assigned by God's free gift we may find heaven a surprising place. But we can make earth a surprising place as well. We are called to commit ourselves to the faithful, daily struggle to see others as our Lord saw them; not as problems, or annoyances, or difficulties, or as statistics - but as fellow children in God's family, swept up in the all-encompassing love of a God who measures worth in ways we can neither think or imagine. Whose love includes you and me.
Thanks be to God. Amen.