Words of Welcome

Matthew 14:13-21 After Israel crossed the sea to freedom, they began to complain that Moses had led them into the desert to die of starvation. Slavery was bad, but starvation was worse. God had compassion on the people, and promised to give them bread from heaven  (Exodus 16:1-4 ). Then, the morning after God made this promise, the people looked out and found a white substance covering the ground. They gathered it up and made bread from it. They called it manna. This manna sustained the people of Israel during their journey across the desert ( Exodus 16:13ff ).  As we continue with our “Eating with Jesus” sermon series, we hear Matthew’s report that Jesus has retreated to a deserted place after Herod Antipas had John the Baptist beheaded. Most likely he went into the wilderness to pray about his future. Would his fate be the same as John’s? It was there, in the wilderness, that Jesus shared bread from heaven with hungry people caught in a deserted place. According to Trad

Matthew 9:9-13 With whom did Jesus eat? That’s one of the questions we’re exploring in this sermon series. We started with Abraham and Sarah, who welcomed God to their table by showing hospitality to three strangers. Strangers are one thing, but what about sinners? What are the rules and regulations? By the second century, it’s clear that only the baptized could come to the Table. Later on, Alexander Campbell had to get a token from church elders before he could take communion. Apparently he passed their test, because he got the token, but then he decided not to use it. Like his father, he realized that having too many rules kept people from experiencing Christ’s Table. It seems that the rules were designed to make sure that only the righteous could gather with Jesus at the Table, but is this what Jesus had in mind when he commissioned the disciples to break bread in remembrance of him? 

Genesis 18:1-8 Today we begin a conversation I call “Eating with Jesus.” It’s my contribution to our emphasis on the relationship of an Open Table to our call to Mission, which is being underwritten by a  Vital Worship grant  from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship. While most of the sermons in this series will draw from the New Testament, I thought it might be good to start with a story from Genesis about the day that Abraham and Sarah welcomed God to their Table. To give a bit of New Testament support to my thesis, consider this word from Hebrews 13: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” ( Heb. 13:1 , CEB).

Acts 10:34-48 Today is Baptism of Jesus Sunday. According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus journeyed from his home in Nazareth to the Jordan, where John was baptizing. Jesus got in line, and when he got to the front of the line, John asked Jesus to baptize him. But, Jesus insisted on being baptized, so John buried him in the waters of the Jordan. When Jesus emerged from the water, the heavens opened, the Holy Spirit descended, and a voice from heaven declared: “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased” ( Matthew 3:13-17 ).  In receiving this baptism, Jesus not only set an example, but his experience reminds us that when we are baptized we should expect to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This is the message that Peter delivered on the Day of Pentecost, and it’s the message we see revealed in the experience of Cornelius and his household.