Building Homes in Babylon

One of the shocking things about hospitality is that, when you look at places where radical hospitality is taking place, it is usually from the margins of society. The people with the least resources seem to be the people who are capable of showing the most hospitality. It would seem on the surface that people with more to give, in time and money, would be more available, but statistics and experience show otherwise.Here is why: as people move away from the margins and find themselves inside more comfortable and socially acceptable places, they forget what it was like to be on the outside. So, maybe it is understandable. But is it acceptable? Good question! The religious people of Jesus’ day used scripture to justify keeping their distance from outsiders, people who were socially unacceptable, and people ethnically different than them. Jesus, however, dropped a bomb on their neat little tidy religious lives and identified with the outsiders. Of course, he did! None of us reading this would know Jesus if he hadn’t.We should not be surprised. This week we will look at a passage that talks about Israel’s posture and manner of life once they were taken into exile and deposited into the land of their oppressors and captors. Basically, God tells Israel—build homes in Babylon! In a place where you are totally thrust to the margins of cultural, political, and economic power—build homes. Move into your neighborhood and be homemakers—places of welcome, refuge, and a sanctuary in the midst of the cultural wasteland. It is a moving picture, but are we really called to this? We will talk about it on Sunday and ponder what Peter means when he talks about the people of God living like “resident aliens.”Hope you have a great Labor Day weekend, and I hope to see those of you who, like me, are in town this Sunday!Blessings,Jim