Lent 3 (Narrative
Lectionary, Year B)
Mark 12:28-34
When
I was in my first couple months of seminary, there was a guy in a couple of my
classes named “Bob”. Bob was one of those people who is not good at picking up
on social signals. He talked a little too loudly, asked questions that were a
little too personal, and volunteered more information than you might want. He
was a very nice guy, though, friendly and well-meaning. No one disliked him,
but no one really sought him out either. (Yes, you may point out the painful
irony of this behavior in seminarians.)
One
evening, I decided to walk from my apartment to downtown New Haven and I ran
into Bob. He had been riding his bike, but he hopped off and walked along with
me. We talked and we went to a little diner and had a piece of cake. Then we
walked back up the hill to the divinity school. He was really talking and I
felt awkward trying to say goodnight, so I invited him in for a cup of tea.
I
called a friend to let her know that Bob was with me, just so someone would
know this information. (For the record, there was never any point where I was
concerned about my safety with this guy. Otherwise, I would not have allowed
him into where I lived.) In the meantime, Bob looked at my shelves and asked
about watching a movie. I made tea and he sat in one of my two chairs and I sat
in the other. At one point, he was chilly. He asked about a housecoat, but I
gave him my huge flannel bathrobe, which he put on over his clothes and a
blanket he put over his lap.
I
emailed my friend, “Bob’s STILL here! Watching a movie! Third cup of tea!
Wearing my bathrobe over his clothes!” I could practically hear her giggling
over the email, “What are you going to do?” I didn’t know what to do, so I sat
through the rest of the movie thinking about how to get him out of my
apartment. When the movie ended, he announced that it had been a terrible movie
and proceeded to go through the reasons why. He brought up things I had never
considered and he was right.
Then
he asked to use the bathroom and said he thought he should go home. He asked if
he could give me a hug. I opened the door to the apartment and we hugged
briefly in the hallway and then he left. At this point, we’d spent about seven
hours together. I called my friend and we kept laughing about the oddity of the
situation and about “Bob”. Not my finest moment, that.
Many weeks later, he returned a
borrowed book to me with a note thanking me for helping him to feel less
lonely. Thank you, he said, for being a friend when I wasn’t sure this was a
good place for me. Thank you for being so generous with your tea, your
housecoat, and your time. Your friend, he said, Bob.
That
note made me want to kick myself and I’ve never forgotten it. I especially
remember it in my own Bob moments- when I talk too long, tell a story that
doesn’t quite hit the mark, when the words I offer seem woefully inadequate.
When I’m trying to love my neighbors as I love myself, even when I’m not sure
about how I feel about them or about me.
The
greatest commandment, the Shema of
Deuteronomy 6, doesn’t need elaboration. It says what it means and it means
what it says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all
your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” Jesus adds to
it from Leviticus 19:18, “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The
commands go together and are the foundation of what it means to have faith. These
commands are how we respond to the way God has loved us, even in our most human
moments… especially in our most human
moments.
We’ve
all been welcomed when we were Bob… when we awkward and uncertain…when we have
over-stayed a welcome… we’ve had makeshift families or friends in odd places
who offered us hospitality… we’ve all let someone who needed to stay longer
than we wanted… We will be called to offer that welcome again. And we will
receive it again. These are the moments of God-with-us and God-in-us that are
the challenges of living in this world.
Fulfilling
these commandments doesn’t make us closer to God, but helps us to perceive
God’s nearness to us. In those moments, of welcome and of being welcomed, we
are not far from the kingdom of God.
Amen.
Comments
But yesterday, a young woman, who is a loner because she is awkward in some kind of "syndrome" way, was in the row behind me in church. I asked her to come up and sit next to me. So she did. I'm in the choir, but because of recent health issues, I don't sit with them in case I feel the need to escape quickly. So I was sitting alone too. At the end of church, I hugged the young woman. Later in the day, I found out on Facebook that yesterday was her birthday. I'm so glad I let Jesus work through me.
Sometimes, just a few times, I've had some idea just come to me that is out of character for me. These have turned out to be something very good that I was prompted to do. For example, one time I was prompted to volunteer to cook meals for the youth group on Wed evenings. Since I don't like cooking for groups, nor do I relish working with the youth, I know it wasn't me telling me to do this. I followed that prompting, and I'm glad. I didn't change my unease with cooking for groups, nor my lack of comfort with young people, but I did help the youth leader and the kids by cooking Wednesdays for most of the school year. Praise God.