Lent | Reading for Preaching Seminar with Dr. Cornelius "Neal" Plantinga, Jr. Post 3 of 3

 

Lent Preaching | Hospitality and Compassion

Here is a link to the previous post featuring my time at the Preaching Seminar with the Massachusetts Council of Pastors in Marlborough:

Lent | Reading for Preaching Seminar with Dr. Cornelius "Neal" Plantinga, Jr. Post 1 of 3

Lent | Reading for Preaching Seminar with Dr. Cornelius "Neal" Plantinga, Jr. Post 2 of 3

Dr. Neal Plantinga | Lent: Hospitality and Compassion

Colossians 3 + Ephesians 4 + Galatians 5 = Romans 12
It works alphabetically, mathematically, and theologically in showcasing how orthodoxy (right belief) must combine with orthopraxy (right action) to showcase the gospel of Jesus Christ in word and deed 

1) Hospitality: Making room for another and making them flourish

Hospitality is grounded in how God is. In the Trinity, each person makes room for another and helps the other flourish. For example, when you open the door of your house, make room for them to feel at home, and give them food, you are saying, "I want you to live. I want you to flourish."

For an example, look at many of the Dutch people in World War II who harbored and hid Jews from the Nazis at an astonishing rate. They showed hospitality to strangers at the risk of their very own lives and the lives of their families.

2) Compasion: When another's dignity makes you proud and when another's distress makes you concerned

If we are made in the image of God, then we are made to be compassionate through:

1) Responsible stewardship | dominion in Genesis 1

Leading and serving under by way of support so that God's good creation is the way that it should be in fruitfulness and multiplying

2) Loving fellowship | mutual glorifying in John 17

At the peak of Jesus' anticipation of his own suffering, He chooses to pray for His disciples (i.e. others)

3) Knowledge of God | righteousness and holiness in Colossians 3 and Ephesians 4

We are renewed to be like God through increased knowledge of Him in our minds and pursuit of His righteousness and holiness in our actions

God's great compassion is a long arm ready to save and a merciful heart ready to forgive. In Luke's Gospel in the Greek, one of his favorite phrases to use in showcasing God's compassion is "far away." For example, with the prodigal son who returns, the Father sees the son who is "far away" and runs to meet him. The Hebrew word for compassion is related to the word "womb;" compassion is related to how a mother nurtures, cares for and protects an infant inside her.

We also need to remember that we are finite. We can weep with those who weep for a period of time. Only God can week infinitely. We need to respect the boundaries He's given us so that we don't burn out. And when you're a giver, you're working out of a place of strength. It can be hard to be a receiver, too.

In Luke 18, Luke writes about tax collectors and children next to each other. Why? They were both part of the lower rung of society in first century Palestine. Babies are another mouth to feed and they take a lot of effort to take care of. They don't contribute anything but waste. Babies are completely dependent; they are perfectly wonderful receivers. They live off love and nourishment; if they don't they will die. To understand God's compassion for our place, we need to be like babies. This is how we receive the Kingdom of God as we should.

Aristotle once wrote that we only feel compassion for people we think are blameless. If that were God's definition of compassion, then we would all be in real trouble. We need grace, and we also need truth. Jesus came to us full of grace and truth. Compassion is braced by grace and truth; our compassion must be strengthened by the same or it will slump into something lesser.

So much of virtue is learned by imitation. You need a teacher and you need to practice. We can't weep with those who weep if we're never around those who are weeping. When we pray for people we don't like, it helps us to understand how to meet them where they are. Pray for the healing God knows they must need.

God's commands are part of the gospel. "Clothe yourself with compassion" is an imperative in the form of an invitation. Compassion for others helps part of our self-centeredness, our selfishness, and our hardness of heart to die. Love vivifies. Love brings life. Only God can raise the dead. But we are called to and can help raise the grieved. God's commands are grace counsels for how human life was meant to flourish. They're the good life.

God's command to be compassionate is compassionate in and of itself. When baptized, we're called to dress ourselves in God's virtues as part of His family. Aquinas said that prudence helps us how to best steward God's virtues. 

We don't know if or when our compassion will be stirred, but are we putting ourselves in a position where it could be? Eyes that notice self-deception have been cleansed by tears. Do we avoid unhappy people because we comfort more than compassion? Imagine compassion as Jesus being scourged, bloody, and beaten, and Him looking to you to pull Him into your arms and comfort Him in His suffering.

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