Working upstream with hospitality

My favorite Psalm is 23. It is a classic piece of poetry with vivid imagery. It is actually parts of two psalms that somehow were joined. We know it as the Shepherd’s Psalm. The first half is about a shepherd and his sheep, but the last half of the psalm has nothing to do with sheep and shepherds. The second half of the psalm begins with the words, “He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemy.”

It is the picture of a man, probably guilty of a crime, being welcomed into the tent of an Israelite who had no knowledge of the fleeing man’s crime. The ancient Israelite law of hospitality said that he must give refuge to the fleeing stranger. The host had gone a step beyond giving the safety of refuge. While an avenger stood outside looking in, the host had prepared a banquet for his guest and treated him as royalty. The scene is intensely personal. The fleeing man is the psalmist himself.

I believe the laws of hospitality are the most ignored of all moral teachings found in the Bible. Unfortunately, most Jews, Muslims and Christians who follow in the Israelite tradition choose to forget about the practice of hospitality, call for the punishment of the guilty and concentrate on religious rites and pious activities for their own purification.

By the standards of American law and justice, the welcoming host was absolutely wrong. The fleeing stranger should have been turned over to the offended pursuer for retribution.

It is not simply American justice that demands punishment for the wrongdoer. The Bible carries that same message. The Bible declares that there is no place for the evildoer in the Kingdom of God. Evildoers are banished or killed. There is no shortage of Bible verses that teach severe punishment for wrongdoing. However, the Bible also carries the message of grace, forgiveness and hospitality for the fleeing law-breaker. Both traditions are abundantly stated in both the Old and New Testaments.

In the world of scholarship, the tradition of law and order, crime and punishment, ritual for purification and priestly control of the religious community is called the great tradition. The great tradition is established and controlled by the rich, the privileged and the powerful.

In the lifetime of Jesus, access to God was only through the Jerusalem Temple. The temple was rigidly controlled by temple priests. They demanded animals for sacrifice from the poor and the payment of tithes of everything they had. The system kept the poor poor and the rich rich. It was an example of the great tradition at work.

The challenge to the great tradition is referred to as the little tradition. The seedbed of the little tradition is the people who were being abused under the great tradition. Occasionally, a spokesperson arose in the midst of the poor and disenfranchised with a voice of protest. These are found in the Old Testament narrative in the great poet/prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Micah. Jesus must be understood as spokesperson for the little tradition in his own day.

In Galilee, Jesus’ challenge to the great tradition was eagerly heard. He drew large crowds. He preached and taught among the poorest of the poor, who were out of the everyday reach of the priests and temple authorities who ruled in Jerusalem 70 miles to the south. When Jesus decided to take his protests and his teachings to Jerusalem, he and his followers knew they were in for trouble. Everything came to a head when Jesus created a chaotic scene in the Court of the Gentiles within the walls of the Jerusalem Temple. His death became inevitable.

Jesus carried more than protest against the practitioners of great tradition. He also advocated an understanding of Torah that countered the interpretation of Torah that was taught by those who controlled the great tradition. The poet/prophet Micah had said it most clearly when he wrote that Torah demanded the doing of justice, the loving of kindness and a humble walk with God. Jesus called it loving your neighbor.

I call the work done by Jesus and the other little tradition prophets working upstream. What do I mean by working upstream? Upstream are places nearer the headwaters of a river. Upstream is where people live. I offer a picture.

In the history of humankind, people have built communities and then cities on the banks of streams and rivers. They used these bodies of water as a source of water and for the disposal of their garbage and body waste. As long as communities were small and the flow of water was great, water was abundant and sewage flowing downstream was not a problem. However, sewage eventually overwhelmed the river and the growing pollution downstream had to be addressed. The answer was unavoidable. While the growing pollution downstream could not be ignored, the main clean-up job had to be done upstream near the sources of pollution.

Most of us live upstream. We seem unaware of the impact of our lifestyles on those who live downstream. We abuse people and make castaways of our children. Upstream is where we have neighbors. Upstream is the place where justice can be best practiced, mercy loved and humble people walk with their God. It is the place where we can practice hospitality most effectively. If every follower of Jesus from Nazareth did his/her work of hospitality upstream, there would be a lot fewer problems downstream.

The Rev. Howard Bess is a retired American Baptist minister, who lives in Palmer. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.

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