Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 (NRSV)
Read Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 on biblegateway.com
Verse 53When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat.
Verse 54When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him,
Verse 55and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.
Verse 56And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.
Devotion
A formative book for me during my time as a student at Luther Seminary was "Notebook of a Colonial Clergyman" by Henry Melchior Muhlenberg. I read in wonder and amazement the passages about people coming out from their homes hungry for the Word, hungry for the building up of their faith. Since those feelings are within my own breast, I didn't hear those passages with prideful patronage toward a simpler people; I just envied the assembly of a throng of believers who sought to be fed.
I think that the secret to welcoming others is simpler than many of us would wish to believe. An infant is a magnet for adults no matter their race or culture or age. They are instantly identifiable as something good and something filled with infinite promise. The infant's secret? Unfiltered welcome.
As Christ moved through the ancient world it was known, by reputation and by experience that no one was turned away from his presence. His human flesh carried with it the will of God that all be welcomed home, that all be gathered into God's love. He was living welcome.
Whether we wear a collar or not, whether or not people on the street can identify us as a Christian, maybe we could just remember to offer a place away for rest, some respite from the traumas of the day, and let that be our welcome, a balm in the heat of day.
Prayer
Christ, recognized as God around the earth, make of us emissaries of your peace. Let us bring rest and respite into a world all too hurried, too image conscious, too persistently measuring, judging, condemning. May we always say "yes" to those in need of any healing and become the living welcome you have been to us all our lives. Amen.