One Pure and Sacred Space

Scripture: Matthew 10:8

At the beginning of the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus gathers his twelve disciples around him, commissions them in their work, and prepares them to go out into the world on their own. He knows that his time with them will end more quickly than they can understand and He wants them to be ready.

Chapter 10 deserves close and repeated reading. It contains lots of lessons for us about how to launch those we love--our children, our students, those we train and mentor--out into the next stages of their lives. For example, I am always struck by the phrase "Be as wise as serpents and as innocent as doves," which I think beautifully captures our hope that those we send forth will be savvy enough to negotiate the challenges of life without losing their sense of wonder, their optimism, their simple faith in the force of goodness that moves through the universe with an ultimately irresistible persistence.

In my most recent reading of this passage, though, I found myself hovering over this instruction: "You received without payment; give without payment."

Of course, the gospels call upon us to bring the ethic of our faith into every dimension of our life: our family connections; our relationships with our friends and neighbors; our work. In many of those situations, though, we are compensated for our efforts. Sure, the form of compensation varies--monetary compensation in our employment, the compensation of returned love and service from those with whom we are close, and so on. Still, in most of these situations we give, and we receive, and we are disappointed when it doesn't work that way.

In this passage, though, I believe that Jesus calls us to think differently, to move beyond the give-and-take quid-pro-quo you-scratch-my-back-and-I'll-scratch-yours orientation that occupies much of our existence. I do not think that he summons us into a merry participation in unjust relationships where we succumb to unfair employers and abusive spouses and the like--in my theology, Jesus never demands that we become doormats; He loves us too much for that. But I do believe that He wants us to recognize the importance of some form of service that carries with it no expectation of getting anything in return.

Here is one possible way to engage with this idea in the hope of moving it from an abstraction to a practice. Perhaps we should, each of us, have in our life at least one pure and sacred space where we give knowing confidently that we will get nothing back--and graciously but diligently declining anything that is offered.

Over the last few years, I have experimented with this a bit. I would tell you more about my particular experiment but that might violate the deal I have with the One who commissioned me. My pure and sacred spaces are between the two of us, and that is exactly how it must remain for them to retain their identity.

So I would invite you to look around on this good day and ask yourself some questions. Do you have such spaces in your life? Do you need to create one--or create more of them? Is there someone you are launching off into the world who might benefit from hearing this message:

"Whatever you do, have at least one pure and sacred space in your life where you give without payment. This is how you express your thanks for all you have received without paying. In the end, it may prove to be the thing that redeems you, no matter what else happens in your ragged and messy life."

So Jesus thought.

So the disciples discovered.

So the world may be changed

one pure and sacred space at a time.

Amen.