First Baptist Church on Littleton Common    

Outside the Gate

Hebrews 13:11-13

Acts 8:26-39

A few weeks ago, over a cup of fresh hot coffee, a colleague shared the story of a woman within the circle of her church family, who as a teenager lived for five years inside a dumpster before she was discovered and then thrown out.    

The fifteen year old teen, whose name let’s say was Johanna, was kicked out on to the streets by her family and in turn, Johanna began to work the streets.   On one occasion, a stranger came up to her and gave her $100 to get off the streets and go home.  Johanna tried to go home but her mother refused to take her in and so she took the $100 and bought a sleeping bag and a heavy coat, found a large trash depot near a restaurant and lived inside an empty one, hidden towards the back, for five years.  

Have you ever paid much attention to dumpsters?   We don’t pay a great deal of attention to dumpsters, most of us have our trash picked up curbside while others make a weekly trek to the town transfer station.  (Which used to be called the town dump)   If we have to throw our trash into a dumpster, we may hold our breath while we throw in our bags and quickly turn while exhaling, and rush to get back to our business or the day’s activities.  After hearing this story, I paused while out on a walk to stop and look at a local dumpster more closely.  I smelled a distinct odor of stale coffee grounds mixed with rotten eggs and wet cardboard.    I noticed piles of black and white trash bags with food and paper spilling out of holes that had been snagged on something.   I noticed the inside walls of the dumpster, coated in grime, food and rust.  There was a layer of water on the bottom of it – from all the rainy weather and there were warning signs pasted all over the front of it: 

Danger - Overhead Obstacles

Notice    - No hazardous waste accepted,  

Caution –Do not play in, on, around, or occupy for any purpose. 

Johanna occupied a dumpster similar to the one I was staring into for 5 years – all the while working small part time jobs and finishing high school.   However two years after she graduated, she was still living in the back of it, when a youngster exploring the trash depot discovered her living arrangements.  He went home, told his parents who called the police.   The owners of the trash depot wanted her arrested – but the police after hearing her story – suggested she leave town.   After packing up her meager belongings, Johanna made her way to a bigger city, where she found some work, is able to make a decent living but continues to struggle with a deep range of deep emotional challenges.    She occasionally stops by my friend’s church for worship and calls to talk for support.

In the book of Hebrews we hear that Christ died outside the city gates – where the trash was thrown, and where the unused and discarded elements of worship were thrown away.    

Hebrews 13 says;  

“The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp.  And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.”  On Calvary’s hill, somewhere near the town trash depot, Christ died for our sins.      

Orlando Costas, in his book Christ Outside the Gate, said that when Jesus died outside the city gate he “not only changed the location of salvation, but also clarified the meaning of mission.”[1] Jesus changed the location of salvation and changed mission from a “coming in” to a “going out.”   

These are two important concepts - salvation and mission - for us to reflect on this week after Easter.   We have just remembered Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, followed by His arrest and death upon the cross.   We have celebrated His resurrection and His triumph of life over death.  We are now in the season of Easter –50 days which will lead us to Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit.   We will hear in the scriptures readings,  the Great Commission to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”    And so as people of faith we reflect on salvation and on mission.   

Orlando Costas said that Jesus changed the location of salvation.   Salvation used to be found within the “Holy of Holies,” that inner sanctum deep inside the walls of the Temple in Jerusalem.   Remember that the Holy of Holies was a room that held the gilded Ark of the Covenant, and within that were the tablets of Moses, the rod of Aaron and some manna.  Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies and only once a year, where he would sprinkle blood on the mercy seat which would atone for the sins of the people.    The presence of God resided inside of the Holy of Holies.  It was exclusive.   When Christ died on the cross, outside in the town dump, the veil that cordoned off the holy of holies was torn in two.  He changed the location of salvation, and because of that action our churches should also not be an exclusive “holy of holies” or even have any “holy of holy - hands off” attitudes inside of them.  

We used to have a “hands off - holy of holies” room right here at First Baptist Littleton.  It was the Deaconess closet.   The Deaconess closet is a tiny room where the silver candelabras, candles, communion ware, silk flower arrangements are kept.   For years only a handful of women had the keys to that closet and no one - no one – not even the pastor could go in it.  But the veil has been torn open and that protective, exclusive attitude is no longer there.   

The location of salvation has changed – and as a result it has changed the nature of mission.   Orlando Costas, an ABC Missiologist and Dean of Andover Newton before his death, encourages us not only to think about where and with whom Christ lived his life – but also to think about where he died and calls us to work.   Mission is not about bringing people in and keeping them in here all the time.  There is a place for worship and renewal of course…but mission is about going out and working amongst and with the neglected, lonely and needy people whom God loves and cares about.  The text in Acts gives us an example and a model of mission as well.  In the story Philip runs alongside the chariot, jumps in with the man who is seeking God, sits and talks with him.  They get out of the chariot together and enter the waters of baptism together.   Mission is a ministry with and alongside – not over and above one another.   This is the example set forth for us by Jesus.   There is no question that Jesus focused his ministry with those outside the gate when he was alive – we are also reminded then in this passage that this was also where Jesus died.  Outside the gate.  

The author of Hebrews then says we are “to go out to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore.  For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.”  God calls us to follow Jesus Christ outside the gate – and work amongst those who are suffering, who are lost, who are poor, who are unhealthy, who have no one to help them, who have no voice, and who are lonely wherever they may be.    

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When Johanna stops by to talk with my friend, she is always received with grace and leaves with a blessing and a reminder that God loves her and stays with her to which Johanna always confidently replies: “Yeah.  He was the only one to ever visit me in that dumpster.”  [2]

Johanna’s testimony to us  is that Jesus was already there with her in the dumpster. Jesus is already outside the gate with those who are suffering, lonely and lost.   We are called to join them there and be the hands of Christ and bring relief, healing and hope to those places where his love and grace reside.   

As we journey forward in faith as Easter people, in the season of Eastertide, let us remember to look to Jesus for our strength and salvation, but also not to forget those in the margins.   Let us remember to follow Jesus, outside the gate, and to be His hands and His feet in a world that thirsts for good news and hope and transformation.

Amen      

Rev. Deborah J. Blanchard