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Hospitality (Session 3)

Ezekiel 16:49–50 (ESV)

⁴⁹ Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.

When thinking of hospitality, we have preconceived ideas and narratives. We often apply it to certain aspect of culture, and people within the culture. As we think about the concepts of hospitality this weekend, I hope we have found that hospitality is more than we once thought. It is a spiritual gift and discipline we should strengthen. It is the life or the competition we are participating in.

The thing about hospitality is that it is not exclusive Christian or even Hebrew cultures. It is not even exclusive to Abrahamic cultures, as concepts of hospitality are deep within the teachings of Islam as well. Hospitality was important to each of the ancient near east cultures.

There was a near universal rule for hospitality throughout the ancient near east because the world was a dangerous place, not only due to the evil lurking in the hearts of men, but also the various animals within the wilderness. It was always better to be inside than outside when night came.

When someone traveled to a different town it was expected that they visit a relative or a member of their extended family. This friend or relative would then provide lodging and a meal for them. We in the western world can relate to this idea. As a child if we went on vacation it was usually to visit my aunt in Colorado. Why? We had a place to stay. It was rare for us to stay in a hotel and when we did we knew that it would be a vacation to remember. This is still common today. But in ancient times there was really no other options. Few villages had public inns and if they did it was likely that any random stranger could be placed within the same space as you.

This style of travel lodging leaves travelers vulnerable to theft. How many of times have we returned home from a trip with less socks? How many kids in a locker room ended up with an extra piece of equipment in their bag? It might not be intentional, but it happens. The ancient world was a little different than our contemporary society. The concept of eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth, which is found in scripture can also be found in the legal codes of Summer and Babylon. It is found in ancient Egypt and throughout Canaan. It is found there because there was a tendency for people to go to an extreme. If you thought the person sleeping in the room with you was guilty of theft, the response was usually swift and brutal.

So the cultures in the Mediterranean basin noticed this, they observed the behaviors and many of them saw something within society. When people visited, when they came into a community and stayed with trusted members of society those people would return. They would bring items to trade, and would take some of our goods with them in trade. Even the cultures that are not widely spoken of in scripture noticed this. This is why people outside the church can legitimately say that they can be moral without religion. There is a problem with that line of thinking though. Most if not all of those cultures had a religious ethos, and they expected a blessing from God when they participated in hospitality.

But what happens if the expected blessing does not happen?

What if the stranger was ill and brought a sickness with them?

What if that stranger came into the land and then shortly after they left an army came into the city?

We know what happens when these things occur. Not to long ago we heard reports of kung flu, wuu flu, or the china virus. Our history books were filled with articles about the Spanish flu. During the plague people of Jewish heritage were often looked upon with suspicion because they did not contract the Black Death as rapidly as the rest of the community, and our ancestors wanted answers for why.

What were those answers? Initially the conclusion was that the Jewish population was filled with witches and Satan worshipers, because they did not worship God as we did. So the people rose in righteous anger to rid the world of the demonic powers that had instigated the plague. World War II was not the first time the Jewish people experienced a genocide. The truth about the plague is that plenty of Jewish people became ill, but their infection rates were a bit lower, mainly because they did not have a religious opposition to cats. And where cats are there are less rats which is one of the accepted explanations of the spread of disease. The other reason is that many of the dietary and hygiene laws also helped.

The passage today is from Ezekiel. I tend to avoid this book of scripture when speaking publicly because this prophet did not use terminology that is socially acceptable. Yet he was regarded as a prophet of God. This should challenge us a little bit. It should challenge us to look beyond our traditions and to listen to deeper meaning, because sometimes truth comes from unlikely places. It should also encourage us to use discernment when we are hearing things. Does the brash speech speak actual truth or is it simply making us feel justified in our errant thinking.

Ezekiel was a prophet during the time of exile in Babylon, and he used the shocking language to grab the attention of the righteous people that lamented their condition. But Ezekiel did not use the language against the people outside his community, he used the most graphic and disgusting aspects of his language to speak about his own people. To show them that they were not as holy as they thought, he wanted them to know that they contributed to much of their current sorrows and he was not going to let them make some other group into a scapegoat.

Ezekiel has some good points, but he was vile in most of the book. That being said, I often laugh at a product that I used to stock when I worked in retail because there was this bread that was marketed by a christian company that was supposedly healthier than any other bread because the recipe was found in scripture. The recipe is from Ezekiel, and the grains used were to resemble trash and poverty and in the passage Ezekiel was supposed to roast the bread over a fire burning human excrement. Even Ezekiel thought that was too much so he instead used animal feces. As I was stocking the bread I would always laugh because I wondered if it was baked according to the original recipe.

Ezekiel was not just a foul mouth religious zealot. He was a trained priest, a priest that was acutely aware of human and spiritual interaction. And he was given a vision of God’s throne. This is one of the reasons his writings was preserved for us for so long. He saw a vision of the almighty’s throne, he was accepted into that great cloud of witnesses few experienced this side of life.

In today’s passage he says, “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them.”

Our traditional understanding of the abomination of Sodom is pretty firmly established. But what is interesting is that Ezekiel in all of his vulgarity does not mention what we think when discussing Sodom. He says that their sin was pride and lack of hospitality. This has always caused me to pause a bit. And I wanted to know why there was such wide gap between the accepted understanding I learned and the way Ezekiel taught at his time.

Hospitality in ancient times was serious business. A host was expected to provide for their guest’s every need. And this is seen in the response of Lot in the story of Sodom’s judgment. We today think Lot was crazy to send his daughters out into the crowd, but in the cultures surrounding the ancient near East this was part of hospitality. It always struck me as weird why the Torah had a law against a man remarrying his ex wife after she had been married to another man. I thought it was a pretty petty law. But then I began to read about the hospitality practices of many of the various ancient near east cultures. It was common for a man to divorce his wife for a night, have her marry the guest, and that man divorce her prior to leaving. This is appalling. It also explains a great deal of information to some other laws in scripture. Why Israel needed a written divorce, why they must conduct tests to prove adulterous acts prior to judgement. And why Jesus got so upset at the Pharisees about their teachings on divorce. It is to place limits on the extent of hospitality, and to protect women. Lot was an outsider and he was trying to provide hospitality to the city of Sodom. He was trying to extend a offering of peace. And it opposed everything God stood for, and it even compromised Lot’s expressed faith.

What was happening in Sodom was extremely vile. It is something that should not happen in any civilization. And you will be surprised with why I say this. They were turning the rules of hospitality upside down. They came to Lot with demands. He was an outsider that had made a home among them. He was contributing to their society and they were making demands of him that they were not making for any native born member of that society. And when the visitors arrived, they were demanding of them the same. The aspect we often focus on was not for mutual enjoyment. Everything within it was about power and control over the lives of any outsider that had a desire to live among them. It was a degrading, dehumanizing, ritual to ensure that anyone outside of the ruling majority knew their place.

But that is not the only aspect of hospitality abuse found in Sodom. The men wanted the angels. Why would they want these beings? This is where pride comes into play. What was the sin when the tower of Babel was constructed? What was the sin during the days of Noah? What was the sin in the Garden? They all have a similar theme, the theme of wanting the power of God.

There are similarities between many ancient cultures, and there are differences. Many cultures have flood stories very similar to those found in scripture. Some within academia have concluded that these similarities prove that scripture basically plagiarized. To me this just proves that scripture was given to people that lived among other people. And many of these people had similar experiences. And several of the cultures as a whole had flood stories because maybe something dramatic happened that affected all the people in that area.

I know I am going down an squirrel track. But what I am suggesting is Sodom in their wealth, in their prosperity, self indulgent society. They saw these angels and they knew that there was something different about them, and they wanted the power over them. They wanted to extract every ounce of power they could from these, what they would call gods. So that they could use that power and influence over their enemies. They wanted to make giants and men of renown so that they could become gods on earth.

This is the story we hear from many ancient empires. Pharaoh was the son of the gods. Gilgamesh was regarded as a son of god. Rome’s emperor was seen as the offspring of a god. Sodom wanted to make a son of god so that they could rise up above the others and take their place among the rulers of the earth. This is not a story of human relations it is a story of pride and selfish ambition. It is a story of abuse and injustice. It is a story of the powers of this world seeking to lift themselves up above all others and to become their own gods. The story of Sodom is a story of the exploitation of the vulnerable within a society.

Ezekiel used this story to tell the people of Israel, we had a chance. We knew what the upside down view of hospitality would lead to. We were once slaves in Egypt and God had delivered us from their bondage and lead us to the land of promise. We were once slaves and God had told us to take care of the widow and the orphans, to treat the foreigners among us as if they were members of our own nation. And we did not listen. Instead we looked to Sodom, “As I live, declares the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done.” (Ez 16:48)

We are no better than the worst expression of humanity, is what Ezekiel means. We exploited the marginalized because we could and we did it with gladness. They turned their back on the teachings of God, as stated in Exodus 22, “You shall not wrong the sojourner or oppress him, fo you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and you wives shall become widows and you children fatherless.” I could continue reading from that chapter but I think I have said enough.

Hospitality is the method God sanctified for his kingdoms work. It is found from the very beginning of scripture and extends to the end. How well humanity does hospitality as individuals and as cultures, according to the prophets, is how God will judge the nations. Egypt fell because they exploited Israel. Sodom fell. Tyre fell. Assyria fell. Babylon fell. Persia fell. Greece fell. Rome fell. I could continue the list of empires Each one had a cycle of prosperity where hospitality was look upon as something honorable, and each turned away for that as they became self indulgent, prideful and haughty. They thought they were great instead of seeing themselves as humans living together. Hospitality is not just a gift it is the goal, it is our mission. “Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

Hospitality (Session 2)

Hebrews 13:1-9 (ESV)

¹ Let brotherly love continue. ² Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. ³ Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. ⁴ Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. ⁵ Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” ⁶ So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” ⁷ Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. ⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

This morning I encouraged us to reflect on the twelfth chapter of Romans. I wanted us to consider this passage because within that chapter Paul depicts the life we are striving to live. In it he encourages us to become discerning, to test the things of this world and the teaching we hear against what we know is good. And that we should strive to use the gifts that we have been given to encourage those around us in our faith.

When people consider spiritual gifts, we often think of them as being these miraculous powers granted to us by God. That is not completely wrong. Some teach that we should strive to achieve certain gifts and to pray for them and to practice them. Again it is not completely wrong. When I think of spiritual giftedness I do not think we should be considering them on an individualistic basis, instead it is a team sport. Albert, as you all know, has played hockey for nine years. I have watched his team grow together. Some of you may have watched or coached youth soccer and you too have watched them grow as a team. When they first begin you do not see the game, every kid is in one giant mob, like this huge amoeba slithering over the field or ice. Then there is the one or two kids that do not have a clue what is going on spinning in circles on the opposite side of where the ball or puck is.

This is an adequate description of church and the undisciplined christian life. Everyone is swarmed around the one things, everyone wants to have the glory so to speak to score the goal. But often we are stepping on top of each other and tripping over our own teammates. The disciplined spiritual life is one that is discerning, this means we have looked at what is before us, we have considered what needs to be done, and we step out in faith. This is the next level of play, we spread out begin to see openings and get to them. Eventually we as a team start to click, you know where everyone on your team will be and you are able to pass the puck to that place knowing full well that they will be there even though you do not see them at that moment.

This discipline is what we are striving for. Each person working together, stepping forward to get the pass as we move forward to the goal. I do not often use sports references because not everyone is into sports. But this is what Paul means when he says for as in one body we have many members and the members do not all have the same function. We are working together as a team.

Where does giftedness come into play? As we work together things begin to click, we do not always know how things will work out, but we were participating, we were running the drill, and in an moment we were there to do what was needed at just the right time.

We experience the gifts of God, when we live within his lifestyle, when we practice his ways, and live the disciplined life.

We often speak of hospitality as a spiritual gift. There are people that just make good host or hostesses. They like having gatherings, and cooking. They have an extra room and are willing to let someone stay in it. We look at the gift of hospitality as something someone has, usually someone else. And when we look at any of the gifts listed in scripture in that manner as something someone has, or something I have we are missing the point. No single person has the gifts, we have the gifts, and God will provide the things that we need when we need them.

But I do not see hospitality as a mere gift. Hospitality is the game, hospitality is the purpose of why we are given any gift at all. The goal is hospitality.

The simple definition of Hospitality from the Lexham Bible Dictionary is “The generous and gracious treatment of guests.”¹ Who is the guest? That questions is similar to the question asked of Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?” Hospitality the generous and gracious treatment of anyone other than ourselves. It is how we interact with anyone around us. And the writer of Hebrews says, “Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

We usually think of hospitality as how we treat people we do not know. We often get that understanding because that is where hospitality is the hardest. It is easy to treat the people we know with some degree of graciousness and generosity, especially if we have not seen them in a while. It is more difficult to treat the person we do not know with that same degree of care. Because of that difficulty those that have written about hospitality need to remind us to be hospitable.

We need to be reminded because we are suspicious people. We do not know that person, we do not know their intentions, their backgrounds. We develop stereotypes based on interactions others have had with strangers that have visited them. Or we project every bad emotion we feel onto them. This is sociological scapegoating. We have misplaced something in our house and that same day someone we do not know walked down our street, did they take it?

I will be the first to admit that I do this. The moment I recognized that had in my own mind cast blame for my own negligence onto someone unlike myself, it ripped my heart from my chest. We have to remind ourselves not to neglect the stranger. We have to remind ourselves to welcome the others. We have to challenge ourselves to embrace the differences because those are the things that bring joy and excitement to our lives.

Hospitality is the goal of human existence. It is through the practices of hospitality that our community grows. When God commissioned our first parents in their mission, he told them to go forth into all the earth and to be fruitful and multiply. We have often get a singular focus on what that means, but there are other ways to multiply. The story of Adam and Eve was written long after humanity started that mission. They had already built cities, civilizations, had wars, and made peace. They had already had a rich history of experience. But they had a question, why are we here?

That is where the epic poetry of Genesis enters. God created everything we have and he commissioned us to take care of it. So we are to go out into the world around us and multiply our lifestyle. Yes it means make babies, and it also means make friends. That is our goal our purpose and hospitality the gracious and generous care of others is how we accomplish that goal.

Then the writer of Hebrews says something strange, “for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

Tradition tells us that Paul wrote the letter to the Hebrews, but we really do not know for sure if he did or not. We assume that he did because near the end it speaks of his friend Timothy. Timothy was a pastor, and pastors know a lot of people. Some believe that maybe James wrote the letter to the Hebrews, and still others have proposed that Apollos wrote it. I personally do not know but I like the idea of Apollos writing it.

Apollos was an early church leader that originated in a different way than most of the people we read about in scripture. Most of the apostles came from Israel or Roman Palestine, but Apollos was someone that was raised in a dispersed Hebrew community in Egypt. Tradition tells us that he was a student of the Hebrew philosopher Philo. Philo is very important to religious history, because Philo was able to meld the philosophies of the Greek culture with Hebrew scripture. He was able to see the similarities and point out the richness of the differences. This is why so much of our Theological understanding has little hints of Greek philosophy. We might gasp at that statement but we need to remember that many of the stories of various cultures have similar themes, Philo used those similarities to help preserve his Hebrew culture, he used the differences to spur curiosity, and through his work the Gospel of Jesus was able to quickly spread throughout western civilization.

Apollos learned in this school of thought. I do not know if Philo was his literal teacher or if he just learned within that educational tradition. He learned and was a gifted teacher. He also like his teacher before him was able to bring current Hebrew teachings into the Greek culture, but since he lived outside of Roman Palestine, he had not yet heard the news of Jesus, instead he taught about the previous big movement, the Baptism of John. Apollos was gifted as a teacher. He would go from town to town debating and presenting his philosophical ideas in the forum and synagogues and eventually a young couple Priscilla and Aquilla listened to him. They knew this young man was a gifted teacher but they also knew that he had not yet heard the full Gospel.

Both Apollos and this couple were engaged in the commission God gave our first parents. They were all going out into the world bringing it into submission and multiplying. But there was a difference. The Gospel had not fully reached Egypt, so Apollos did not have the full story. It was through the hospitality of Priscilla and Aquilla that Apollos was brought into the fullness of the Kingdom. And Apollos grabbed hold of that gospel and carried it with him as he continued to teach. He became so popular that Paul mentions him by name as one of the primary leaders within the early church.

I like the idea of Apollos being the author of the letter to the Hebrews for that reason, he was a strong early leader, but we do not have a testimony from his voice. And much of the Book of Hebrews is urging the Hebrew people to embrace the unique message of the Church instead of going back to the traditions of the temple. And to me that sounds like the approach a man trained in Greek philosophy would take.

But he says some have entertained angels unawares. That is weird.

When I listen to those words, when I meditate upon them. I am often reminded of the old Quaker teaching, “That of God in everyone”. This is not as big of a teaching among the Evangelical Friends because it has a universalism feel to it, like we are accepting the teaching of all religions as equal. But to me I like the teaching. I do not see it as accepting that all religions are true, but instead it say to me that I could learn something from them if I listen. And what are angels except messengers from God.

When the writer of Hebrews says some have entertained angels unaware, it is as if he is saying that every person we meet might be sent to us by God to teach us something, or possibly as a test to show us if we are able to fulfill the mission God gave to us. They could be quality control, going back to report on their observations.

I want us to just stop and consider that for a moment. If we were to have an assessment of our effectiveness in being fruitful and multiplying, how would those angels submit their report? Have we been a hospitable people? Are we hospitable personally? As a church? As a nation?

If the game of life is hospitality, if that is what we are participating in collectively as humanity. If our point and purpose in life is to be generous and gracious to others as we go out into the world bringing all of creation under submission to God and being fruitful and multiplying, How are we doing?

As I mentioned I like to think that maybe the book of Hebrews was written by Apollos. I do not have any scholarly reason for my stance on that. I want to close with a passage that is not found in most of our bibles, but it would have been part of the scripture that Apollos would have used. This is from the book called the Wisdom of Solomon, which is part of the Apocrypha. The Apocrypha were the books that were in the Greek Old Testament, but not necessarily in the Hebrew collection of Scriptures. We often regard these as the extra books of scripture that the Catholics and Orthodox have in their scriptures, but Protestant Bibles do not include them. They were not added by the Catholics, they were removed by Protestant groups mainly because they were only in the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures not in the Hebrew themselves. But there are good things to consider in these books at times. In Wisdom of Solomon 19:13-17 it says:

¹³ The punishments did not come upon the sinners

without prior signs in the violence of thunder,

for they justly suffered because of their wicked acts;

for they practiced a more bitter hatred of strangers.

¹⁴ Others had refused to receive strangers when they came to them,

but these made slaves of guests who were their benefactors.

¹⁵ And not only so—but, while punishment of some sort will come upon the former for having received strangers with hostility,

¹⁶ the latter, having first received them with festal celebrations,

afterward afflicted with terrible sufferings

those who had already shared the same rights.

¹⁷ They were stricken also with loss of sight—

just as were those at the door of the righteous man—

when, surrounded by yawning darkness,

all of them tried to find the way through their own doors. ²

The world is suspicious of the strangers. They a not welcoming to the guests that come to visit. And rightly so. Sometimes guest do take advantage of our generosity. Sometimes people can overstay their welcome. I am guilty as charged. But we are not called to be disciples of the world, instead we are called to transformed by the renewal of our minds. We are to be transformed to the life and lifestyle of Jesus. The Wisdom of Solomon speaks of the judgment of Egypt. They once welcomed the stranger, Israel, but then they forgot about Joseph. Joseph had saved all of Egypt from famine because of the wisdom God gave him. He saved all of Egypt from starvation, but Egypt forgot who they were.

They welcomed, they were once hospitable and because of that hospitality both Israel and Egypt flourished. Why did they flourish? Was it because of God’s divine blessing that whoever blesses Israel will be blessed and whoever curses Israel will be cursed? Sure maybe. But is that the full teaching? They flourished when they welcomed each other and engaged life together as if they were working on the same team. When they participated in hospitality they were focused on being generous and gracious to each other. This compounds and expands it spreads to others, because the more people have given to you the more willing you are to give. The more grace extended to you the gracious you will be to others. But then things change. We become suspicious again. Why are you here? Are you for us or against us? You act a little different, you look a little different. You like pickles and I think they are gross.

We begin to think about ourselves again. And suddenly we are afraid. If I give them food what will I eat? If I let them in will I lose something? We have moved from the team spread across the field, each filling their position and doing what they have trained to do and we have resorted back to mob ball. We devolve. But why do we fear?

We fail to offer hospitality because we do not trust that the people around us care. We fail to offer hospitality when do not trust God.

We can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” For our lord made himself lower than the angels for a little bit to dwell among us. He lived a complete and full life among us, showing us what life with God truly is. And he provided us a way to that life through his death and resurrection. Our God told us that he would not leave us alone, but would send a helper. And that helper would write the teachings of God on our hearts and empower us to live the life we are called to live. God has empowered us to let brotherly love continue. God has equipped us to show hospitality to strangers, and I know that if we trust and entrust our lives to him, we will entertain the angels and His kingdom will multiply around us.

1 Wilson, Douglas K. “Hospitality.” The Lexham Bible Dictionary, edited by John D. Barry et al., Lexham Press, 2016.

2 The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989, p. Wis 19:13–17.

Hospitality Session 1

Each year we try to focus our retreat on a spiritual discipline. We have done these retreats for several years, and I can remember several different topics. I remember early in my ministry while we were still here in Arkansas City, you all asked me to speak on Prayer. I remember David Kingrey speaking on discernment and making decisions together. The first year as your pastor we had David Williams speak, and we have had the current Barclay President come to speak. We have brought Michael Jay in from Indiana to speak on simplicity, Gary Damron spoke on our rich heritage as Friends. And most recently we have had students from Friends University speak on the importance of the Friend’s use of silence in worship. I cannot remember all the topics we have covered but I know that each of them have been important.

I have spoken several times over the years at this retreat. I spoke on prayer, I have spoken on our place within the community. We have used art and clay to demonstrate concepts. And I remember David Williams had us built brick altar to signify our foundation of prayer. He had us write prayers on the bricks and we stacked them. Unfortunately the camp did not want to keep that altar and they asked us to take the bricks back with us. That upset some, but over the years I have used those bricks to surround our meetinghouse’s landscaping. Our meetinghouse is surrounded with our symbolic prayers. Prayers that we have said in private, hopes that we have expressed in public, struggles we needed to overcome, and praises of God’s merciful hand meeting us and carrying us into the the future.

Today we meet again here at Camp Quaker Haven. We meet together with the hope to relax and regroup as a meeting or church. We come together to encourage each other and to refocus our attention on one spiritual discipline we have thought is important for us at this time and place. That discipline is hospitality.

When this was first mentioned, I immediately thought absolutely this is awesome. I was excited. I was thought this is exactly the right topic. And then I began to talk with friends. I usually try to find someone other than myself to speak, because part of a retreat is to hear a different voice, I made phone calls, sent emails, I even searched facebook to find the perfect speaker. I had a fairly long list. Each of the people I spoke to had the exact same reaction, they loved the idea. They thought it was one of the most important things we could talk about this year. And each of them said. “I do not know how to begin, because this has not been something widely spoken about.” I had friends of mine in tears because they knew that they wanted to speak, they knew that it is probably the most important thing we could speak about today. But they like I do not know where to begin. But there is something in the back of my mind, tugging at the strings within my soul that tells me that this topic this weekend is one of the most important things we can consider in our world today.

When we think of hospitality what comes to mind?

When we think of Christian hospitality does this concept change? Should it change?

As I prepared for this weekend I looked up the definition of the word hospitality. According to the Oxford online dictionary hospitality is the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.

I did not stop there, but I clicked the more button on Google, and it went on to say, It can also refer to the business of providing accommodation, food, and other services for guests, known as the hospitality industry. The word originates from the Latin hospitalitem, meaning “friendliness to guests”.

So when we think of the word hospitality we basically get two different branches, one points to hostel or hotel which gives us the hospitality industry. The other branch points toward hospital, where we provide care for those that are sick and injured.

Usually when I think of hospitality this is what I think about. There are times where it goes just a bit deeper and personal where I think of inviting people to a party of some sort, hosting them in our home or church usually sharing cake of the birthday variety. To me this was what it meant to be hospitable. As someone that is an introvert by nature, the idea of hospitality has never been at the top of my list of things to do, so it surprised me that I was so excited about the concept for this weekend.

I sat with the idea, I prayed over the idea, I begged God that someone else would talk about it, and as I prayed I began to realize that this is the most important discipline we need to explore today. Each time I thought about the verses I was reading, hospitality came to mind. Every time I turned on the news it was as if God was whispering in my ear, hospitality. I could not get away from the word. It became clear to me that I needed to explore hospitality deeper.

I moved away from google, and looked at my theological dictionaries. The Lexham Theological dictionary says this, “Hospitality consists of the welcome and care of guests, especially those who are travelers or strangers to the family or community. In biblical use, hospitality serves multiple functions, including relief for the poor or dispossessed, the strengthening of bonds of affection, inclusion of the outsider, and especially in the nt, the propagation of the Christian message.”¹

They go on to say, “It is important to note that biblical notions of hospitality overlap only partly with the idea of hospitality in modern Western cultures, where it is frequently viewed as the recreational sharing of fellowship, lodging, and provisions among friends or relatives. In the Bible (as in the ancient world in general), hospitality involves receiving strangers—especially travelers, who then become guests or are treated as friends—rather than merely reinforcing pre-existing friendships or bonds of affection.”²

The concept of hospitality is deep. Once we begin to look into the biblical concepts of hospitality, you begin to see it everywhere. It is within the teachings of Jesus. It is throughout the epistles in the New Testament. And it runs deep within the teachings of the Law and Prophets. But the teachings are not merely something that is found within the pages of scripture. Hospitality was and is important to all the cultures within the ancient near east. The ideas surrounding hospitality form the foundation of interpersonal relationships, tribal relationships, and even today are the basis of international trade and world peace. You might think I am exaggerating, how can a Holiday Inn possibly be that important? Let us look again at the theological dictionary, “The practice of hospitality was not uniquely Jewish or Christian; it was a pervasive feature and high value in both the ancient Near East and Graeco-Roman worlds. The ot and nt both reflect this cultural obligation to the traveler and stranger and treat practicing hospitality as expected and commendable, while failing to practice hospitality was seen as exceptional and condemnable.” ³ Wars have been started or prevented over hospitality throughout the ages, and even today business deals and peace treaties hinge on this seemingly insignificant discipline.

Romans 12 (ESV)

¹ I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. ³ For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴ For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. ⁶ Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; ⁷ if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; ⁸ the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. ⁹ Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ¹⁰ Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹ Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. ¹² Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ¹³ Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. ¹⁷ Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸ If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. ¹⁹ Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” ²⁰ To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

I want us to go out today reflecting on this passage. I want you to look at it. To pray with it. What does this say to us about what it means to be hospitable?

And as we go I want us to watch this short clip from the movie Les Miserable. Victor Hugo wrote this story following the lives of two men; the police inspector and Jean Valjean. Valjean was sent to prison for nineteen years for stealing bread and upon release he found himself living in a world unwilling to give him a second chance. He was beaten, thrown out, turned away. The belief in 19^th century France was that people do not change, a criminal is always a criminal and the police inspector wanted to prove this and he relentlessly pursued Vlajean because he had broken his parole. Valjean lived into this stereotype at first, but something happened. Something changed.

If you have not seen this musical, watched the movie, or read the book I encourage you to do so. But spoilers are necessary. No one gave Valjean a chance at first. He was a hardened criminal in their minds, he was a thief. And he was, but one person showed this man hospitality. Valjean lived on in fear, because he had broken the law, he was in violation of his parole. But he used the silver given to him by the priest, he became a factory owner, and a mayor. He remembered the kindness once shown him, and when he saw one of his former employees in a similar place he stands up.

This attracted the attention of the police inspector, and he began to investigate. Valjean had lived eight years as a different man, and in a single act of mercy it nearly cost him everything. He ran with his adopted daughter, he escapes and evades capture. The inspector pursues with the thought that people do not change, and justice must be served. This continues for years. And all along the way Valjean challenges the inspector’s worldview. The inspector was consumed by his sense of justice and that people cannot change. He watched as Valjean lived, and he could not accept it. The inspector took his own life, and Valjean continued to live and continued to extend the hospitality and mercy he was once shown.

Hospitality changed that man in the story. And that is why it is important today. The kindness we show to the stranger, the traveler, the sick, the one in need today are seeds planted in life’s field. The enemy can become a friend, and the thief can become our rescuer.

“Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. ¹² Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ¹³ Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them…Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

1 Anderson, Garwood P. “Hospitality.” Lexham Theological Wordbook, edited by Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Press, 2014.

2 Anderson, Garwood P. “Hospitality.” Lexham Theological Wordbook, edited by Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Press, 2014.

3 Anderson, Garwood P. “Hospitality.” Lexham Theological Wordbook, edited by Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Press, 2014.