Dear Friends
Today we associate the word stranger with caution and fear. Don’t talk to strangers, children are told. We look over our shoulder in parking lots. Children are watched carefully in stores and even in their own backyards. We do not easily welcome strangers into our homes or lives. We have good reason to exercise caution and discernment especially with so many women and children killings. But perhaps our wariness makes us miss opportunities for “entertaining angels.” Strangers, orphans, widows, and the poor were on God’s priority list of people to receive hospitality in the Old Testament. These were the vulnerable people, the ones who were without the protection and care of their clan. By failing to practice hospitality toward these people, the Israelites aroused God’s anger. The Israelites did not reflect the hospitable, gracious character of God that they themselves had experienced.
Israel had only to look at its own history to find motivation for showing hospitality to strangers. After all, they were strangers in Egypt, aliens living in a foreign land. Mistreated and abused, they were all too familiar with inhospitable conditions. But God delivered them and brought them to a space of plenty in the land of Canaan. During the years of wandering in the desert, during the years of disobedience, during the years of being shaped into a nation that God could use to reach the nations, God cared for and protected Israel. God commanded Israel to welcome strangers and to care for the poor, the widows, and the orphans out of gratitude for their deliverance. The most unlikely strangers Rahab and Ruth, among others became a part of Israel’s faith family. God’s welcoming vision for his kingdom always extended beyond the borders of Israel.
In the New Testament, Paul refers to Gentiles and sinners as being alienated from God. But in Jesus Christ the dividing wall of hostility has been torn down. Once strangers to God, we are welcomed as friends through Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:6-11; Col. 1:21-23; Eph. 2:11-14). This is our motivation for welcoming people and for offering hospitality. Because we are members of God’s family, we share God’s passion for others to experience God’s embrace of grace. Without this underlying motivation, we can easily become weary and discouraged. Hospitality is an attitude that informs our practices and habits. It is made concrete in sacrificial acts of love where we lay down our lives for another person. How will we know when we are practicing hospitality? When it costs us something. The cost may be time writing a note of encouragement, developing a relationship with a family member we have neglected or perhaps it is sacrificing our pride and asking forgiveness, or even creating space on the road for the driver ahead of us.
When we practice hospitality, we welcome Christ who welcomed us. Our hospitality to strangers in Christ’s name has eternal value, for someday Christ will welcome us with open arms into the eternal kingdom.
Solomzi