Hospitality ~ 20200719 ~ Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org

07/19 Hospitality (Lk.10, 19, 14, 7; Eph.2; Mt.25); Audio available at: http://www.ephraimbible.org/Sermons/20200719_hospitality.mp3

Last time we looked at the sabbath; God’s day of rest that commemorates both creation and redemption. Jesus invites us to come to him and find rest in him, and he will give us rest for our souls. He taught that we are to use his day to do good not evil, to save life, not to kill, to heal, to restore, to bless others. New Testament believers began to gather for worship on the first day of the week, resurrection day, the Lord’s day. We explored what it might look like and how we might benefit from setting aside time to worship and find rest for our souls.

Today I want to focus in on one way we could use our time to glorify God and love and serve others. I’d like to look at what Jesus taught about hospitality.

Love and Lodging for the Stranger [ξενία, ξενίζω, ξενοδοχέω, φιλονεξία, φιλόξενος]

The word group in the New Testament for hospitality is built around the word for ‘stranger, foreigner, or alien’; someone you don’t know. Hebrews 13:2 encourages us to show hospitality to strangers; Romans 12:13 tells us ‘Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.’ 1 Peter 4:8-9 tells us to keep loving one another even when we are sinned against, and to show hospitality without grumbling. 1 Timothy (3:2) and Titus (1:8) include ‘hospitable’ in the list of character qualities required of an overseer in the church. 1 Timothy (5:10) also lists ‘hospitable’ as a necessary quality of a widow eligible to be supported by the church. The words literally mean ‘to lodge or provide housing to a stranger’; ‘to receive a stranger’; or ‘to love the stranger’.

These words do not show up even once in the gospels. So did Jesus have nothing to say about hospitality? One way to answer that question would be to recognize the New Testament authors as fulfilling Jesus’ command to make disciples, ‘teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you’ (Mt.28:20). Jesus said and did much that is not recorded for us in the four gospels (as John tells us; Jn.20:30-31; 21:25), so what we have in the non red letters of the New Testament is just as much Jesus’ teaching as the red letters.

Another way to answer this question is to look not just for the specific word but also for the concept or idea in Jesus’ teaching. And if we do that, we have plenty to work with.

Hospitality Away From Home

Jesus summarized the commandments of God by the vertical and the horizontal; love for God and love for neighbor. When pressed to define ‘neighbor’ by a religious person who was wanting to justify himself, Jesus told the parable of the good Samaritan (Lk.10:33-37). The despised Samaritan was the one who proved to be a neighbor to the man in need. This traveling Samaritan was not able to bring the man into his own home, but he still extended hospitality; “when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’” We tend to limit hospitality to having someone over to our home; Jesus shows us that hospitality can be practiced even when you are away from home, even if you don’t have a home.

Depending On Hospitality

When Jesus sent out his disciples, he instructed them to depend on the hospitality of others.

Luke 9:2 and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. 3 And he said to them, “Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not have two tunics. 4 And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. 5 And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.”

Then in chapter 10, when he sent 72 ahead of him,

Luke 10:2 And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. 3 Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. 4 Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. 8 Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. 9 Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’

Jesus instructs his followers that those to whom they bring the good news are to provide for their needs through their generous hospitality. To extend hospitality was to receive a stranger into their home, to provide food and lodging, to care for his needs. For their hospitality, Jesus says, they will be blessed.

Luke 10:10 But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

There was blessing for those who showed hospitality, and there were dire consequences for those who failed to show hospitality. Jesus took hospitality seriously!

Pride and Hospitality

Something we ought to note from this passage is that hospitality is a two-way street. Jesus was not talking to the people who would show hospitality; he was addressing his disciples who would be the recipients of hospitality. There is something important we need to learn here. Jesus is commanding his followers to graciously receive the hospitality that others extend to them.

In our pride, we want to be always on the giving end. It is humbling to receive hospitality from others. But Jesus instructs his followers how to be on the receiving end of hospitality.

In fact, Jesus led them in this by his own example. He told one would-be follower “the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (Lk.9:58). Luke 8 lists several women ‘who provided for them out of their means (8:2-3). Jesus graciously received hospitality from others.

Did you know that Jesus even invited himself over?

Luke 19:5 And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. 7 And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

Did you notice that Jesus invited himself over for a meal and to stay? Zacchaeus extended hospitality to him at Jesus’ request. Jesus was not only willing to associate with sinners, he was willing to receive hospitality from them. Jesus became the guest of a sinner, and was criticized for it. Notice also that his purpose was evangelistic.

Luke 19:9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”

Jesus brought good news, and his access to this house was humbling himself to receive hospitality from this house. Receiving hospitality was a way to seek and to save the lost.

Invite the Outcasts

On another occasion, when Jesus was invited to dinner by a ruler of the Pharisees,

Luke 14:12 He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. 13 But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”

Our hospitality often can be an expression of pride. We attempt to impress others by the party we can throw, and the guests we invite. It is a way to show off status. Jesus tells us not to use hospitality that way. Invite the outcasts, the needy. We might say ‘I don’t want to invite them; my house is nice and they might mess it up.’ That’s pride.

On the flip side, it is often pride that keeps us from extending hospitality. Here are some common excuses we use for not showing hospitality; ‘I’m not sure I have enough’, or ‘I don’t want to invite anyone in; they will see that I don’t have it all together. I don’t have a very nice house.’ or ‘My house is a mess.’ The common root is pride; we think much of ourselves, and we want others to think much of us. But this kind of pride has no place in the heart of a follower of Jesus.

The point is people. Jesus doesn’t even comment on the dinner or the environment. It was an appointment with a person he came to seek and to save. Have you ever noticed how much in the gospels happens over a meal, around a table? The Last Supper is a meal.

Pharisaic Hospitality vs. Prostitute Hospitality

Look at Luke 7. Here is another occasion where Jesus is invited over for a meal, this time to the house of Simon, a Pharisee.

Luke 7:36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.

The custom of the day was a low table in the center of the room, surrounded by mats or cushions, where guests could recline on one elbow with feet extending out away from the table. This often took place in a semi-public courtyard. What happens next is scandalous.

Luke 7:37 And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, 38 and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.

This is an embarrassment to the host and his guests. This is a woman of the city, a woman with a bad reputation, a prostitute. She shouldn’t be there, and it is improper for her to approach the guests. This is a respectable dinner party. But she loses her composure, weeping at Jesus’ feet, lets down her hair and begins to massage his feet with her tears and her hair and kiss them earnestly and anoint them with her perfumed oil. This is sensual and unexpected and couldn’t be more awkward.

Luke 7:39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.”

Simon knows what kind of a woman this is who is attaching herself to his guest. And he begins to question his character. Simon is silently questioning to himself Jesus’ identity as a prophet. Jesus responds, ironically, by reading his thoughts and answering his unasked question with a story.

Luke 7:40 And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.” 41 “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.”

This pharisee had shown Jesus hospitality. He had invited him for a meal. But it wasn’t because he loved Jesus. And he wasn’t looking to Jesus to meet his need. He didn’t acknowledge his own need. He didn’t think he had a debt, if anything he thought he was putting Jesus in his debt by having him over. Likely he was looking to test Jesus, to trap him, or at least to engage him in a lively theological debate. He didn’t care about Jesus. Jesus contrasts this pharisaic hospitality with prostitute hospitality.

Luke 7:44 Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. 46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. 47 Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48 And he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

She came as a sinner, needy, broken, seeking forgiveness from the only one she believed could give it, and she found it. She was extending Jesus hospitality in the only way she knew how. She was honoring, she was worshiping. Rosaria Butterfield writes, “When Jesus receives the repentance of a sinner, he alone untwists that love from the bidding it has done in sin. Jesus receives her touch in purity, because he transforms what she gives.” Her love is a response to his forgiveness. The one whose greater debt was canceled loves more.

God’s Gospel Hospitality

So too with us. Our love, expressed horizontally in loving hospitality toward others, is an outflow of the welcome and hospitality which has been extended to us by God.

Ephesians 2 uses this term ‘strangers’ [ξένος] to describe us.

Ephesians 2:12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

God exercised hospitality. God loved the stranger and took us in. At infinite cost to himself, he paid the price to bring us near.

Hospitality Horizontal and Vertical

Although the words for hospitality do not show up in Jesus’ teaching, the root of the ‘hospitality’ word group, the word ‘stranger’, [ξένος] does occur four times in one passage, Matthew 25, clearly in context dealing with this issue of hospitality. It is a context of final judgment, separating the righteous from the wicked.

Matthew 25:34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Hospitality is receiving or taking in or welcoming the stranger.

Matthew 25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Jesus makes our horizontal hospitality, welcoming the stranger, one of the prime evidences that separates someone who knows him from someone who does not. In fact, all the things Jesus mentions here, feeding the hungry, giving a drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and imprisoned could all fall under the category of showing hospitality.

Both groups are bewildered. When did we ever do or not do these things to you? This is stunning! Our horizontal expressions of hospitality toward others our King receives as hospitality to himself. ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

***

Pastor Rodney Zedicher ~ Ephraim Church of the Bible ~ www.ephraimbible.org