Hospitality

The word hospitality derives from the Latin “hospes”, which originally meant to have power. In Greek history, hospitality often involved offering protection and guidance to strangers. Today, hospitality is rarely about protection, rather it involves etiquette and entertainment, caring for guests' needs whether those needs are food, lodging or other comforts.

Some writings have referred to the type of hospitality shown by Jesus as “radical hospitality.” In other words, Jesus' hospitality knew no boundaries or limitations. Jesus welcomed everyone, but most especially those who were turned away and shunned by society. In the tenth chapter of Matthew, Jesus prepares to send out his Apostles, and spends considerable time telling them what they can expect on their journey. He warns them that they may not be welcomed by everyone, but tells them, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”

Hospitality is an often neglected part of our Christian life today. Our lives have become so busy with all the things we are involved in that we sometimes don't even sit down to a meal with our family, let alone with people invited to our home. Today we can “tweet”, “text”, “face book”, “instant – message”, and “converse” in many other ways. With the rapid growth in communications, we have moved away from not just the telephone, but also from the old social events like sharing a meal. Recently I shared a meal with friends that I had not spent time with in a long time. During the meal, I remembered all the great things about sharing conversation over a meal. No other form of communication can even come close in providing the feeling of warmth, friendship and love we experience around the table when we share a meal. If it has been a while since you invited a guest or guests to share a meal with you, I would suggest you do so. Hopefully it will be as rewarding an experience for you as it was for me.