As some of us draw out the isolation of the world-wide COVID-19 pandemic, and others are receiving hospitality after fleeing war zones or are thrown into a neighbor’s dark basement to avoid the bombs, and others may have grown weary from the small-screen 24/7 digital news cycle, and still others are in politically embattled relationships, perhaps this is an opportune time to think about hospitality. Our Bible Study today is more of a challenge than it is a lesson. Below are a large number of scriptures on hospitality that I want you to read this month. Before you read, as you read, and after you read each one of these, invite the Holy Spirit to guide, heal and invigorate your understanding of hospitality—no matter what your situation. Write out your responses to each one. Or better yet, draw some people together for a Bible study as an act of hospitality!
Read closely and carefully the following examples of hospitality from the Bible.
• Jesus’ Hospitality - Luke 19:1-10, John 11:1-44, Luke 24:13-35
• Characteristics of Hospitable People - Luke 10:38-41, Romans 12:9-21
• Learning Hospitality - Acts 10:24-11:18
Hospitality has several important characteristics. These were outlined in clergy training courses[i] and certainly do not express the full definition of hospitality in the Bible. And although these points, with some of my added text, were designed to help clergy be hospitable, how can you become more so?
Hospitality Is Biblical
In his letter to the Romans, Paul used the admonition “pursue hospitality” (Romans 12:13b).
• Paul intentionally assigned a high status to biblical hospitality.
• Paul understood all Christians are called to pursue biblical hospitality.
• Pursuit of biblical hospitality is active, not passive.
• Pursuit means we seek after and find more ways to be hospitable. We are not to merely wait for opportunities to practice hospitality
Hospitality is Loving
Biblical hospitality is a manifestation of love, the first fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).
• Paul admonishes the practice of hospitality in the context of love toward our brothers and sisters in Christ (Romans 12:9-13).
• Biblical hospitality is also defined as the “love of strangers.” Strangers are those who are separated from Christ (Ephesians 2:11-12).
• Biblical hospitality is practicing love in action toward our unsaved friends (Romans 12:13b).
• Some Christians are exceptionally gifted at hospitality. But being hospitable is the loving response of all Christians.
Hospitality Is Practical
Practicing biblical hospitality is flexible. When we practice biblical hospitality, we actively love strangers on location.
• Jesus fed 5,000 on a hillside so the crowd would not have to disperse (John 6:1-15).
• The poor widow selflessly brought food to Elijah at the city gate (1 Kings 17:8-16).
• Peter’s mother-in-law served Jesus and his disciples in her home (Mark 1:29-31).
• And in one of Jesus’ fine parables, he showed that the good Samaritan used a motel as a place of hospitality (Luke10:34-35).
Hospitality is Compassion in Action
Practicing biblical hospitality is compassionate. When we practice hospitality, we actively meet the varied and immediate needs of strangers.
• The poor widow met Elijah’s urgent need for food (1 Kings 17:11-15).
• Publius met Paul’s sudden need for housing (Acts 28:7-10).
• The Shunammite woman anticipated Elisha’s need for refreshment and encouragement (2 Kings 4:8-10).
Hospitality is Purposeful and Glorifies God
Granting Biblical hospitality is intentional, although it can be spur-of-the-moment as well. It creates a space where God is at the head of the table and blessing others through us. It’s not just random gathering of people when we acknowledge his presence, encourage talk about our spiritual lives, explore and express our needs and how we can help one another carry those burdens and celebrate those joys.
• After being healed, Peter’s mother-in-law immediately began serving Jesus and his disciples
(Mark 1:29-31). She served Jesus out of her gratitude for what he had done for her.
• Biblical hospitality grows churches because hospitality grows friendships and grows people.
New Testament house churches practiced biblical hospitality.
• A house church met in the home of Priscilla and Aquila (1 Corinthians 16:19).
• Gaius offered hospitality to Paul and the whole church (Romans 16:23).
• Cornelius welcomed Peter to his home (Acts 10:24-48). Peter preached to a large crowd gathered in Cornelius’s home and the crowd received the Holy Spirit and was baptized that same day.
Biblical hospitality imitates Christ.
• Christ had no home of his own (Matthew 8:20). Yet he set the ultimate example for biblical hospitality, the active love of the unsaved person. He pursued the unsaved, met strangers on location, anticipated and met the needs of strangers. Christ shared the gospel in a variety of contexts.
• Our willingness, not our resources, enables us to imitate Christ’s hospitality. We can step out of our comfortable routines and fellowship with the unsaved. We can be sensitive to the physical, emotional, material, and spiritual needs of new believers.
• We can share the gospel anywhere. Developing happy, loving friendships may result in more evangelistic fruit than deliberate evangelistic endeavors.
Take Time to Reflect
• How has Jesus been hospitable to me?
• What other examples of being hospitable do I find in the Bible?
• How have I been hospitable in the past?
• How is the Holy Spirit directing me to be more hospitable? Will I follow through?
Prayer
Dear Father God, the most hospitable One, please help me to learn to be more like you in every way possible. Open my eyes to see my neighbors and those in need so that I can help as I am enabled by the Holy Spirit and your resources. Teach me to be more hospitable with what you have given me. Thank you, Jesus for being the most noble example of being a hospitable person. May I live in gratefulness each day.
Amen
© M.R.Hyde 2022
[i] *Declaring the Gospel of God, Faculty Guide, version 5, Clergy Development, Church of the Nazarene, Kansas City, Missouri, Nazarene Publishing House, 2002, pages 7-3, 7-4, 7-5.
