“While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn” (Luke 2:6-7).The main New Testament word for “hospitality” is philoxenia—the love of the stranger. Thus the absence of a place to stay for Mary and Joseph at the time of Jesus’ birth was a gross violation of Semitic hospitality.
The ministry of Jesus is key link between Jewish antiquity and the New Testament theology and practice of hospitality within the early church. In the gospels, Jesus’ ministry of unconditional hospitality toward the outcast—the diseased, the stranger, the victims—transformed the ancient Semitic practice of temporary guest-kinship of the stranger into permanent status as kinspeople in the household of God.
The early church regarded hospitality as almost a sacramental ministry because it sprang from its source in Christ who is simultaneously the host, the stranger, and the guest as illustrated in the Easter, Emmaus Road, story (Luke 24).
Interestingly, although all early Christians were urged to be hospitable, early church leaders who had the financial and physical resources to provide and conduct hospitality could emerge as church officials, even bishops (I Timothy 3:2). There was an elaborate culture of hospitality adopted and adapted by the early church such as:
- Soliciting guest on street (Matthew 22 & Luke 14);
- Polite refusal and insistent host (Matthew 22, Acts16:15);
- Washing of feet (Luke 7:38, John 12:3);
- Greet guest in peace (Matthew 10:12, Luke 10:5;) and
- With a kiss (Luke 7: 45, Romans 16:16).
Holy God, your desire to sojourn with us on our journey is never rude, but lovingly persistent. May our hearts be open to your gentle request to be your home. Amen
Posts
