It’s amazing to me how much of an art hospitality really is. Those practicing hospitality are able to get creative with their service by way of housekeeping, decorating, cooking, and generally making their guests feel welcome and loved. Pick up any home magazine or browse Pinterest, and you’ll find recipes, home decorating tips, and ways to add the finishing touches to make guests feel right at home. I grew up learning the “art” of hospitality, and I’m so glad I know how to entertain guests.
Even with all its bells and whistles, hospitality goes a whole lot deeper. In today’s post, I want to talk about hospitality as it relates to Christians.
First, and foremost, we were given the ultimate example of hospitality: Jesus Himself.
Jesus serves as an example for how we should handle any aspect of our lives, including the tasks involved in hospitality. An example Jesus gave of how we should be hospitable and ready to help others is located in Matthew 25. In that chapter, he tells a parable of a King separating sheep from goats. He tells the sheep at His right hand, “‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me’” (Matthew 25:34b-36). When the righteous ask Him when He was hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, or imprisoned, He replies in verse 40, “‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’” This passage reminds me of Hebrews 13:2, in which the author states, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.” While the above passages encapsulate all types of service, they can apply specifically to hospitality in that when we open our homes, kitchens, and hearts to others, we are doing so in His name, and He is blessed by our efforts.
Not only does Jesus show us how we can be good hosts, but He also shows us how to be good guests in others’ homes. Some notable hosts that Jesus stayed with were Mary and Martha (Luke 10:38-42) and Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10). Both households welcomed Him into their homes graciously, and both households benefited from the lessons He shared with them. As guests, we can benefit from what our hosts can teach us, and as hosts, we can learn many things from our guests, especially when in the midst of discussions of His Word. If that’s the case, everyone wins.
Second, many in the Bible were incredibly hospitable toward others.
Jesus is the ultimate example for every aspect in our lives – including hospitality – but it helps us to have examples from others in the Bible as well. For example, Peter’s mother-in-law served those who came to her home (Matthew 8:14-15). Also, when the early church was established, they broke their bread in the members’ homes (Acts 2:46). While we are now able to take communion in our respective church buildings on the first day of the week, we can still follow that example and open our homes to fellow members in our congregation just to fellowship and share in His Word.
Many authors of books in the New Testament also noted the importance of hospitality, like Peter (1 Peter 4:9), Luke (Acts 28:2), and Paul (Romans 12:13). In fact, one of the qualifications for an elder’s wife as stated in 1 Timothy 3:2 is to be hospitable. Or, you could go back as far as the Old Testament, where Elisha was hosted by the Shulamite woman (2 Kings 4:8-17), or when God told the people of Israel sojourning across the wilderness to treat strangers who traveled with them with kindness (Leviticus 19:34).
We can learn from the examples of people in the Bible by taking what they have either said or done and applying it to our lives today.
Finally, it’s very easy to get caught up in an act of service – including hospitality – and forget why you’re doing it…or Who you’re doing it for.
I can tell y’all from experience that while hospitality is absolutely rewarding, it can be very stressful. Outside circumstances can threaten to throw a huge wrench in things, or anxiety that your guests may not be happy can creep in like a snake in the dark. That’s when we need to stop, regroup, refocus, and remember why we’re doing the act of service that we are – for His glory.
The best example I can think of for how to handle hospitality gone awry is to revisit the example of Mary and Martha that I mentioned earlier in this post. In Luke 10:38-42, Martha welcomed Jesus into her home, where Mary, her sister, sat at His feet to learn His teaching. Verse 40 states that Martha was specifically “distracted with much serving.” How often does that happen to us, especially around holidays? When Martha asks Jesus to get Mary to help her, He responds with words of comfort: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41b-42). Pay attention to what’s said in verse 41: you are worried and troubled about many things (emphasis mine). If there’s a lesson we need to take away from that verse, it’s that Jesus doesn’t want our worries about getting hospitality right to impede on the joy we can gain from being hospitable, and in turn, serving Him.
So, in conclusion, hospitality is just one of many ways we can serve God. We can open our homes for others, and we can learn from many folks in the Bible who both practice and value hospitality itself, including – and especially – Jesus Christ. We just can’t let our own worries get in the way of sharing in the joy of such service and of those we serve.
By Savannah Cottrell
