YOU ARE VERY WELCOME!!

 MARCH 17, 2023

HEBREWS 13:1-2

Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.


HOSPITALITY

Hospitality. Immediately, you might think of someone welcoming you into their home to share a meal. But the true heart of hospitality includes so much more than one example or image could ever contain. Hospitality is defined as the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.

The New Testament has many examples of hospitality. Jesus freely extends hospitality to those He encountered, regardless of who they were. In John 4:6–26, we read the story of Jesus speaking with the woman at the well. We looked at that story recently. Not only did Jesus talk with her, but He also told her how to find “living water,” or eternal life.

The account of a woman anointing Jesus with expensive oil, and of Martha and Mary welcoming Jesus into their home are also stories about the humble act of hospitality. The Parable of the Good Samaritan, Story of Zacchaeus, and many others underscore the them of hospitality.

If you think about it, one could say hospitality doesn’t come without sacrifice. In hospitality, we extend something of ourselves. We might sacrifice something emotional, like comfort or security, or something physical, like a blanket or a place to stay. Being hospitable means inviting others, our Bible passage says “strangers” into our space, that is a place of vulnerability isn’t it?

We get this idea of hospitality from God don’t we? God’s actions toward his people in the Old Testament, God’s words about hospitality and community there. In Leviticus 19:34 we read “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” “And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God," we see in Leviticus 19:10. In Matthew 25 Jesus teaches us that the Blessed are those to whom the King will say, “Come, you who are blessed by 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 welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” Then there is the challenge of the “Greatest Commandment”, that says “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”

In this season of Lent when we reflect on God’s love and mercy to us in Jesus, we see that God (gave) sacrificed his son Jesus in the final act of hospitality. By God’s grace, His mercy, and His forgiveness of our sins we experience the perfect demonstrations of God welcoming us into His love.

Let’s pause for a moment and give thought to the following questions.

How has hospitality been shown to you?

In which relationships do you see hospitality?

For you personally, what is the most difficult part of showing hospitality?

How might God be calling you, challenging you, to sacrifice something in your life to extend a welcome to someone?

Let us today, as a community of Jesus pray about how we can extend hospitality: the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers. Who knows perhaps we will show “hospitality to angels without knowing it” just like Hebrews 13:2 says.