Eschatological Hospitality

We always have a reason not to invite people to our home. I’m not talking about the inclusive “we” here. No, this is a public confession of a personal struggle. If our home isn’t too small, it isn’t furnished well enough. There’s too much clutter; I have nothing decent to serve; or I’m an introvert and I’m peopled out (socially drained). Then there are the questions about our potential guests. I don’t know them. What if they’re unsafe around my children? What if they introduce inappropriate behavior to my family? What if they’re simply boring? Or worse yet, I do know them, and I don’t like them for any number of reasons.

Yet Hebrews 13:2 is unequivocal: “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.” Other Bible versions, such as the New American Standard Bible and the English Standard Version, translate “forget” (epilanthanomai) as “neglect.” The forgetfulness we’re cautioned against in Hebrews 13:2 has undertones of a lack of attentiveness leading to neglect.

Besides, hospitality isn’t very glamorous. It is, in fact, the epitome of service. Let’s take a quick glance at the example of Abraham, referenced in Hebrews.

Abraham’s Hospitality

It’s the hottest time of day when he runs to invite the strangers standing by into his space for some refreshment. The inconvenience and personal cost of hosting those strangers in Genesis 18 cannot be missed. The cost is physical (as Abraham runs and hurries around, verses 2, 6, 7), material (in the spread he prepares, verses 6-8), and relational (as he solicits the help of others in realizing the task, verses 6, 7). And in all this it is Abraham who essentially begs these strangers to allow him to treat them with such kindness (verses 3-5).

Abraham had no idea who these men were. His hospitality wasn’t motivated by the prospect of hosting angels. His actions, rather, flowed from his character. Doesn’t this remind you of Jesus’ words in Matthew 25? “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me’ ” (verses 37-40). Those who are saved in the end are not trying to score points with God; they’re not doing acts of kindness for credit. Their actions are an outflow of the righteousness imparted to them by God’s grace.

Revisit the list of actions enumerated by Christ. Do you see it? Do you see hospitality in there? It’s immediately apparent in the “taking in a stranger” clause, particularly in the context of Abraham’s story. What of feeding the hungry, and giving water to the thirsty? Are they not acts of hospitality? Or clothing the naked and visiting the sick and imprisoned? They all require an expenditure of personal resources for the aid of others.

Christian benevolence is an opportunity for character transformation. An opportunity we are too often passing by.

Notice, too, that the kindness extended is not one solicited by the beneficiary. The strangers don’t ask Abraham to wash their feet and feed them. It is Abraham who sees an opportunity for service and runs toward it. The sheep of Matthew 25 see a need and rise up to meet it with no expectation of reward. Hospitality is selfless disinterested service to others at personal cost.

It’s precisely the disdain of personal cost that deters us from the hospitable life, whether it’s rooted in self-interest or a lack of trust. Self-interest, or an inordinate love for self, bars us from a sacrificial love for others. We’ll help others only as long as it doesn’t inconvenience us. The moment helping others means we must disadvantage ourselves and our personal interests, we neglect the duty. We have not been transformed by the self-sacrificing love of Christ. Our hearts remain closed to meeting others’ needs if it conflicts with personal gain. Yet Jesus left nothing bad to save our helpless souls. Had He thought of self, we would have had no hope.

The Widow’s Hospitality

Sometimes we’re gripped with real, unimagined fears. If we extend ourselves to assist others, we will surely lack our own needs. Scripture’s response? The widow of Zarephath. She is literally preparing for her last meal when God presents her with an opportunity for hospitality (1 Kings 17:8-16). It will cost her physical effort to fetch the water and bake the bread for Elijah, material resources to give of her last meal, and relational capital as she deprives her son of one final meal before they succumb to hunger. Given her circumstances, God’s request through Elijah seems unfair, inconsiderate, unreasonable. Yet He tells her, “Do not fear” (verse 13).

In the face of the real fears surrounding a hospitable life, God tells us, “Do not fear.” What if I help someone less fortunate and they turn around and use the advantage gained for ill? Do not fear. What if I invite someone into my home who is less than gracious or grateful? Do not fear. What if I share the love of Jesus but they refuse to accept Christ? Do not fear. What if I give what I have and remain with nothing? Do not fear!

“And Elijah said to her, ‘Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel: “The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth” ’ ” (verses 13, 14). God invites the widow of Zarephath to serve His servant first and trust Him to take care of her needs after. He invites her to live out Matthew 6:33, which is grounded in verses 25-32: You know that God is able to provide for you, now trust that He will and live as such.

In the face of our real and imagined fears, God invites us to trust Him. Trust His provision. Trust His protection. The Christian can offer no valid excuse for failing to minister to the less fortunate (and there is always someone less fortunate than you are)! So Peter exhorts us, “Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:9, 10). The exhortation does not come in a vacuum. Its context, in verse 7, is the end: “But the end of all things is at hand.” Should not we, who identify ourselves as those looking forward to the second coming of Christ, especially take this injunction to heart?

Adventist Hospitality

Embedded within a key text in our denominational identity is this very concept of hospitality. Isaiah 58, with its closing verses about the importance of the Sabbath and promises for keeping it, describes the life of a true Sabbathkeeper. It is a chapter addressed to those who “take delight in approaching God” (verse 2)—the church folks.

After rebuking the empty religiosity of His people, God doesn’t leave them clueless as to what He desires from them. To begin with, true religion is “to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke”; “to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh” (verses 6, 7).

Sabbathkeepers will rightly point to Isaiah 58:13 as our marching orders for Sabbath observance. The Sabbath, as a day of rest, is not a day of selfish merrymaking. But the injunction to turn “from doing your pleasure on My holy day,” in the context of the entire chapter, isn’t about partygoing. The pleasure of God’s people at the beginning of the chapter is in Bible study (“delight to know My ways”) and worship (“delight in approaching God”). Yet for all their knowledge and religious forms, their hearts remain unconverted, so they fail to care for those less fortunate.

You know that God is able to provide for you; now trust that He will and live as such.

James sums it up thus, “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). Incidentally, if it is not yet clear from the preceding paragraphs: while we must be kind to all within our sphere, Christians are called to show kindness to those less fortunate. “The Israelites, in all their festivities, included the poor, the stranger, and the Levite, who was both the assistant of the priest in the sanctuary, and a religious teacher and missionary. These were regarded as the guests of the people, to share their hospitality on all occasions of social and religious rejoicing, and to be tenderly cared for in sickness or in need. It is such as these whom we should make welcome to our homes.”[*]

With eyes squarely focused on what Christ has done for us, how can we not likewise care for those around us? And as we draw from our personal resources to assist those in need, we learn to trust God more, become less selfish, and more like Jesus. Christian benevolence is an opportunity for character transformation. An opportunity we are too often passing by.

With Christ’s coming so near at hand, the Sabbathkeeper cannot afford to neglect any opportunity to offer kindness. God has answered every objection and offered His blessings for obedience. So as the love of many grows cold because of the abundance of iniquity, may we love as Christ has loved us. Loving not only the lovable, but those who truly need our kindness.

[*] Ellen G. White, The Ministry of Healing (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1905), p. 353.