Christ's hospitality

I recall those mornings when we used to wake up early and hear father gently tell us to be quiet...shhh...the pastor is sleeping....shhh the missionary needs rest...shhh...our friend is jetlagged. The mid hallway room was always the one where our guests would find their rest. That was actually my room. Receiving guests was always exciting, but it also required a lot of work. Mother would always cook great welcoming meals and we would sit at the table for hours listening to their stories, telling some of our own and sharing Jesus. I was always the one responsible for setting the table with fine cutlery and the floral plates. I would be extra excited when mother would allow me to set the wine glasses. I always found it so charming and elegant...and it made absolute sense...I had been taught that guests ought to be treated like royalty. Everything should be beautiful and welcoming. Cultures, likes and dislikes were taken in consideration. Nothing was left undone.

I have known for a long time that this is a beautiful and meaningful lesson that my parents passed on to me. However, I had never really reflected on how much I had incorporated hospitality into my own life, and how I desire to live it as I think about my own future home and family until the day the blue eyed boy asked me how I felt about it.

Throughout the gospels, Jesus is constantly described as one that welcomes people into his presence; he sits at the table with them, goes to their homes...he accepts hospitality, teaches it and gives it. The greatest manifestation of his hospitality is seen at the cross, where he self-sacrificially leaves the presence of the Father so that we can be welcomed into God's presence now and forevermore. The gospel is all about hospitality, Jesus' generosity and warmth...he prepares a table for us in the presence of our enemies and anoints our head with oil and our cup overflows. God's hospitality is so abundant that our cup overflows! God's hospitality is so abundant in our lives, that we never run out of resources, in particular when we extend hospitality to others...when we give, love and care, when we welcome, smile and set a table before others and invite them to a place where God's hospitality is visible, there is abundance in our own lives. God enriches us with his hospitality and the natural consequence is that we offer it to others. Just like Father, Son and Holy Spirit belong to each other, we are to mirror the Trinitarian communion and welcome others to belong...and that can happen primarily as we invite others to sit at our table, as we prepare a clean bed with fresh cotton sheets and as we teach the next generation to have the same heart. In the same way that we have been welcomed by Jesus, we are to extend hospitality to others.

By the time our guests had left, and we were thoroughly blessed, a common word would be heard in our home....we never know when we are receiving angels in our home...we shall do everything we can to receive them with love and care, just like we would receive Jesus. Receive God's hospitality with open hearts, rejoice at the gift, and release it so that others may find themselves entangled in Christ's sweet hospitality. That's how simple the gospel is. Give as much you have been given...Thank you Jesus!