What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “gift of hospitality”? Do you picture someone with a clean home and an amazing ability to entertain? Do you picture a Pinterest-worthy party with amazing decorations and a perfectly displayed dinner spread?
Sometimes the idea of hospitality can be built up in our minds to be something fancier than what it really is. If I’m honest, I often feel pressure to make everything perfect before I am willing to let others into our home. I often think, “We are so busy right now. We’ll have people over when things calm down.” Yet, in actuality, time flies by and another month can pass without inviting someone over.
When we look at hospitality in the Scriptures, we see a variety of examples. Craig Kraft argues that “The Bible is full of hospitality; from the provision of clothing for Adam and Eve in Genesis to the final Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Revelation, one cannot study scripture without encountering themes, stories, and teaching on hospitality.” In the Old Testament we see numerous examples of God’s hospitality toward his people. In Leviticus, God tells his people to care for the sojourner as if he were one of their own (Leviticus 19:33). At the end of the Old Testament, a warning is given to those who fail to care for the fatherless and the widow and to those who “thrust aside the sojourner.”
The New Testament sets the stage for the ultimate act of hospitality: God sending his own Son to lay down his life for us. The New Testament has many examples of hospitality. In fact, it’s hard to find a page in the New Testament where we do not see hospitality. Some stories show extravagant acts of hospitality such as the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10). While in many cases we see hospitality as a simple act of sharing a meal with someone or allowing a stranger to stay overnight.
Hospitality was very important for early Christians. Most could not afford to stay in lodging houses. And many inns during the first century were too expensive or unsafe. Paul, Peter, and other church leaders often exhorted the early churches to love one another by showing hospitality. Romans 12 talks about hospitality as being a mark of a true Christian.
We’re not talking about a perfectly clean home with an amazing spread of homemade delicacies. In fact, allowing someone into their home for the early Christian likely meant sharing a simple meal and sleeping in the same room together. (No separate guest rooms with mints on pillows for those in the first century.)
The literal translation of the Greek word for hospitality, philoxenia, is “loving strangers.” While some people may be more gifted in welcoming people into their homes and being hospitable by serving or making food, caring for the needy, and welcoming the stranger, I would argue that all are called to practice hospitality. Peter exhorts believers in 1 Peter 4:8-10 to “keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.” It is clear from this text that the heart and focus of hospitality is showing love for others.
Rosaria Butterfield speaks to this when she states, “When Christians refuse to give or receive hospitality, that speaks to their lack of love, first for the body of Christ, next for their neighbors, and ultimately, for the Lord.” Butterfield also talks about the idea of radically ordinary hospitality in her book The Gospel Comes with a House Key. She outlines the ways that inviting strangers, neighbors, and community into the ordinary processes of life “brings glory to God, serves others, and lives out the gospel in word and deed.”1
So, if you’re like me, you wonder how on earth we’re supposed to do that when our lives are so full already. Here are a few suggestions that our family has worked on implementing:
- Strive not to make it a production. While we try to pick up our house and clean regularly, I fight the urge to try and make everything perfect. I also try to pay attention to my motivations. Is my ultimate desire to create a welcoming and safe environment for those who enter, or am I trying to impress others with my clean house or perfectly executed meal? The goal of hospitality should be to invite others into authentic community rather than entertaining them with a fancy meal or special event. There is certainly a time and place for a special event but resist the urge to make hosting a production every time.
- Invite friends for leftovers. One great way to break down walls is to invite friends to join you for a simple weekday meal.
- Use the same easy meal every time you host. If preparing for a meal is stressful or you are on a budget, pick the same affordable meal every time you welcome someone into your home.
- Skip the meal and go for coffee and dessert instead. If planning a meal is overwhelming, invite others over for a store-bought dessert and a cup of coffee or tea. The goal is community, not performance.
- Have a lot of people you wish you could have over but not enough time? Group people together and have them over at the same time. My husband and I always have a long list of people we’d like to have over. We decided a year ago to start having larger groups over on Sundays after church once a month. We always make pancakes and eggs on Sundays, so why not invite others to join us?
This list may sound overwhelming or may not be feasible for some. The goal is to “seek to show hospitality,” so, figure out what works for you. This could be a simple step of joining the Hospitality Team or Events Team at College Park or asking the Lord for one tangible way you can show love to your neighbors and community.
However, don’t allow the busyness of life to overshadow this important calling we all have. There are countless ways to show radically ordinary hospitality.
- Butterfield, Rosaria. (2018). The Gospel Comes with a House Key. Crossway. ↩︎
