Hospitality

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Hospitality and the refugees of Europe (and the world) and how should we as believers respond to the crisis—that’s what I want to talk in my blog post. My post is not about the war in Ukraine and/or my understanding of it (even though I could speak about the war because I majored in Political Science and I live in a country near the conflict zone, in Central-Eastern Europe). In my post, I want to share several principles from the Bible about hospitality and how can we practice hospitality with the refugees from Ukraine and/or any refugee.

Humans and animals

Rabbi Joseph Telushkin mentions Rabbi Bradley Artson’s example from the 1970s (America). Telushkin says:

‘At the height of the [1970s] influx of Indochinese refugees (the so-called boat people), we were inundated with letters opposing their admission to California. That same week, the San Francisco Chronicle reported the case of a woman whose will stipulated that her pet dog be put to sleep after her death. We received hundreds of letters from people who offered to take the dog into their own homes while simultaneously protesting the rescue of the drowning refugees.’

It is interesting how many people put more value on animals than on humans. Sadly, many Christians behave in the same way because they don’t know the difference between humans and animals. Any believer who reads his Bible should know that man was made into God’s image and likeness—not the animals. While God values animals and the Bible talks about animal abuse, God never equals humans with animals. That is exactly what evolutionists and humanists are doing.

Even today with the humanitarian crises in Ukraine that began because of the war, there are people more willing to help the animals caught in the war than the people who suffer from war. I’ve heard about people who are willing only to help the animals in Ukraine and not the people—can you believe that?  

Even though I will touch on the topic of refugees, my key idea is to show what the Bible says about hospitality. However, I want to challenge you to think how you can practice hospitality in these times when hundreds of thousands of refugees flee the conflict zones of the world.

The hospitality of Abraham

One of the most striking hospitality examples in the Bible is the one of Abraham in Genesis 18. There are five principles of hospitality we can learn from Abraham:

#1: Receive your guests with warmth and enthusiasm

Genesis 18:1-3

And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.

Please observe that Abraham saw three men (strangers; he never met them before), then ran towards them to greet them. Abraham showed enthusiasm and his guests felt wanted in his home. Moreover, Abraham expressed he would feel honored if they would accept to be his guests!

#2: Think about the needs of your guests

Genesis 18:4-5

Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.

Abraham brought water to the men who traveled in the Beer-Sheva desert. He knew what they needed: water to drink and to wash their feet. Moreover, he offered them a tree under which they could rest—it is like offering a room with an air conditioning device to someone who comes in your house from the ‘heat of the day’ (18:1). And, presuming they were hungry, he offered them food.

#3: Deliver more than you promise

Abraham promised ‘a morsel of bread,’ but he served them a full meal with cakes (18:6-8). Abraham was a righteous man and God’s friend (Isaiah 41:8), and hospitality was one of his key characteristics. I think it is good to promise less and deliver more than do the other way around.

#4: Attend to your guest’s needs personally

Verse 8 highlights that Abraham waited on his guests personally, even though he was a rich man with many servants (see Genesis 14:14). Therefore, make sure you serve your guests personally—at least part of the serving should be done by the host and not only by other people in the family or servants.

#5: Accompany your guests on their way

Genesis 18:16

Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way.

At the end of Abraham’s guests’ visit, he walked with them for a distance. By his gesture, Abraham emphasized he enjoyed their company. We learn to see our guests to the door, street or to their car.

[I give credit for these principles to Rabbi Joseph Telushkin]

More about hospitality in the Bible

The Bible speaks much about hospitality. Remember Job?

When Job defended himself from the accusations of his ‘friends’, he says in Job 31:32

the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler

Even the self-sufficient people around you might need your hospitality. Remember the story of Moses in Exodus 2. When Jethro finds out a man helped his daughters, he immediately sends his daughters back to Moses to invite him to his house (Exodus 2:19-21).

Deuteronomy 23:15-16

You shall not give up to his master a slave who has escaped from his master to you. He shall dwell with you, in your midst, in the place that he shall choose within one of your towns, wherever it suits him. You shall not wrong him.

In modern times, when applied to nations, this Biblical law seems to point to what we label today as political asylum for those who flee a dictatorial regime.

Hebrews 13:1-3

Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

Hospitality was a way to apply ‘brotherly love’ among the first Christians. It was important for Christians of the first century to find open homes from other believers. However, see the words in v. 2: ‘hospitality to strangers,’ not to familiar faces (as we like to do).   

The Bible and inhospitality

Deuteronomy 23:3-4

No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever, because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you (my emphasis)

The Bible clearly expresses a great condemnation of the people of Moab and Ammon because of their inhospitality. It is about the inhospitality of one nation against another nation.

Moreover, do you remember how the people in Sodom behaved with Lot’s guests (Genesis 19)? In Genesis 18, we read of Abraham’s hospitality and we see Lot, Abraham’s nephew, showing hospitality to the men coming into the city of Sodom. However, the Sodomites were hostile and not hospitable to Lot’s guests (that was not all they did or tried to do). Indeed, from Ezekiel 16:49, we learn that part of Sodom’s sin was inhospitality.

Ezekiel 16:49

Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.

Jesus about inhospitality

Jesus says in Matthew 25:41-46

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Or read Luke 9:4-5

And whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.”

Hospitality and the Gospel

In a way, one can say the Gospel is about hospitality. I mean, Jesus came to His own people, but instead of receiving Him (instead of showing hospitality) they rejected Him and His messiahship (John 1:11). However, John 1:12 points out that:

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

Whoever showed Jesus hospitality [in the sense all who did receive Him] became God’s children. Jesus left heaven, took on a human body and came to His creation to reconcile His creation (humans) to the Father. But His creation put Him to death—they crucified Him and showed their inhospitality.

People continue to show inhospitality to the Gospel and towards those who preach the Gospel. Only look at what happens to the people in the Western countries who are put behind bars or are fined because they speak the truth of the Gospel. Moreover, think at the believers in Asia or Africa who are being killed for the sake of the Gospel.

Hospitality and the refugees

I know of many people who oppose helping the refugees coming from Ukraine. They point out to our own needy people and consider we should not help the refugees until we manage to help all our citizens. I think that’s absurd.

Imagine a father with two children. And imagine one of his children gets sick. The father, in those moments, will focus his time and energy more on the sick child because he/she needs urgent care. Yes, the father loves both of his children, but in this scenario, the father needs to focus on the urgent need without neglecting the other child.

Similarly, we need to focus on the urgent needs of the refugees without neglecting our own people (or families). Now it is time to practice hospitality. And we can practice hospitality in many ways: opening our houses and/or opening our wallets. We can also give our time to serve God by serving those in need. Needless to say, everything we do, we should do in a spirit of prayer and for the glory of God.

Now what?

In my post, I highlighted several scriptures about hospitality. I wanted to show you how God thinks about hospitality and what the Bible says about inhospitality. The hospitality theme is a major theme in the Bible (in my blog post, I only touched the tip of the iceberg).

Every believer should have a practical theology and apply the Bible to his own life and to the life and circumstances of others. I believe God’s children are tested in the area of hospitality, and my prayer is all of us will be hospitable to those in needs, in one way or the other. Ask God how can you help and then only be obedient to His voice.

[I used many ideas from Rabbi Joseph Telushkin’s book A Code of Jewish Ethics, Volume 2: Love Your Neighbor as Yourself ]

Do you agree?

Let me know if there is anything special going on in your life or if you want prayer! 

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