Photo by Chris Boese on Unsplash

Hospitality is a biblical virtue, not a suggestion, the Bible going to great lengths to stress it. While it may rub our modern sensibilities the wrong way, the original hearers of Scripture would not have batted an eye at the idea.

Christians have practiced this ethic (can it be called a doctrine?) imperfectly for over two-thousand years, following in the footsteps of our Jewish predecessors to whom hospitality was a very big deal, as it remains in non-Western cultures to this day. For our purposes here we will focus on portions of Genesis (18-19) as well as Matthew 25.

Genesis 18

1 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.

This was Abraham’s response to three strangers, and commentators note that their identity had not been revealed to Abraham.

What Abraham does next is beg them to let him and his wife serve them, and then Sarah prepares an extravagant feast. This isn’t door-dash but this is hours-on-your-feet, of course with servants at hand.

In the next chapter, two angels (disguised as ordinary men) appear to Abraham’s nephew Lot and Lot–like his uncle–extends hospitality to strangers. Also like his uncle, Lot is begging the men to stay, showing both Abraham and Lot generally go out of their way to extend radical generosity. The author of Genesis is telling us a story: Abraham and Sarah unknowingly hosted God himself and Lot unknowingly hosted representatives of God. The lesson is clear: in hosting strangers, we can actually be hosting God or angels, something further fleshed out in Hebrews 13. And if we do harm to strangers, we just may be doing harm to God or spiritual beings, and God does not take kindly to that (case in point, Sodom & Gomorrah/God’s judgment, which is literally what takes place next). 

[Phot Cred FreePik.com @Jplenio1]

Genesis 19

4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”

6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

9 “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.

It’s an understatement to call this account disturbing with Lot offering his vulnerable daughters in the place of the vulnerable strangers. It does, however, showcase just how serious a commitment some in the ancient world took to treat those temporarily under their roof as their own. But notice verse 9 and the vitriol of the “evil men” of the wicked city: “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play judge!” Whatever we can make of the ancient city we can be sure of this: unlike the attitude of Abraham and Sarah and Lot, in this city foreigners and strangers are seen as threats to be taunted and then abused. They are not welcome. Lot earlier was at the city gate (indicating a position of importance) and yet it’s clear that even though he’s put in the time and effort, he will never be accepted by his community, never be one of them.

Matthew 25

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

Here Jesus is making a mysterious prediction: that somehow he will return to earth in the form of the most vulnerable and despised. In the New Testament world, to be imprisoned was social suicide, so much so that friends and family may not visit you. Now ancient prisons weren’t like modern American prisons where food and aid are automatically provided. This is why Paul is so dependent on aid from Christians, why he is upset when aid doesn’t come, and why he praises the Philippians over and over since their commitment to him was so much greater than the burden of social shame. He praises them for their hospitality because it reflects the radical hospitality of Christ.

Back to Matthew 25: Jesus claims he will come as one without status, without voice, without a known background, without people to vouch for him. He will come vulnerable, a stranger, and some Christians will extend hospitality (following in the footsteps of Abraham, Sarah, and many others), while others will reject the King himself and so bring upon themselves doom (following in the footsteps of the wicked men of the cursed city of Sodom).

Paul calls believers children of Abraham, the same Abraham who went to great lengths to host a stranger and didn’t realize he was hosting God. Christians, when we turn away those without status, the Bible is radical in its declaration that we may be turning God himself away. That’s heavy stuff.

Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. (Hebrews 13:2 NIVUK)

Abraham and Sarah gave their very best to the strangers and in doing so hosted God himself. Lot later hosted strangers who ended up being God’s supernatural messengers, even thought Lot extended hospitality quite lazily when compared to his uncle according to commentators. The “evil men” of Sodom saw the strangers as unwelcome threats and attempted to strip them (literally and figuratively) of their dignity. In doing so they insulted heaven itself and God. How we treat those without status matters. In Matthew 25 Jesus ominously warns that one day somehow  he would come in the form of one without status, and that the response of the church bears great weight eternally.

But Isn’t this Woke?

Without question hospitality is definitely at the heart of the Christian faith. Though some Christians (in America) are chalking it up as woke nonsense, that would make Abraham, Sarah, Lot, and the New Testament church woke. This would make Christians across the world who strive for orthodoxy “woke,” including the persecuted. Or maybe too many American Christians are so bent on winning culture wars that they are sacrificing the very essence of Christianity for the sake of Babylon.

It’s simple, not woke: how we treat strangers matters because our response echoes out into eternity.