Jim Spillane, SJ - University of St. Thomas

washed and refreshed by the same Spirit, depending on each other for true existence
and where the stranger is simply a friend in the making. In that Old Testament desert
situation, should host and guest be enemies, the practice of Old Testament
hospitality then involved reconciliation: there was a oneness, an atonement. Today,
Christians worthy of the name are messengers of that same at-one-ment. Moreover, in
the Old Testament times the guest was sacred and the host had to put himself out for
him or her, even to endangering the lives of his own family. Christianity by no means
abrograted this aspect of hospitality.
In chapter 18 of the Book of Genesis Abraham was rewarded by God in an unforseen
and deserving manner with the annunciation of the miraculous birth of a child who
would inherit the divine promises which God made to the patriarch and which would
inaugurate the history of the salvation of the world. Other Old Testament texts confirm
the practice of hospitality and the Law of Moses turns it into a commandment
with a precise justification: Isreal must be generous towards the stranger because the
people of God had also been a stranger in the land of Egypt where the inhospitality of
Pharaoh had been severely punished and in imitation of her God who "loves the
sojourner, giving him food and clothing" (Deut. 10:18-19 cf. Exod. 22:20 and Lev.
19:34).
One of the famous characters in the Bible, Job, in claiming to be the unjust victim of
misfortune, urges among other things his irreproachable hospitality as a proof of his
integrity. The pious Tobit, likewise, reserved a tenth of his produce for the benefit of
strangers (Tobit 1:8). Even if the theme is not explicitly utilized to recommend the virtues
of hospitality, God himself is presented in the Bible as the perfect host of those who
seek refuge in his tent, his "house", his temple. For Moslems, too, the pilgrim to
Mecca is the "guest of God".
4.1 Hospitality in the Ministry of Jesus
When after 30 years of silent life concealed in Nazareth, Jesus began his public
ministry, he chose to live in a condition of having to rely on other people's aid and
hospitality [Mt. 27:55 and Mark 15:40-41] Mary felt honored to offer him
hospitality. Jesus also experienced the condition of being an unwelcome guest [ Luke
2:7 in Bethlehem] and on his lost pilgrimage to Jerusalem by a village of Samaritans [
Luke 9:52-56]. At Capernaum Jesus was a habitual guest in the house of the brothers
Peter and Andrew his Apostles. The Gospel of Luke [Luke 10:38-42] has preserved for
use the delightful gospel "interior" in the episode of Martha and Mary. A large part
of the Gospel message is in fact placed in the context of the practice of hospitality
from the marriage feast of Cana to the last Passover. Hospitality is offered to Christ by
friends and benefactors. In the majestic vision of the Last Judgement [Matthew Chap.
25] Jesus says that man's eternal destiny depends, too, on the real charity he has
bestowed on those in need, including the stranger. The teaching of Christ attaches
great importance, in particular, to the hospitality given to gospel workers [John 13:19 ,
Mt. 10:40-42 and Mt. 10:9-15].