Text: Matthew 25:44-45.
“Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'”
“Hospitality” means a variety of things to different individuals, families, and cultures. When I was growing up in the rural Midwest, I associated “hospitality” with “comfort foods” such as chicken & biscuits, mashed potatoes, gravy, and homemade bread, jam, and apple pie. I thought that my paternal grandmother made the best mashed potatoes and gravy. I loved the uniquely soggy bottom crust of my maternal grandmother’s apple pies. My great-grandmother often offered us fat slices of hot baked bread. I slathered the bread with real farm butter and her homemade strawberry jam.
In the Bible, the original Greek word for “hospitality” is philoxenia (fil-ah-zeen-ee-a), which means “love of strangers.”2 We recognize philo, the first part of the word, because of our word “Philadelphia,” the city of brotherly and sisterly love. The second part of philoxenia is present in the first syllables of the English word “xenophobia” (“fear of strangers”).
Many of the stories “about hospitality in ancient Judaism centered around the figure of Abraham,” who, by Jesus’ day, was venerated as a model for hosts.3 Genesis 18 tells how Abraham and Sarah were blessed with a child after they welcomed divine strangers. Genesis 19 continues the theme of hospitality, with Lot welcoming the same strangers who visited the couple from Emmaus who invite him into their house on the day of the resurrection do not recognize him until he sits down at table and breaks bread with them (Luke 24:28-35). At a welcoming table, strangers who are guests can become divine hosts.
Because stigma and discrimination are major obstacles to effective HIV/AIDS prevention and care, one basic way that churches can help overcome these problems is to truly welcome everyone. Christian hospitality is a key aspect of congregational ministry with people living with HIV/AIDS and their loved ones. When congregations reach out and embrace all people, including those affected by HIV/AIDS, healing happens, not only among individuals but the church community as a whole. Jesus’ example, careful reading of the Bible, a community of committed laity and clergy who support each other, and revelation through the Holy Spirit can guide us through the process of developing the best ministry of hospitality for our time and place. We can covenant to care, be hospitable, and honestly declare, “If you are a person living with AIDS or a loved one of a person living with AIDS, you are welcome here.”
A Covenant to Care, United Methodist Church.
In the World Where Jesus Walked and Talked: A Meditation for World AIDS Day, Nancy A. Carter.
Faith and Food: Biblical Perspectives, Elliott Wright, New World Outlook, September-October 2001.
On Visiting the Sick, John Wesley, Sermon #98.
The Use of Money, John Wesley, Sermon #50.
1. Henri J. M. Nouwen, Reaching Out: The Three Movements of the Spiritual Life (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1975).
2. See Romans 12:13; Hebrews 13:2; 1 Timothy 3:2; and 1 Peter 4:9. The word for “hospitality” does not appear in the Hebrew scriptures (Old Testament), though hospitality is described as a righteous behavior in a number of places.
3. John Koenig, New Testament Hospitality: Partnership with Strangers as Promise and Mission (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985), p. 15. The gospels refer to Abraham’s image of host when Jesus praises the centurion’s faith and says that many will eat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in God’s realm (Matthew 8:11) and in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31).