On God, Hospitality, and Being a Follower of Jesus (according to Paul's Letter to the Romans)

When you think about the word ‘hospitality’ what comes to mind? Food; a table; a smile and a warm welcome? We have a whole sector of our economy that we call the hospitality industry—hotels, convention centers, restaurants, etc. There are probably a variety of things that we associate with the word ‘hospitality’, but have you ever considered associating the concept of hospitality with God? The Apostle Paul does in his magisterial and influential letter to the Romans.

In Romans 15.7, Paul summarizes all that he has been trying to say for fourteen chapters with this one dense phrase: “Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you” (NRSV). “Welcome” is a hospitality word; it expresses the foundational action of hospitality—making your resources available for others, allowing them to enjoy your blessings. The word that Paul chose to explain what God has done for us through Jesus Christ, and what we are in turn called to do for others because of Jesus Christ, is a term to describe receiving someone into your home or family; it’s the Greek word proslambano. Welcome!

 In one sense the entire book of Romans is found right here in this short verse. For example, the primary theme of Romans 1-11 is how God has welcomed us in and through Jesus Christ. And in Romans 12-16, Paul explains how those who have received God’s generous hospitality are called to replicate that kind of hospitality to others.

           

So how has God welcomed us? Allow me to paraphrase the major themes of Romans 1-11.  Paul essentially makes the point that God has made this amazing house and invited humanity to enjoy it with Him. This house has everything humankind needs to flourish, to enjoy life to the fullest. But all of humanity has chosen to reject God’s hospitality. Instead of living as guests, human beings have started rearranging the furniture, acting like we are the owners. We have dishonored God and trashed His house, and destroyed our lives along the way. What is God’s response?

           

Hospitality! God, the generous host, does not allow our rejection of His hospitality to be the last word. Instead, He sends His Son, Jesus, to those who have become strangers, enemies, rebels—to us. Even though He was the one who was wronged, even though He was the one that was mistreated and dishonored, He made the first move to repair the broken relationship. In order to deal with the consequences of our rebellion, our rejection of God’s hospitality, the Son offers up His own life, He absorbs our wrongdoing, so that these strangers and rebels can once again be guests in God’s house, God’s family. This is the kind of hospitality that God offers us in Jesus Christ.

            

And we are obligated to extend the same kind of hospitality to others. “Therefore”, Paul says---‘since this (Romans 1-11) is true about God, since this is how God has extended hospitality to you’, we are called to welcome one another in the same way.

            

The Apostle Paul’s point in Romans is that hospitality is the way we ought to think about what it looks like to be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ. To follow Jesus is to be adopted into the family business of hospitality.  The hospitality that God extends to us in Jesus Christ is abundantly generous but it is also costly. It is a welcome that perseveres even when hospitality is rejected; it is a welcome that seeks the good of the other even when the other is not looking for hospitality. This kind of hospitality is only made possible by experiencing the undeserved welcome of Jesus Christ.

           
In light of Paul’s teaching in Romans, it is helpful for Christians to evaluate their own faithfulness to God in terms of hospitality:  Who is God calling us to extend hospitality to?  And, how might we be failing to extend God’s hospitality?