Hospitality at its Finest

Have you ever been a guest at someone’s home and they made you feel like you were royalty? Right away, they offer you a drink and the most comfortable chair. They serve a meal fit for a king or queen and to top it off they bring you into the conversation – wanting to hear about you and your interests. You have their undivided attention. That is hospitality.

Jesus' hospitality was par excellence. He turned water into wine at a wedding. He fed the 5,000 and the 4,000. He cooked up a breakfast of fish for the disciples. A menial job for servants, He washed His disciple's feet. Once again, I pray: "Make me more like You, Jesus, even when it comes to being hospitable!"

What if we lived in a “hospitality” mindset? Not just having people over to our homes – but when we step out of our homes into a world where people are made to feel they are wanted and appreciated. What does that look like? Putting our phones away and giving them our undivided attention, being attentive when we’re speaking to someone (in that moment, that person, not a text message, an email, or a phone call is what is important), using words like “How are you today?” And, I get this one from my granddaughter who works at Chick-Fil-A, saying “It’s my pleasure / I am happy to”.

Christ is always in our midst, and we may be unaware that the stranger sitting next to us in church or the young woman needing assistance with her arms that are so full with her baby and diaper bag, is our opportunity to be Christ’s hands extended in hospitality.

We are the hands and feet of Jesus in this world, and this world needs His hospitality. I remember a message I heard at church. Our pastor was speaking about hospitality in a Spanish church. He talked about Jesus being in their midst. He asked, "Will the real Jesus, please stand up!" To his shock, a man in the middle of the congregation stood up. What the pastor had forgotten, parents in the Spanish culture will oftentimes name their baby boys "Jesus". It was humorous but it's a question we hear Him asking us today: "Will the real Jesus please stand up?" The real Jesus is found in you and me as we reach out and touch others with His love, servitude, and hospitality.

1 Peter 4:8-9 "Above all, love each other deeply because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling."