The locus classicus of biblical notions of hospitality include two Old Testament examples—Abraham and Sarah receiving the three strangers (Genesis 18), Lot’s welcoming the two angels at the gate of Sodom—and two New Testament passages—Christ’s declaration, “I was a stranger, and you took me in” (Matthew 25, NASBScripture quotations marked (NASB) are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.lockman.org)) and the exhortation to “show hospitality to strangers” in Hebrews 13:2 (Matthew 25:35, NKJVScripture quotations marked (NKJV) are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.). 

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01.  Hospitality of Abraham

For the early church, Abraham served as the Old Testament standard for welcoming the stranger. The various details gleaned from his encounter with the three visitors—that Abraham ran out to meet the strangers, knelt down before them, washed their feet, selected the best food available, served them and then waited on them as they ate—were interpreted as markers of Christian hospitality. Each one of these acts provided insight into the virtue of hospitality. Abraham’s eagerness to serve, his humility, faithfulness, generosity, energy, and his willing-ness to get his hands dirty were qualities much admired in the early church. 

In addition, Christian writers like Caesarius of Arles (468/470 –542) documented the theological implications of Abraham’s actions. Caesarius of Arles, born in eastern France, later served for forty years as the Bishop of Arles. More than 230 of his sermons survived from his tenure. Caesarius displayed an uncanny ability to communicate Christian principles to an educationally diverse audience, emphasizing not only learning but also practice. In Sermon 83 Caesarius teaches, 

 

Carefully listen to this, brothers, if you are unwilling to exercise hospitality and to receive even your enemy as a guest. Behold, while blessed Abraham welcomed those men warmly, he merited to receive God in consideration of his hospitality. Christ further confirmed this in the Gospel when he said, ‘I was a stranger, and you took me in.’ Therefore do not despise strangers, lest perhaps he himself be the one you have rejected.Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture II: 64-5.

 

Necessary for understanding Christian teaching on welcoming the stranger is to realize who the stranger is. It is the incarnate Lord. To receive the stranger is to receive the Lord. Two centuries before Caesarius, Origen similarly taught, we “welcome the Son of God who became a stranger.”ACCS 1b: 233. Thomas Oden sums up the patristic teaching on the subject: “Hear the unique logic of Christian hospitality: to receive the stranger is to receive God’s own Son, and to receive the Son is to receive the Father. Jesus said: ‘whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.”Mark 9:37, NKJV. See Thomas C. Oden, The Good Works Reader (Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, 2007) 112.

Concerning Abraham’s hospitality, Ambrose of Milan (c. 333–397), the influential Bishop of Milan and teacher of Augustine, wrote: 

 

In this earthly abode we are all guests; here we have only a temporary dwelling place. We depart from it in haste. Let us be careful not to be discourteous or neglectful in receiving guests, lest we be denied entrance into the dwelling place of the saints at the end of our life. For this reason, the Savior said in the Gospel, “Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations.” Moreover, while we are in this body, there often arises the necessity of traveling. Therefore that which you will have denied to others, you will have decided against yourself, and you will show yourself worthy of that which you will have offered to others. If all decided not to receive guests, where would those who are traveling find rest? Then we would have to abandon human habitations and seek out the dens of the wild beasts.ACCS OT II:64 On Abraham 1.5.34.

 

Here Ambrose offers two important observations characteristic to early Christian reflection on welcoming the stranger. First is the analogy between human hospitality now and God’s hospitality on the last day. Ambrose offers the fear of judgment as an argument on behalf of welcoming the stranger. Fear, though, in Christian maturation is transformed into love. As a result, the mature, who are no longer motivated by fear but by love, welcome the stranger in loving response to God’s hospitality toward them. The second observation arises from the traveler’s need for safe quarters. Ambrose justifies the Christian practice for welcoming strangers in what Thomas Oden describes as the “golden rule of empathy.” Each of us knows how we would like to be treated when traveling, so we should do likewise to our fellow travelers. 

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02.  Hospitality of Lot

Akin to interpretations of Abraham’s hospitality, early Christian writers also uncovered patterns of Christian hospitality in Lot’s actions. Each detail in the narrative provided clues into righteous living. Lot sat at the gate to the city ready to welcome strangers to his home, offering them comfort and a safe place to rest. Initially these strangers (angels in disguise) refused but Lot persisted in his request until they agreed. Concerning Lot’s persistence, John Chrysostom remarks, 

 

Seeing that despite his entreaty they declined, he did not lose heart, he did not give up what he was intent on, he did not have the kinds of feelings we often do. If at any time we want to win someone over and then we see them somewhat reluctant, we immediately desist; this is due to our doing it without ardor and longing and especially to our thinking that we have excuse enough to be able to say that at any rate we did our best. What do you mean, you have done your best? You have missed the treasure—is this doing your best? Then you would have done your best if you hadn’t let the treasure slip through your fingers, if your display of hospitality was not limited to a perfunctory remark.ACCS OT II:74-75.

 

Again, Chrysostom comments 

 

When he saw them resisting and bent on resting in the street (the angels did this out of a wish to reveal more clearly the just man’s virtue and to teach us all the extent of his hospitality), then he in turn did not stop at making entreaty in words but also applied force. Hence Christ also said, “Men of violence seize the kingdom of heaven.” [ . . . ] “He compelled them,” the text says. It seems to me he drew them in against their will. Then when they saw the just man applying this effort and not desisting until he should achieve the object of his desire, “they turned aside to him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, cooking flat bread for them; they ate before lying down.” Do you see here as well hospitality manifested not in richness of fare but in generosity of attitude? I mean, when he succeeded in bringing them into his house, at once he gave evidence of the signs of hospitality. He occupied himself in attending on them, providing something to eat and giving evidence of respect and attention to the visitors in his belief that they were only human beings, travelers of some kind.ACCS OT II:75.

 

Lot’s persistence and generosity were recommended as a standard for Christian practice. Christian hospitality requires more than offering respite to those who seek our assistance. It also involves seeking out the stranger and receiving them into our homes. Chrysostom sums up the early Christian teaching on welcoming the stranger: “And he did not say, ‘Do not neglect’ to entertain strangers, but ‘to show hospitality’; that is, do not merely entertain strangers, but do it with love for the strangers.”ACCS NT X: 229.

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03.  Hospitality of the Disciples

The importance of the practice of welcoming strangers is illustrated by the fact that early Christian interpreters find the teaching in biblical episodes where the practice of hospitality cannot be directly inferred. Cyril of Alexandria, the fifth century bishop of 

Alexandria, Egypt, teaching on the feeding of the five thousand found in Luke 3, observes, 

 

But what was the result of the miracle? It was the satisfying of a large multitude with food. There were as many as five thousand men besides women and children, according to what another of the holy Evangelists has added to the narrative. Nor did the miracle end here. There were also gathered twelve baskets of fragments. And what do we infer from this? A plain assurance that hospitality receives a rich recompense from God. The disciples offered five loaves. After a multitude this large had been satisfied, there was gathered for each one of them a basketful of fragments. Let nothing, therefore, prevent willing people from receiving strangers, no matter what there may be likely to blunt the will and readiness of men. Let no one say, “I do not possess suitable means. What I can do is altogether trifling and insufficient for many.” Receive strangers, my beloved. Overcome that reluctance which wins no reward. The Savior will multiply the little you have many times beyond expectation. Although you give but little, you will receive much. For he that sows blessings shall also reap blessings, according to the blessed Paul’s words. (Italics mine)ACCS NT III:152. 

 

Welcoming the stranger is an act of faith. Passing off one’s responsibility to welcome strangers because of insufficient means is an expression of unbelief. 

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04.  Welcoming the Stranger and the Worshipping Community

The examples offered above represent appeals to personal acts of hospitality. Yet in the early church, offering assistance to strangers was also understood as a responsibility of the worshipping community. Justin the Martyr, the second century philosopher and martyr, in his succinct description of second century Christian worship, illustrates the corporate responsibility for welcoming the stranger: 

 

On the day called Sunday all who live in the cities or in the country gather at one place and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read as long as time permits. When the reader has finished, the one who is presiding instructs us in a brief discourse and exhorts us to imitate these noble things. Then we all stand up together and offer prayers . . . When we have finished the prayer, bread is brought forth, and wine and water, and the presiding minister offers up prayers and thanksgiving to the best of his ability, and the people assent, saying the Amen; after this the consecrated elements are distributed and received by each one. Then a deacon brings a portion to those who are absent. Those who prosper, and who so wish, contribute what each thinks fit. What is collected is deposited with the presiding minister who takes care of the orphans and widows, and those who are in need because of sickness or some other reason, and those who are imprisoned, and the strangers and sojourners among us.Robert Louis Wilken, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God (Kindle Edition), 28–29.

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05.  Conclusion

Humility, generosity, persistence, diligence, and empathy are qualities typically associated with the practice of welcoming the stranger. At the heart of the practice is the triune logic: to receive the stranger, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, is to receive God’s own Son, and to receive the Son is to receive the Father. Consequently, welcoming the stranger is an expression or confession of Christian faith and a reliable gauge of Christian maturity.