Jesus loved to throw dinner parties. And there was no one better to keep a party interesting. From the guest list to the quality vintage of wine to the provocative conversation, a party with Jesus was bound to be the talk of the town. 

But Jesus didn’t have a house– at least not once he decided to be a nomadic rabbi.

Why Does God Care?

Biblical hospitality is a rich spiritual discipline rooted deeply in the identity of God’s people. 

In the Levitical law, Moses communicates this message from Yahweh:
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19:33-34).

This crucial explanation at the end gives us much to ponder. God declares two intertwined reasons for how they should treat foreigners and refugees. 

1) You were strangers in the land of Egypt, and experienced both hospitality and brutality at the hands of your hosts.

2) I am Yahweh, and I have been faithful in our covenant relationship. 

So let’s expound on this. Abraham has two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. Isaac has 12 sons, one of whom, Joseph, is profoundly disliked by his brothers due to their father’s indiscreet favoritism. After considering murder, Joseph’s brothers decide to make a buck and sell him into slavery instead. After some beautiful cosmic irony, Joseph ends up second-in-command of Egypt. When a famine begins, Joseph shows mercy to his brothers and the whole family ends up taking refuge in Egypt. They were strangers sojourning in a foreign land. This extended family is God’s covenant people. These 12 brothers are the patriarchs of the 12 tribes of Israel. Their origin story is rooted in provision from the Egyptians who have no familial or tribal tie to them. 

But a few generations later, the people of Israel are still abiding in Egypt. The new pharaoh has no affection for the legacy of Joseph and fears Israel’s loyalties may be swayed. So he enslaves them with brutal force. From this place of desperate trial, God dramatically frees them in what we call the Exodus story. He renews His covenant with Israel through Moses. And in the entirety of the Jewish story found throughout the Bible, God harkens back to these ideas: Israel experienced hospitality and brutality at the hands of foreign nations. And Yahweh has been faithful to His covenant with them. These are the core features of their identity that God wants them to remember.

Why? 

Why are these two things so crucial to who they understand themselves to be? Because God’s desire is to create a unified royal family, knitting all peoples together as His adopted heirs. In order for that to happen, all people must be welcomed. Thus, He instructs them in the wisdom from Leviticus 19: “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself.”

How Did Jesus Do It?

That’s exactly what we see Jesus doing as He kicks off His ministry. 

“As he walked along, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax collector’s booth. ‘Follow me,’ Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ On hearing this, Jesus said to them, ‘It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners’” (Mark 2:14-17).

Jesus may not have had a house, but I bet these “tax collectors and sinners” had never felt more at home. The tax collectors had essentially turned their back on all they’d grown up with by choosing financial gain with Rome over Yahweh and their entire Jewish heritage. Yet, Jesus defiles himself in the eyes of the Pharisees in order to show love and generosity to Levi and his outcast friends.

Hospitality is clearly about more than having friends over for dinner. It’s about making people feel at home as we act as the hands, feet, and mouthpiece of God. 

In the New Testament letters, we see the emphasis continued. Echoing Jesus’ words in Matthew 25, the author of Hebrews writes in 13:2-3, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.” In 1 Peter 4 and Romans 12, Paul exhorts Christians to also seek out opportunities to show hospitality for other members of the Church. 

5 Tips for Hospitality

So how do we embody this spirit of hospitality, regardless of our home situation? Here are 5 practical ideas:

1) Seek out the stranger. Where can you meet immigrants and refugees in your city? Who at your church or job just moved here, knowing no one? Seek these people out and be a friend, even if their personality or culture doesn’t feel like an easy fit. Remember that you, too, were once outside God’s family and He sought you out while you were still His enemy (Romans 5:7-10). From the well of that type of pursuing love, we seek to extend hospitality to others. 

2) Get curious. In the breakroom, on the bus, at church, or with a homeless person, strike up a conversation with someone you don’t know well and be a question asker. Asking follow up questions allows people to share in deeper ways than most people are used to. Add the statement “Tell me more” to your regular vocabulary. If this feels daunting, starting with a surface level, time-based question like “What did you do this weekend?” can lead to questions about what people like to do in their free time and how they got into that. 

3) Eat together. Whether you have a place to host or not, eating food together is a great “third thing” so silence doesn’t feel awkward. If you’re able to cook or pay for the meal, bonus! 

4) Celebrate someone. True story: there is a woman in Wisconsin who carries a party hat and birthday card in her purse at all times so that if she learns of someone’s birthday, she is ready to celebrate them. But maybe you’d rather start smaller. Begin writing people’s birthdays and anniversaries in your calendar so you can send them a handwritten card. Or when you hear of a milestone, throw a mini party celebrating someone’s accomplishment. 

5) Put hospitality in your schedule. Pick a time in your week (Monday dinners, Saturday afternoons, etc.) when you will spend time with someone who isn’t a close friend. This may be a group hangout or a 1:1 meal. But build out people’s touchpoints with someone acting as a conduit of God’s love (you!).

The Apostle Paul thought hospitality was so important that it is named in several of the church leadership qualification lists. To be a disciple of Jesus is to live with a spirit of hospitality– not just as some evangelistic tool, but as an outflow of our identity as adopted children in the family of God.