FRIENDLY OR HOSPITABLE?

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers,
for by doing so some have entertained angels without knowing it." - Hebrews 13:2

Would you call yourself a "friendly" person? Most of us probably see ourselves as being friendly. I looked up "friendly in Webster's and this is how it's defined: "showing interest, goodwill, kindness, sympathetic, welcoming." Most of us would probably categorize ourselves as being "friendly."

By that definition are we a friendly congregation? Are we welcoming to the stranger in our midst? Do we show interest in those we don't know? Are we a people of goodwill as opposed to ill-will?  Would others characterize us as sympathetic and kind? The most honest answer is probably "Yes" and "No." Yes, I think there are many times we are, by that definition, a friendly congregation. But I also know there are times when we are not! I know there are times when we don't extend ourselves beyond the boundaries of our comfortable little circles as they coalesce around this building on Sunday mornings.

Being friendly is a powerful and meaningful thing. C. S. Lewis says, "Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of friends by a fire?" A friendly congregation will attract people and grow, even if it has a hundred other things wrong with it. If you are perceived to be a friendly person, you will have friends and people will like to be around you. Being friendly is important.

But is it the most important thing? Is "being friendly" the distinctly Christian thing? In our scripture from Hebrews for this morning we read, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers..."

The 13^th chapter of Hebrews is the last chapter in the Book of Hebrews, and it's really a list of admonitions. When I was a child, whenever I was leaving home for a few days to summer camp or just over-night at a friend’s, as I was going out the door my mother would frantically go through her list of last minute admonitions. "Be careful, especially when you climb that mountain! Do as your friend's mother tells you! Put on clean underwear everyday. Brush your teeth! Drive Carefully! (when I was a little older)"  You know the routine. The point is that mother’s most important concerns were articulated in those farewell admonitions. It's something like that for the writer of Hebrews that before he signs off, he leaves his readers with his most important admonitions and right at the top is, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers..."

But, is hospitality the same thing as being friendly? No! They are not the same thing. The Biblical word "hospitality" literally means "to make room for." or "to create space for." Hospitality is an attitude that goes way beyond being friendly. Hospitality picks up were being friendly leaves off!  I would say that not every friendly person is hospitable.

Some years ago Pastor Dan Bollman helped some of us distinguish between being friendly and hospitable when he said, "A friendly person welcomes you into their home, but cautions you not to touch anything.  A hospitable person welcomes you into their home and even allows you to rearrange the furniture."

Dr Brian Allison writes, “A number of years ago, I was traveling by train throughout Great Britain, with no particular destination in view.  One place that I visited was Edinburgh.  I had no idea where I was going to stay.  With twilight upon me, I asked a young man, who was a student at the University of Edinburgh, to provide me with information about accommodations in the city.  After some discussion I learned he was a Christian, and he subsequently invited me to his university residence and provided me with shelter and food.  Being a stranger in a strange land, this Christian ministered true hospitality to me.

The Book of Hebrews was written to testify to especially the first century Jewish community that Jesus Christ was superior; that He is the Messiah; that Jesus Christ is superior to all the former prophets; superior to the angels; superior even to the greatest prophet, Moses; superior to the Levitical Priesthood; and that the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ on the cross is superior to any sacrifice made in the entire history of God's people, past present and future. In a nutshell that is the theme of the Book of Hebrews.

The supreme act of hospitality in all of history was made by Jesus Christ; after they plotted against him; ran him through a kangaroo court; flogged him; spit on him; mocked him, beat him, then nailed him to a cross to die the excruciatingly painful and hideous death of crucifixion; after all of that he speaks to God and the whole pathetic bunch and says, “Father forgive them!”

Now, are you going to try to tell me that after what the Lord did for you on the cross, you are not going to even crack the door of your heart to a stranger who might walk into our midst or cross your path?

For sure there are many hindrances and obstacles to hospitality in our culture!  We live in an age of suspicion.  With all the crime and violence we have developed into a very mistrusting people.  In the last 40 years we have become nation of locked doors.  Trust in others has been shattered, and as a result we have become cynical to reaching out to another in need.  We know about tricksters and charlatans who prey on others.  Living in an affluent society we are conditioned to respond in selfish and impersonal ways.  We are offended when people intrude in our space.  We are upset when people invade our privacy.  We resent our carefully planned agendas being tampered with by anyone.  There are many forces and powers that would force shut the doors of our homes and our hearts.  

God has such a sense of humor, especially with me.  as I was preparing this sermon, the doorbell rang.  Of course my first gut reaction as, "Now who is interrupting my agenda!" 

Hospitality begins with our God who in Jesus Christ has made room in his heart for you and me even when we don't make room for him.  He is more than friendly. He goes way beyond the bounds of friendship and takes us into the unfamiliar territory of Divine Hospitality.  Paying the ultimate price he makes room for you and me.  He now calls upon His followers "to make room" for each other, especially the stranger who just may come walking into our midst any day, any time, at any moment.  It's going to happen. Someone will walk through our door that is different from you in a way that makes you uncomfortable. Someone will share something with you don’t want to hear or make you ill at ease. Someone will call upon you for encouragement and support when you don’t have time. This being a rapidly heating up election year, someone with a differing political viewpoint is going to cross your path, maybe even here at church.  Somewhere and sometime, probably this week, somebody will rearrange your furniture in a way that grates!  I believe the best we can ever do on our own - without Jesus Christ - is to simply be friendly, polite, kind and even civil in that circumstance. But without Jesus Christ as soon as the person starts moving your furniture around, you will bring things to an end.

But the Lord Jesus Christ moves us beyond friendly; beyond nice; beyond kindness; beyond welcoming’; beyond sympathetic to hospitality – divine hospitality – that is most fully expressed on the cross of Jesus Christ where God made room for even the likes of you and me. 

 

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers.” And then this concluding punch line, "for by doing so some have entertained angles without knowing it." It’s both a warning and a promise If the best we ever do is to merely be friendly, we'll never see the angel; which is merely another way saying we'll never see God.

We have a landlord who is hospitable beyond comprehension. He calls us to do and be the impossible; to be hospitable in a sometimes very inhospitable world. The only reason to do it and the power to do it comes from the one whose hospitality towards you and me is unceasing, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers,
for by doing so some have entertained angels without knowing it."