The word, “hospitality” can be traced to the 14th century Old French, ospitalité which means “hospital”, and which in turn comes from the Latin, hospitalitem, which means “friendliness to guests” (Online Etymology Dictionary, n.d.). Hospitality places emphasis on a relationship between the host and guest, to the extent that the host is expected to provide respite and care to the guest as how a hospice or a hospital would provide tending to its patients – with utmost attention and due diligence.
Interestingly, there is a Proto-Indo-European word found in Old Church Slavonic ghos-ti or gosti that means “guest”, “host” or “stranger” depending on the context in which the term is used. This is a loaded word, that tells us that the relationship between host and guest is reciprocal with each having certain duties to perform. This mutual-exchange relationship was highly important to ancient Indo-European society. As the word ghos-ti had the double-edged sword meaning of being an enemy or a friend, anyone who entered into a ghos-ti relationship was undertaking a covenant or bond of trust. This was accompanied by ritualised gift-giving and which created an obligation of friendship that would be continued in perpetuity and even by the descendants of the first persons who entered into such ghos-ti bonds (Watkins, 2011). The implications of the existence of such a word are tremendous. Accordingly, we can infer from this, that hospitality does not end when the meeting concludes, but in fact extends across the generations.
The exercise of hospitality is not limited to Indo-European lands. Many of the Jewish hospitality customs can be traced to the pre-modern world, where there was often a lack of globalised and rapid transportation, and the existence of few hotels that guests could lodge in. The journeys that travellers undertook were often long and fraught with peril. These sojourners were thus dependent on the kindness of strangers and had to rely on those whom they had encountered on the road. Jewish communities took it upon themselves to provide for the needs of these travellers, especially those who were Jewish themselves, when they passed through their territories or locales. These traditions can be seen even today. The word, “hospitality” is translated as hakhnasat orchim in Hebrew, and is considered a primary duty and one of the most important Jewish values that is upheld (My Jewish Learning, n.d.).
Accordingly, there were unwritten rules of conduct and etiquette that applied to both host and guest: A host must be an eager host, who needs to provide food and lodging to his guest, and should also do so in a cheery and generous manner. He needs to eagerly seek out his guest, and should walk a large part of the journey to see his guest off as they departed from each other.
On the other hand, the guest was expected to adhere to certain protocols as well: the guest would have been needed to take effort to ensure that the host was not taking on extra work to accommodate him; and would have needed to accede to his host’s requests such as with regard to the placement of one’s footwear for example. A guest should not bring along another unannounced and uninvited guest, and if the guest and the host were entering the house together, the guest would thus defer to the host. While leaving the house, the guest should exit before the host.
Beyond cultural differences and etiquette expectations, Christians are exhorted to first, love God, and then to love our neighbours as ourselves. Christian Hospitality is foundational and fundamental to living out our Christian identity.
In the Bible, we see many instances where hospitality was exercised and received. In the ancient world, hospitality was a matter of life or death, as a person would be welcoming in a stranger without knowledge of whether that stranger would be an ally or a foe. Christian hospitality is something like that. We are called to extend welcome to everyone regardless of race, language, lifestyle, or religion, or socio-economic status, and regardless of whether someone has good intentions or ill-intent towards us. Our first priority has to be extending welcome to those who are poor, and those who cannot return our hospitality. The challenge of hospitality is to embrace and to welcome those who are not of the inner circle, those who are standing on the peripheries, those who are looking in on the outside, and to offer authentically and generously, the privileges and honours of being part of the community to those who are not of the community. This difficult call is applicable to even our worst enemies. Hospitality, in welcoming someone into our inner circles, is the willingness to be vulnerable, and to step out of our comfort zones to provide an uncalculated welcome to someone else.
At the same time, we are like the scholar of the law, who questions Jesus, “who is my neighbour?” (Luke 10:29). We are concerned about who we show hospitality to, and whether this extension of hospitality would result in benefit to ourselves. Yet, who turned out to be the neighbour to the robber’s victim – “the one who treated him with mercy” (Luke 10:37). What does Jesus say then? “Go and do likewise,” (Luke 10:37). Hospitality is to be offered to all, and not just a select group of people. We are invited to go beyond our own prejudices and biases to be ambassadors of this law of love. In this case, hospitality did not end with the meal, but the Samaritan went above and beyond his call of duty to ensure that the robber’s victim was mended, in a good place, and well.
So how are we to provide Christian hospitality?
The Bible gives us some examples of what to do and what not to do.
Abraham for instance, puts aside whatever he is doing and runs to the tentdoor to welcome the strangers. He hastens to prepare a meal for them using his best produce. Lot in another instance goes his way to protect his guests under his care, despite the unruly and depraved insistence of the town mob (cf. Genesis 12, 14, 18, 19). The widow of Zarephath tends to Elijah’s needs despite the fact that she was on her last meal and was waiting to die (1 Kings 17-18).
Leviticus 19: 33-34 says: “When an alien [a stranger] resides with you in your land, do not mistreat such a one. You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt. I the Lord, am your God.”
The call to hospitality is not an easy task. It takes time and preparation, and we are called to treat the stranger as how we would treat our loved ones and family, even to the point of standing up for the stranger and protecting them at all cost.
A Christian’s hospitality is extravagant. It does not count the cost, and epitomises this:
John 15: 12-13 “This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
In Christian hospitality, the stranger must be seen as a friend, and I must be willing to lay down my life for this stranger as I would for a friend.
By the Grace of God,
Brian Bartholomew Tan
References
My Jewish Learning. (n.d.). The Jewish Value of Hospitality. My Jewish Learning. Retrieved July 12, 2022 from https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/jewish-hospitality/
Online Etymology Dictionary. (n.d.). Hospitality. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved July 12, 2022 from https://www.etymonline.com/word/hospitality
Watkins, C. (2011). American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. (3rd Ed.). Collins Reference.