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Hebrews 13:2
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. There is a tradition of hospitality for the Feast of Tabernacles. The idea is to entertain a distinguished guest each night of the Festival. These guests include in order: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses Aaron, King David and Messiah. Of course, the patriarchs do not actually physically come in the sukkah, but their presence is invited through reading, talking and learning about them. Hospitality was a fundamental virtue to workings of M.E. society in the days of the patriarch Abraham. When a guest was in your house, he was under your wings and protection. If an enemy came to hurt him, you were to use all your resources to protect your visitor; no matter what the cost, your company could find total sanctuary in your house.. A very good example of that is found in the story of Lot even offering his daughters to the sodomites in order to protect his angelic guests. In traditional writings, Abraham is the gold standard for hospitality. To be invited to the table and tent of Abraham was a great honor. He would treat you to the best of his flock, as if you were a high dignitary. Tradition describes that the patriarch would send his servant Eliezer to the highways and byways (and we are talking great distances in the desert) to compel people to honor him by finding restoration and rest in his tent. Again, in M.E. tradition, guests didn’t just stay for a cup of coffee and cookies to quickly be on their way. They got their feet washed, maybe stayed several days at the host’s expense while they, their host and their animals were tended to. Aside from Melchizedek, Abraham seemed to have been one of the rare persons acquainted with the God who made Heaven and earth. This act of hospitality from Abraham was his outreach program in the midst of an idolatrous world. He would invite people and treat them like God would. Abraham wanted to show people God’s favor! Come to think of it, as we invite Abraham to our sukkah for this first day of tabernacles, we also have all been invited to his table. The tent of Abraham represents God’s favor and an invitation to come to the Messiah, his descendant. Abraham was God’s representative and prophet, and through him, all the families of the earth are blessed (Genesis 28:14). The whole world is blessed as they come to the table of Abraham to have a foretaste of the World to Come. That is why in the synagogues of Paul’s day, those of the gentiles who joined themselves to the God Israel were called ‘those of the family of Abraham’ (Acts 13:26). May those that meet us on our daily path, may those who get to know us as the Children and representatives of the Almighty Creator of Heaven and earth also find in us, and through us, the bounty, beauty, and restoration Messiah would give them. May all those who come in touch with us get a foretaste, however small, of the World to Come, of what God has prepared for them. Like with Abraham, may this be our witness, our sharing of His favor and Light in this sad and dark world.
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Luke 22:26
Let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves. In the ancient world of the M.E., hospitality was the main virtue that defined a man’s character and integrity. ‘To welcome people is like welcoming God’, was a famous adage in those days. Jewish sages say that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was to abuse visiting strangers. Their attitude came in direct contrast with their contemporary, Abraham, whose hospitality was proverbial. Lot followed Abraham’s sample and wanted to honor the visiting angels (Genesis 19), while the Sodomite wanted to abuse them. When Abraham saw the ‘visitors’ by the Plain of Mamre, he ‘rushed’ towards them, he hurried towards them like a man fearful of missing a blessing (Genesis 18). He served the festival foods, opened the best wine, broke out the special ‘dishes’. He also washed their feet, called them ‘lord’, and himself their servant. He was not doing all this in regards to the caliber of his guests. He was simply doing everything he normally did and acted the way he always did with all people who visited his camp. Abraham was a wealthy sheik, he had many servants, but he tended to the visitors himself. The whole idea of being a guest was of honoring a host, blessing someone by the opportunity to serve us. This is very different from our present-day Western mind frame with the ‘buffet-style’ serve yourself type of mentality. The Torah teaches us to obey God’s commands for their own sake, not in view of receiving any reward for it in this world, but a famous Rabbi said that, ‘Hospitality is one of the things for which a man enjoys reward in this world. He also says that’ Hospitality to strangers is more important than attendance at the House of Study’ (Rabbi Yochanan, Shabbat 127a). I would like to say that the Master followed the example of Abraham by being among us as one who serves (Luke 22:27), but since Yeshua was before Abraham was (John 8:58), I would rather say that that it was Abraham who was faithful to the Master’s teachings. Through His relationship with Messiah Abraham understood God’s heart and ways. Abraham’s lifestyle and attitude with others was his statement of faith. In the same way, the ‘religion’ others see in us should also be our statement of faith. We should wear our ‘religion’ on our ‘sleeves’ by the way people see our ‘sleeves’ as we serve them the way Messiah Himself would serve them, were He in our place. And how would He serve them? Abraham knew: He would serve the best food, open the best wine, break out the best dishes, wash their feet, and call them ‘lord’ though He Himself is Lord of all. He really did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:6-7). Matthew 5:45
So that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. A great ‘mixed multitude’ accompanied Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 12:38). These were non-Israelite people from different countries who saw the power of the mighty God El-Shaddai in Egypt and cast their lot with Israel. They were the ‘stranger’ in the midst of Israel. From the beginning of times God formulated a redemption plan for humanity. This plan implied for Israel to be chosen as a messenger and birth cradle for its own Redeemer who would also invite the ‘multitude ‘of the nations to come to ‘Mount Horeb’ and eventually to follow Him to ‘Mount Zion’. Israel had been an abused stranger in the land of Egypt and forever the Father wanted that experience to motivate His firstborn (Exodus 4:22) to never abuse the stranger living within its borders. It is actually a commandment for Israel to be loving to the stranger in its midst (Deuteronomy 10:19), and therefore a contingence to its acceptance in the Land of the Almighty. One who is kind to strangers, one who is hospitable imitates God and imitation is the core process of discipleship. On the other hand, the stranger who took refuge under the wings of the God of Israel was required to abide by the ‘Torah’ of the Land. He was not to bring other gods in the Land or to desecrate the Shabbat, the Temple or the holy days. He was also to be careful not to in any ways be a spiritual stumbling block to Israel. In the apostolic Scriptures a non-Jew, whether He is in Messiah or not, is called a Gentile. Today this word has obtained a negative connotation to some but it is because of the way people use it as it is not so in the Bible. The Gentile is simply someone who is not of biological Israelite descent. These come under the blessing of Abraham of whom it was said, “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." (Genesis 12:3). That is why gentiles who became Jewish were called ‘Sons of the family of Abraham’ (Acts 13:26). There is actually a mighty blessing for the gentile/stranger who of his own volition adopts to live under the Torah covenant. Isaiah pronounces it in these beautiful words, “Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, "The LORD will surely separate me from his people"; and let not the eunuch say, "Behold, I am a dry tree." For thus says the LORD: "To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. "And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant-- these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples." The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, "I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered” (Isaiah 56:3-8). |
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