Dear Faith Family,
How's your "aw-ha moment" coming along? Have you begun to notice what's been latent in your understanding suddenly coming to the forefront and observable in daily living? Is Jesus' insistence to be seen living for others, for their good and God's glory, become more vivid in your imagination and more tangible in your daily life?
I hope so! But don't worry if it's not, just yet. After all, if knowledge moved quickly into experience, what need would our faith lineage have for emphasizing so strongly, meditation (Gen. 24:63, Jos. 1:8, Ps. 1:2, 19:14, 119:15, 143:5, Prov. 4:20-22, Phil. 4:8...to name a few). With that said, I am praying with you that our Father's continuous generosity and effective placement are freeing us up a bit (more) to live confidently humble.
Confident humility is where we left off last week, and before we pick things up again, let me remind those choosing to share our collective moment at another time how much you are loved and how grateful I am to follow Jesus with you! God bless my friends.
Now, if you're still with me, we're almost there! Our epiphanic journey is winding down as we get to the heart of Jesus' familiar charge echoing through an unfamiliar frame:
Now that I've put you on a hilltop, on a light stand--shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
(Matthew 5:16)
Last week we discovered that how we get in on the action is through confident humility. Confident because of what God has already done and is doing in our lives and the lives of those around us. Humble in a truly healthy sense, to paraphrase C.S. Lewis, "not thinking less of our selves, but thinking of our selves less."
And while confident humility is all we need to get in what God has made us to be, if your honest, that probably didn't satisfy your craving for how we do what God wants us to do--and what we desire to do as well. Did it? Confident humility is great and all, but it feels more like a disposition rather than an action. So it's okay to admit that last week's leg of the journey left you wanting more pragmatic specifics. I felt the same way!
Like you, I'd prefer more details when it comes to the how question. While I think it's important that Jesus doesn't provide elaborate specifics here, it's just as important to recognize what he assumed his listeners would do with his open analogy. How they would have filled in the blanks of "how."
When Jesus said, "let your light before others," or "By opening up to others," his first-century audience would have filled in that analogy with an assortment of ordinary and expected actions. For much of human history, including the days when Jesus spoke, and certainly, for the nomadic cultures from which the Jewish people sprang, there have been a collection of observable "good works" necessary for any family, group, or society to exist and prosper. These essential actions can be summed up with the word: hospitality.
The Greek word for hospitality, philoxenia, literally means "love of stranger." While the Hebrew language has no singular word for this love for others, we can see a holistic extending of care and friendship that being hospitable brings to mind in a few emblematic stories in Genesis. In practicing hospitality, one:
assumed the other had dignity by greeting with a bow or kiss (18:2, 19:1)
opened up the home, the most intimate space (24:31)
cultivated a place for rest (18:4)
had a process of helping a person move from stranger to guest by washing feet (18:4, 19:2, 24:32)
provide and shared a meal (18:7-8, 19:3, 24:33)
fostered conversation (Gen. 24:33)
provided a safe place (Gen. 19:8)
Add in the way the Mosaic Law guided the Israelites to treat neighbor, the needy, and the outsider, in caring for them and especially by welcoming them into the feast and festivals (Deut. 16:11,14) and providing for cities of refuge (Deut. 19:1-13), and it's easy to see why hospitality is the foundational act of any social group. Without hospitality, you end up with either a self-protective, segregated community or a self-centered autonomous one. And both reduced the likelihood of enduring (much less flourishing), for everyone found themselves at some point in the place "stranger," in need of hospitality.
"Love of stranger" has always been necessary for both surviving and thriving. This is why being gracious and generous to guests was not a unique feature to the Israelite people. Cultures across the globe then and now have championed hospitality as an indispensable, actionable value. Yet Jesus assumed that the way we practice hospitality would be somewhat different, "prompting people to open up with God." But I think we've gone far enough today.
For now, we'll have to satisfy our appetite for "how" by considering how hospitable our daily living really is. How are we honoring and welcoming, cultivating rest and safety, for our neighbors, the needy, and the outsider?
Reflect over the Genesis description of hospitality above, and let the question of how hospitable we are poke around your heart this week. Use them to invite the Holy Spirit to examen your daily encounters and routines.
Note that there is an assumption of ready availability in the Genesis stories of "opening up to others." It's like hospitality is the natural response to people in need. What is our culture's natural response to people in need? Consider your encounters with co-workers, family, roommates, friends, neighbors, and strangers, especially when they are in need--physically, spiritually, emotionally, relationally. Where do they see your "open house" and generous life, and in what ways do they encounter something inhospitable?
There's still one more turn to take, and we will. But Jesus assumes that before we get there, we'll be considering how hospitality matters. May it be so for us this week.
Love you, faith family! God bless.