Doing Justice and Loving Mercy: Compassion Ministries, Mentor's Guide, MG16

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D O I N G J U S T I C E A N D L O V I N G M E R C Y : C O M P A S S I O N M I N I S T R I E S

something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matt. 25.35 NRSV). When Jesus dispatched his followers, he sent them out on the assumption that they would depend on hospitality as they traveled (Matt. 10.9–14; Mark 6.7–10; Luke 9.1–4). Failure on the part of villagers to provide such hospitality was said by Jesus to seal their doom (Matt. 10.14–15; Mark 6.11; Luke 9.5). Similar pictures of hospitality pervade NT glimpses of life in the early church (Acts 2.46). Hospitality was key to the missionary endeavor of the early church, as evidenced by the way the ministries of Peter (Acts 10.6, 18, 32, 48) and Paul (Acts 16.15; 18.7; 21.4, 8, 16; 28.7) relied on a supply of hospitable contacts as they traveled on their missionary ventures. Corresponding to these pictures of hospitality are NT injunctions to practice it: “Extend hospitality to strangers” (Rom. 12.13 NRSV); “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Heb 13.2 NRSV); “Be hospitable to one another without complaining” (1 Pet. 4.9 NRSV). The qualifications for a bishop included the showing of hospitality (1 Tim. 3.2; Titus 1.8). The same qualification applied to widows who wished to be “put on the list” of Christian workers (1 Tim. 5.10). The Kingdom of God and heaven are figured as places and times where God will fulfill the desire and promise of unspoiled ultimate hospitality-unending feasting in God’s vast abode, heaven. The criterion for entering heaven is acceptance of the offer of salvation in Christ. In a surprising reversal early in the book of Revelation, the individual who accepts Christ is pictured as the host, with Christ as the self-invited guest who says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Rev. 3.20 RSV). Later, those who enter heaven are pictured as guests at a marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19.7–9). The Apocalypse ends with a final invitation: “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let everyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who wishes take the water of life as a gift” (Rev. 22.17 NRSV).

~ Leland Ryken. The Dictionary of Biblical Imagery . (electronic ed.) Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000. p. 404.