Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it (Hebrews 13:2). Others didn’t quite end up with an angel, but, all things the same, I’ve been grateful.
The hospitality I’ve found abroad is humbling.
In Spain, my team and I found ourselves stranded on the sidewalk outside a McDonald’s in Madrid somewhere around three in the morning when we met Marta. The next day, she ended up taking us out to breakfast, offered to store our backpacks in her car for the day, and served us dinner in her own home before driving us to the train station that night.
After three weeks in Morocco, I’ve been served tea (affectionately coined “Berber Whiskey”) at each hostel we’ve visited, in private homes and family-owned stores. It’s no wonder the small African nation is the largest importer of Chinese green tea in the world. Again and again, I’ve been welcomed with tea and conversation. It’s not just the drink. It’s the time. I’ve watched people drop everything to serve me for no other reason than I’d simply arrived.
We booked an AirBnB in the Atlas Mountains for a week, and within an hour of our first introduction the host happily led us on a couple hour hike to a nearby waterfall before leading us in an impromptu cooking class on how to make one of the local dishes.
Last week, a German couple we’d only just met offered us full use of their home and their car for the rest of our time here while they’re away on vacation. Another couple we met our first night in Morocco have repeatedly invited us into their home for dinner and conversation. Those nights will always be some of my favorite from this month.
In just under three months, I’ve slept in 31 different beds, in 31 different places, across three different countries. For the next eight months, my home is a backpack, and still, again and again, we’ve found people who’ve shared their homes with us without reservation.
I think we tend to undervalue hospitality in the States. We tend to forget we’re stewards of everything we have here, but that it all really belongs to God anyway. What good are empty rooms, or empty seats at half-filled tables?
Jesus said, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed.” (Luke 14:13-14)
That’s convicting to me. To be honest, sometimes I have a hard enough time practicing hospitality among my friends. I tend to hold invitations in closed fists, but I’m learning.
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