Kindness as Hospitality

One of the ways to read Jesus’s famous Parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25 is as a teaching of the practice of kindness. That is, our theology matters most when it’s lived out by treating others in practical ways with graciousness, courtesy, and unselfishness. So when Jesus gets to the part in the parable when he says, “I was a stranger and you invited me in” (Matthew 25:35) he’s not talking about the idea of loving people - he’s talking about actual strangers being welcomed into actual countries and actual cities and actual homes.

In a recent PRRI American Values Survey it showed that two thirds of White evangelicals think of immigrants as threats and invaders - almost twice the percentage as the rest of Americans. This is problematic because the Bible is a story of immigrants. Just think about it: Abraham and Sarah were immigrants; Hagar was an immigrant; Isaac and Rebecca were immigrants; Joseph and his 11 brothers were immigrants; Moses and Miriam were immigrants; the twelve tribes of Israel were immigrants; David was an immigrant; Mary and Joseph were immigrants; and finally, Jesus was an immigrant! All of these key biblical characters were literally strangers in foreign lands who needed welcome and hospitality to survive.

Saint Benedict wrote at the end of the fifth century in his Rule, "All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ” - that’s what Jesus meant by his parable. It means bigger tables, open hands, and open hearts. And it means that we get to meet Christ more often, no doubt. When’s the last time you had someone to your table (in a covid-safe way) who is not family or a close friend? Who might you extend that kindness to this month?