Hebrews 13:2-3 “Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it. Remember those in prison, as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated as though you yourselves were suffering bodily.”
Hospitality is a somewhat forgotten virtue. At a time in which we build bigger houses with more square footage and less people inside, when we enjoy greater prosperity than most generations before us, we have isolated ourselves in our homes more than ever. I like watching the house-search and renovation shows on HGTV. Everyone seems to want an “open floor plan” with good space for “entertaining.” But who does this entertaining? Since at least the 1980’s more and more people have been “cocooning,” locking themselves in their homes with their recliners and electronics to escape the world.
The idea of “showing hospitality” here is more than having a few friends over for dinner. The Greek word suggests opening up to welcome and receive strangers. That may not mean just anyone off the street, absolute strangers with no connection whatsoever. But it goes beyond close family and friends. In the early church, you may know, traveling missionaries often stayed in the homes of Christian families on the way to their destination. In times of persecution or other disasters, displaced Christians were taken in by other believers who didn’t necessarily know them previously.
In other words, “showing hospitality” isn’t just about “entertaining.” It’s about serving your neighbor and serving God’s kingdom. It is about a life lived unselfishly, opening up our home and our family to embrace more people.
The next two instructions also require a couple of comments to understand. “Remember those in prison” was not a call for prison ministry as many churches do today. The prisoners these people knew weren’t guilty of violent or antisocial behavior. Their “crime” was living their faith, making them prisoners of conscience.
Maybe you have heard of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman falsely accused of blaspheming Islam. She spent eight years on death row before finally being released and escaping to Canada. Two government officials who spoke in her defense were assassinated before she was released. Their fate illustrates the danger of “remembering those in prison.” It can be dangerous to be associated with believers in such a climate of persecution.
The same is true for “remembering…the mistreated as though you yourselves were suffering bodily.” Reach out to help such people, and you may end up actually “suffering bodily” as well.
All these examples of Christian love involve personal risk, sacrifice of time and money, a certain degree of inconvenience. It’s more comfortable to keep to ourselves, to stay inside our safe little world. But is that love? You remember the words Jesus will say to the condemned on Judgment Day, “I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you have me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in…I was sick and in prison, and you did not look after me” (Matthew 25:42-43).
Go back to the earlier chapters of Hebrews. Jesus did not let personal risk, sacrifice, or inconvenience stand in the way of associating with us. He embraced them to save us. “Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers… Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death–that is the devil–and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death… For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people” (2:11,14,17). He got involved and came to our rescue. Now he invites us, the free, forgiven members of his family, to love like he did, even if that comes with a cost.
