September 28, 2025
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16, Luke 14:1, 7-14
Introduction
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers.” That is what the author of the Letter to the Hebrews instructs us to do. And I have to think the author wrote this in full aware of the parable Jesus tells when at the house of a leader of the Pharisees.
So let me ask… How’s that working for you these days? I mean… What does hospitality even look like today? I ask this because hospitality today has gotten harder, hasn’t it? Sure, by showing hospitality to strangers “some have entertained angels without knowing it.” That’s great and all, but who were the others who weren’t angels? What happened to them?
Admittedly, these days I find myself a bit more wary and cautious of strangers, even suspicious at times. I can easily play out scenarios in my head that would probably never exist in reality. I’m more vigilant about what’s going on around me— who is there, what he or she is doing. All of it rooted in the constant talk around safety and security. Consequently, I see more fences being built, more reinforced doors being installed, new or additional locks installed, and we all know there are cameras everywhere— most ubiquitously the ones right in our pockets.
Does that seem accurate to you? If so, does it make you feel safer? What thoughts or feelings come up when you see a stranger? Or how about when your doorbell rings nowadays—what is that like? Because if someone is coming by our house for even just an “I was in the neighborhood” drop-in, we still likely get a call from them before they ring our doorbell, right? So if I hear our doorbell ring—without sufficient warning I immediately think it’s bad news—either a bad news scammer or someone bringing bad news. Is this what it’s like today to encounter a stranger? Because I wonder how those thoughts, feelings, and actions fit with, or get in the way of, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers.” And I wonder if our thoughts, feelings, and actions might actually say more about us than they do any stranger.
Move 1
Most of the time we don’t offer hospitality to strangers. We do, however, welcome those who are familiar and known—those who are like us, those we enjoy being with, those from whom we can expect reciprocity, those whose favor we seek, or those who serve our interests. And I’m not trying to disparage such. But if that’s our only form of hospitality, we are doing the very opposite of what Jesus tells us to do. “When you give a luncheon or a dinner,” he says, “do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors.” But that’s what most of us do. It’s what I usually do. More often than not we offer hospitality by invitation only and all others need not apply, let alone show up unannounced and ring our doorbell. But if that’s the type of hospitality we offer… is it really hospitality? Jesus offered hospitality by opening his heart, spirit, and life to any and all strangers: lepers, prostitutes and tax collectors, the blind and lame, the poor and powerless, widows and orphans, the hungry and sick, Gentiles and foreigners, the lost and outcast, the weary and burdened, the ones on the margins and the ones hanging on by a thread.
It is as philosopher John Caputo writes in his book, “Hoping Against Hope,” “True hospitality, biblical hospitality, a Jesus kind of hospitality, means welcoming and loving the stranger. It is risky business because it is not an invitation we issue, but rather an unforeseen visitation.”
Caputo goes on to say, “Kingdom hospitality leaves us feeling vulnerable and at risk, and for good reason. Kingdom hospitality tells us to open the door even before we know who is there. If there is no risk in welcoming the other it’s not really hospitality.”
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Now before you start thinking that I am saying something I am not, let me be clear about what I am not saying. I am not saying we should disregard the realities of today. I am not saying we should be reckless with our, or someone else’s, safety. I am not saying we should not take appropriate precautions for the possible realities of today.
What I am saying is that there is a tension in offering hospitality we need to be aware of so that we can work to balance our call to offer kingdom hospitality within the realities of today. Yes, there is a pull between wanting safety and security and the risk of welcoming the stranger. I want to welcome the stranger, and I want to be safe. That’s a tension I feel and live with personally and as the pastor of this church. Maybe you feel that tension too. And really, how could we not feel that tension today? But it is a risk we must take because that is what Jesus would have us do. We cannot be Church, and we cannot be fully committed followers of Christ if we cannot find—even within the realities of today— a way to offer kingdom hospitality by opening the door before we know who is there.
Move 2
I suspect that all of us, at some level, are living with fear, anger, horror, bewilderment, and shock, at what we know has happened and is happening within the realities of today. It’s only natural. I see it in myself, I hear it in others, and I read it in the news. “They are normal and common reactions to trauma,” says Carolyn Yoder, educator, psychotherapist, and author of “Little Book of Trauma Healing: When Violence Strikes and Community Security Is Threatened.” Yoder further says, “And yet, these normal and common reactions to trauma are not the best context in which to make decisions and they should not determine our responses to one another.”
Yoder then offers this… “Everything about those normal and common reactions to trauma causes us to focus on ourselves and our needs. But what if we focused on the deepest needs of the other, the stranger? What if the stranger is a key to our security? What if, and here’s the paradox, we become more secure when we promote the security of others, even the stranger? That kind of hospitality asks more of us than just changing our hearts. It begins there but it cannot end there. We must also make structural changes to the systems that inequitably define, influence, and often control people and our relationships.”
I want to say that last line again. “We must make structural changes to the systems that inequitably define, influence, and often control people and our relationships.” And I say that again because that is exactly what Jesus is doing in today’s Gospel.
Jesus hospitality challenges us to face the ways we’ve closed the door of our heart to another and their needs. Jesus hospitality challenges us to face the ways we support, or benefit from, systems that close the door to someone else and their needs. Jesus hospitality begins not by opening the door of our house but by opening the door of our heart— and doing so even before we know who is there.
Move 3
In our texts for today, Jesus’ teachings are not just about how we are to show hospitality, but how we are to live it. It is a practice called, “philoxenia”, which literally means “love of the stranger” and “generosity of spirit.” Philoxenia is one of the Greek words used in the New Testament for hospitality and stands in stark contrast to an attitude prevalent in society today— xenophobia, “fear of the stranger”, fear of those who are different than us—be it in race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, political affiliation, and so on.
And xenophobia is pervasive today—perpetuated by voices of fear that say protect ourselves, keep ourselves safe. And again, safety is of the utmost importance, but safety perpetuated from xenophobia doesn’t make us safer. It puts us at greater risk because it results in us being seen as intolerant, judgmental, unloving, uncaring toward others, and yes even un-Christ-like.
So what would it mean for us to practice philoxenia? What would it mean to not live in fear of the other, but instead to love the stranger with a generous spirit? It would mean we would be imitators of Christ. It would mean we would be reflecting the light of Christ. It would mean we would be acting and serving in ways that will make our world better—and ultimately safer. That is what can happen when we learn how to open the door even before we know who is there.
Conclusion
To whom is your heart open and to whom is it closed today? What structures and systems serve as fences, locked doors, and cameras on which you are depending on for security? Yes, there are more than a lot of reasons for us to do our due diligence to be safe and secure, and to keep our loved ones, and even our church, safe and secure. But even with those reasons, we can and must still find way to unlock the door of our hearts and dismantle the fences that separate us.
So let us ask ourselves… What might taking down fences, unlocking our hearts, and opening doors before we know who is there look like in our lives today? What would it ask of us? Where could we start? Where could we expand beyond what we are already doing?
How we show up to, and for, another matters. How we show up to, and for, another makes a difference. So look at the strangers in your life and world today. What would meet their deepest needs? If we don’t know, how about ask, and then listen. That’s what a good host would do, right? After all, Jesus taught, and continues to teach, how to not neglect showing hospitality— “philoxenia”, “love of the stranger”, “generosity of spirit.” All of which starts with opening the door even before we know who is there. Amen.
Pastoral Prayer, September 28, 2025
God of invitation and welcome… God of opening the door when we knock…you knit us together in our mother’s womb and made us one human family. And because you did, you call us to be that one human family, showing us how Jesus welcomed the stranger and fed the hungry, not with an impression of perfection, but with a heart of unconditional love.
We confess we often let our fears take precedence, closing our hearts and our doors to those in need. We do this even though we are fully aware that your Son was a stranger, a refugee in Egypt, and his life was built upon crossing boundaries and welcoming the outcast and those who were pushed to the margins.
So keep reminding us of your clear command, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers…” And then in reminding us, transform our hearts to hearts that are open to our one human family— guiding our actions to reflect your radical example of “love of the stranger” and “generosity of spirit.” For we know you have not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of love and sound mind.
So help us to open our hearts and broaden our minds to overcome the fear of the unknown and seek out ways to show hospitality…
For all who are marginalized, who have fled their homes due to war, poverty, or persecution, we pray for your protection on their journeys and that they will be welcomed with open arms into generous and compassionate communities.
For our neighbors who are hurting, lonely, or different from us, inspire in us a spirit of true, intentional hospitality that is not for show, but for the sake of your name.
For ourselves, may we prioritize service over selfishness, and see our table as a place of peace, our home a shelter of joy.
So strengthen our resolve and embolden us to be a people of hospitality who are willing to be open to all your children.
We ask that you would listen now to the prayers we need to share in this time of Holy Silence.
All this we pray in the name of Christ Jesus, who taught us to pray saying, “Our…”