Hospitality of Christians

Matthew 10:40~42

40 "He who receives you receives me, and he who receives me receives the one who sent me. 41 Anyone who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward. 42 And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."

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May the peace of the Lord be with you!

I am one of the people who converted to Christianity. You may know some people like me. One morning, my parents, my siblings, and I suddenly started to go church. Before then, we were devout Buddhists, who also visited fortune tellers. It does not seem too long ago, when I talked about returning to a Buddhist temple because their food was so delicious.

There was a time when monks visited house to house for donations. When others ignored them knocking on doors and turned them away, although we were not well off, we always donated a bowl of white or brown rice. We sometimes gave one or two clean dollar bills. When the weather was hot we asked them to take a break in the shade of our house or when it was cold we invited them inside to warm up. We thought that was the proper thing to do. If I was asked what I would consider as the most basic quality of being a person, I would say open heart toward others. It is a clear duty for all human beings, showing hospitality.

These days those who have open hearts are treated as naïve or even foolish. Those who open their hearts and become hospitable are taken advantage of and wounded. So more and more people seem to close their hearts and abandon their most basic duty. As people become less and less hospitable to others they get locked up in their own world. And such vicious cycle impacts individuals, families, society, and nation. Eventually, it results in closed-minded and arrogant leaders. It is not just one nation or one leader. It is sad that we see more and more people with closed hearts. Even many Christians who accepted Jesus as Lord have closed hearts. Their behaviors make reconciling work of Jesus Christ that removed the wall separating God and us almost meaningless. Christians live within same faith communities nurtured by God’s Word, however their hearts seem closed to each other, unreceptive, unforgiving, and even disliking each other.

How did their hearts become closed?

Surprisingly the answer is simple. It is absence of love. With love hearts open up. Without love hearts close. Those who accepted Jesus as Lord loves the Lord. As they love the Lord they opened their hearts to the Lord. Those who love prophets, righteous, and the least among us, with open hearts are the people who truly love the Lord. However, most people in the world have closed hearts. It means people have basically turned away from God and are not altruistic. With closed hearts one cannot see clearly. One simply cannot see with eyes closed. Even with open ears one cannot hear clearly. They have become captives of their self-made world, and cannot see or hear beyond themselves. Closed hearts have these characteristics;

1. Closed hearts can use the process called ‘justification’ to deceive one’s own mind. Self-justification to pursue own profit is one example. Something within us can deceive ourselves. Subsequently, closed hearts result in lack of understanding and ignorant minds. Closed hearts go hand in hand with bondage. Very often we become ‘slaves to sin’, bonded to desires of our hearts.

2. Closed hearts cannot give thanks. Closed heart people consider success as result of their hard work, but blame others for their failures.

3. Closed hearts are incapable of recognizing mystery and wonder. Those who cannot know mystery or wonder cannot experience God. People who have forgotten God do not know God’s sovereignty. Therefore, they are incapable of giving thanks. In addition, they cannot receive Holy Spirit’s guidance.

4. Closed hearts live the life of exile. They are captives of their own world, cut off from reality and other people. They are incapable of empathizing with those who are suffering. Since they lack empathy, they would use charity for self-promotion, and they would not feel others’ pain. So they are also indifferent to injustice.

When our hearts are closed we are like living within our own shells. For a new life to be born, it must break out of its own shells.

What we need is the rebirth of our hearts (John 3 Conversation of Jesus and Nicodemus). This is self being opened to God’s presence. This is a big picture of Christian life at a personal level. Another image is ‘Coram Deo’, which means ‘in the presence of God.’ May you experience rebirth, coming out of your own shell today!

Then what does open heart lead to? When hearts open up, one can see more clearly the people and the scenery laid out before one’s eyes. When we see with the eyes of our opened hearts (Ephesians 1:18), we move from darkness to light, and from night to day.

Here are the characteristics of open hearts;

1. Open hearts lead to vivid experiences of mystery and wonder of nature. It is amazing that we can experience the universe God created. When hearts open up we gain new and different perspective. Nothing has changed but they are different. The world remains the same but the eyes we use to look at them change. It is state of confession, ‘Watching and waiting…lost in His love’ world and I fade away.

2. Open hearts are constant companion of gratitude.

3. Open hearts empathize and have passion for justice. Open hearts feel the pain and the afflictions of the world, and respond! Passion for love and justice are morally compelling and it is God’s command. They are the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, receiving Jesus as the Lord means loving Jesus with opened hearts. Such people become more Christ-like in their character. One prominent character is mercifulness. In the Gospel of Luke 6:36, Jesus says, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful”, inviting us to share God’s character. And Paul teaches church in Corinth, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Ultimately, becoming a Christian means having open hearts like our Father God. In reality we are incapable of being merciful like God. So we can be discouraged as we try. However, with the help of the Holy Spirit sent by Jesus Christ, residing in us, we can become more and more like our Lord. This is the change in us. It is like breaking out of a shell and being reborn. Paul confirms in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

I pray that the changes within us will manifest in our daily life. And I want to claim that one of the changes is hospitality. It is using open hearts relating to people and our surroundings, and maintaining open hearts to the Lord. Then, our Lord, our constant companion, will fill us with new hearts, character, and mercy. Just as psalmist writes in Psalm 51:10, let us pray, “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

I hope Christian hospitality will manifest whenever and wherever you are. Do you renew your commitment to live in this way? Let us pray.