“It
came to pass as Jesus sat at the table with [the disciples] that He took bread,
blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened
and they knew Him, and He vanished from their sight.” Luke 24:30-31
Recall
that this incident took place after two disciples were walking along the road
to Emmaus and had been joined by the Resurrected Messiah. While they were
talking and recounting the experiences of the past few days, they did not
realize it was the Messiah who had joined them on the road – and they were
talking about Him! Nevertheless, even though the disciples considered
Jesus a “stranger” at that moment, they invited Him to come stay with them
since the end of the day was drawing near.
The
encounter is a significant one for many reasons, but what happened afterward is
key to understanding the importance of the hospitality of the Church.
That “their eyes were opened” when they finally recognized Messiah is
attributed to their willingness to show hospitality to a “stranger”. Had
they treated Messiah as we have been conditioned to treat a “stranger” today,
it is unlikely their eyes would ever have been “opened” because that epiphany
is directly related to how we choose to treat one another – especially those we
don’t even know.
Because
our culture has completely lost its mind, we are understandably leery when it
comes to strangers. It is much safer to keep strangers at a safe distance
for the sake and well-being of our loved ones until these strangers prove themselves
trustworthy. Yet the Scriptures remind us “not to forget to
entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels”
(Hebrews 13:2). This goes far beyond having a simple “welcoming
committee” greet guests in church as they are handed a bulletin and virtually
pushed into the sanctuary; it goes to the heart and soul of the truly welcoming
church which reveals itself once the “stranger” comes to us as we remember we
were “once strangers in a strange land”.
Blessings,
Michael
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