Manchaca UMC

Lesson 7: Hospitality is the key to survival. 

One of the highlights of the trips that I took to Israel was a visit to a Bedouin encampment in the wilderness. Bedouins do not move around in Israel much anymore because the government trucks in water to them. Now most of the men have jobs in nearby factories or warehouses and the children keep watch over the sheep and other animals. But one thing has not changed about the Bedouins over the millennia; they still practice a strong ethic of hospitality. They were so eager to welcome us that our leader had to rotate visits on his annual trips among the houses in the encampment.Our bus dropped us off about a mile away and we walked towards the encampment. Soon a boy of about twelve rode out on a donkey to meet us and to escort us to his house. He was carrying a rifle for our protection. Once there his family made flat bread for all 51 of us and served us tea. They used all of the tea they had and diluted it so all of us would get some. All this they did happily on very short notice.

The wilderness requires hospitality because it is hot, barren and full of danger. That is why in Genesis 18 we find Abraham sitting outside of his tent in the heat of the day. He is looking out for strangers to welcome and assist. When the three strangers arrive he has Sarah make them a boatload of bread and he slaughters a calf for the three visitors. His hospitality is extravagant. This reminds me of another trip to a wilderness area I was on. This trip was in Turkey on a tour. We visited a school when the children were just about to eat lunch. They insisted on giving us their lunch that day (our leader reminded us that it would be rude to refuse their sacrifice).

Hospitality reminds us that we need each other to survive. It also reminds us that we must be willing to receive as well as to give.

Interestingly, ancient rabbinic interpreters note that Abraham was already visiting with God when the three strangers (who are also God or with God as it turns out) arrive. Astonishingly Abraham breaks off his conversation with God to go attend to the strangers. Thus they reasoned that it was greater to welcome a stranger than it was to entertain God’s presence. Of course, in the New Testament book of Hebrews, it likely references this story and says that we should welcome strangers for in doing so some have entertained “angels unaware” (13:2).

I have heard scholars argue that three great loves are commanded in the Old Testament: love of God, love of neighbor, and love of the stranger. To love any of these requires hospitality. It was the key to survival in the ancient wilderness. It may very well be the key to survival in our world even today.

~David