| SCRIPTURE AND HOSPITALITY
The Gospel of Luke includes a strong endorsement of a ministry of liberation (4:14-21). Jesus models the ministry of Liberation. Throughout the Gospel, Luke sets Jesus off on a journey to Jerusalem, spreading the Good News of Liberation in word, in relationship, and in action. When the Christ shares the Beatitudes with his disciples in the Gospel of Luke, it is different from Sermon on the Mount (5:3-12). Matthew was written to convince the Jews; consequently, Jesus preached the Beatitudes from a mountain, as a New Moses bringing a New Law down from the New Sinai. Luke, significantly, takes Jesus down from the mountain and puts him on a "level place". Not only does the "level ground" give access for entire crowd to Jesus, but also it puts Jesus at the same plane with the oppressed. A person stands above others to lord it over them or to insulate themselves from their poverty or hunger. A Minister of Liberation establishes parity with those with whom he or she ministers.
Attention to the episodes where hospitality occurs is a characteristic of the evangelist of liberation. Once again, the Gospel of Luke is the only one to recount the story of Martha and Mary (10:38-42). Luke shows us there are varieties of hospitality but also recommends to us one over the other. Martha and Mary respond to Christ present in their home with hospitality. Martha goes about preparing the meal and straightening up the house; but Mary offers Christ an even deeper welcome: she listens. Listening to someone whose opinion everyone else had discredited; listening to teenager rather than trying to criticize or ignore; listening to the lonely senior who may at times ramble; listening to the mentally ill who have lost touch with reality: listening is the deepest form of hospitality. Listening is an important way to acknowledge the divinity that lives in the other person.
Luke again takes his own course in 19:1-10. Luke's is the only Gospel to tell the story of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus, the short of stature man that climbs a Sycamore tree to catch a glimpse of Christ. Zacchaeus, a tax collector, and a wealthy one to boot, held in universal disregard because of his collusion with the oppressive Roman occupiers. And what does Jesus do? Affront of affronts, Jesus invites himself over to spend the day at his house!
Jesus overturns convention and social roles to establish parity with an agent of an oppressive foreign government. Zacchaeus climbed a tree to search out Jesus, In imposing himself on Zacchaeus's hospitality, Jesus was "seeking and saving what was lost." And this became the occasion of a life-changing conversion for Zacchaeus: "Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall repay it five times over."
Whom we fear, whom others belittle, whom we associate with the forces of oppression, we can liberate by reaching out in hospitality. And the greatest liberation, perhaps, will be occasioned in us.
In Hebrew tradition, the presence of God was often recognized with hospitality. We want to give the best we have to our divine guest. In Genesis 18:1-10, Abraham prepared an elaborate welcome for God, who visited in the form of three visitors. This calls to my mind a story about another faithful servant of God to whom was shared the exciting news that God would pass by his tent that very day. As the story goes, he excitedly began similar preparations for the special visit, preparing bread and killing the best steer. It so happens that, in the midst of the preparation, a wanderer happened by and asked the man for respite from the weather. But the man responded, "At any other time I would help you, but, behold, the God of my ancestors is going to visit me this very day, and I am in the midst of preparation for him. Please return at another time." So the wanderer continued on. Finally, the man and all his consort had everything in ready for God. They had basins of water at ready to wash the feet of their Guest. They were cleaned and wearing their finest clothes. The table was set and the food prepared. But God did not come. They waited another hour and still no God. Trusting that God is true to His word, the man waited a third hour, then a fourth and a fifth; disappointed, he finally gave up, took down all his preparations, and went to bed. During the night he again heard the voice of God. And he told God how disappointed he was that he did not visit. But God replied, "But we came, O man. Who was that wanderer who sought respite from the weather?"
HOSPITALITY AND CHRISTIAN MINISTRY
Hospitality is a way we recognize the indwelling God in our brothers and sisters. In particular, hospitality offered to the marginelized, the outcast, the immigrant, the stranger is very much part of the ministry of liberation. Not only is the person we now accept as guest (and as God) liberated from the estrangement that had overshadowed them, but the person offering the hospitality is liberated as well. The estranged now experience welcome; and the one who welcomes experiences (or remembers) what it's like to be estranged.
Our liturgies express the liberating love of God in Christ when they reflect hospitality. In our Churches, then, all welcome and are received without proprietorship, seniority, superiority: the female as the male; the young family as the senior citizen; the person who puts five cents in the collection plate as the person who puts fifty dollars. Our liturgies particularly are expressions of the liberating love of God in Christ when the art of listening has been cultivated: where the Word of God is attended to; where children are taken seriously; where the prayers of the faithful come from the assembly, where the "Amen" when the communicant takes the Eucharist in his or her hand is not a formality but a welcoming and an expression of faith. We all stand on a "level place" in the eyes of God.
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