We looked previously at the different receptions Jesus received during his itinerancy, comparing those who showed hospitality (e.g., the sinful woman, Zacchaeus) with Abraham and Lot in the Jewish tradition, as well as with Baucis, Philemon, and Eumaeus in the Hellenistic tradition. Others, like Simon, showed a cold inhospitality more in line with Polyphemus and the citizens of Sodom.
Jesus, however, added a nuance: those providing hospitality had better appreciated Jesus’ (and, by extension, Yahweh’s) work, as the sick might have a greater reverence for their physician – healthy individuals have significantly less appreciation for modern medicine.[1] In fact, Jesus hints, a host ought to seek out the poor and others who could in no way recompense the host’s hospitality, for then his effort would be truly acknowledged and enjoyed. For those friends or relatives of the host, what was another celebration? It lacked significance, and so should they have a conflict in their schedule – another perhaps similarly trivial event – what motivation would they have to come? What pauper, however, upon being invited to dine sumptuously with royalty could refuse?[2] It is here that Luke transitions brilliantly into discussions of lost things (sheep, coins, and a son) and the excitement of their return (unless, of course, you are a ‘righteous’ older brother who can’t stand sinners embraced by Jesus[3]), but our current focus is on the theme of hospitality. Thus, instead of following this narrative of the lost, let us turn to the host who is summoning both sinners and righteous, rich and poor, to his banquet.
The prophets (and others, picking up on this theme) in the Tanakh often make reference to an abundance of food for those who should turn back to Yahweh – something of particular significance in a land which regularly suffered famine and foot shortages. The prophetic literature (Nevi’im) finds the Hebrews in a less than desirable situation: they are lost, having pursued their own ends and neglected Yahweh. Yahweh, the prophets declare, yet seeks them, begging their repentance, and inviting them to his abode. Here, there is rest: a land flowing with milk and honey. The prophet of Isaiah announces,
Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. […] Seek Yahweh while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to Yahweh, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.[4]
Yahweh will be the hospitable host to all who accept his invitation. Isaiah continues this theme elsewhere, writing,
On this mountain Yahweh will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and Yahweh will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for Yahweh has spoken. It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our god; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is Yahweh; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.'[5]
The theme of hospitality is even more vivid in some of the Psalms, such as when David declares:
You prepare a table before me…I shall dwell in the house of Yahweh forever.[6]
Feeding the 5000, Hagia Sofia, Trabzon
While staying infinitely in someone’s house would be considered good manners on the part of neither the guest nor the host, it here suggests adoption or familial ties that have developed. Yahweh will be the eternal heavenly host, providing for the needs of his guests. One may recall the provision of manna during the Exodus.[7] In the Gospels (and Luke in particular), we find Jesus assuming a similar role.
Several times in Luke, Jesus sends out his followers to proclaim the arrival of the kingdom of god. Upon their return, crowds have followed them to personally attend to Jesus’ teaching.
Now the day began to wear away, and the twelve [Jesus’ most intimate followers] came and said to Jesus, ‘Send the crowd away to go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and get provisions, for we are here in a desolate place.’ But Jesus responded, ‘You give them something to eat.’ They said, ‘We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.’ For there were about five thousand men.[8]
Jesus and his disciples are unable to supply the needs of their guests: they lack the food and probably the money to supply their guests with adequate provisions and lodging. What can they do? I think there are worthy parallels in the widow of Zarephath’s hospitality to Elijah in which the widow’s meager rations of flour and oil are never spent,[9] and that of Baucis and Philemon in which the pitcher of wine is never diminished in their hospitality to Zeus and Hermes.[10] Jesus, too, is able to play the good host, and the five loaves and two fish similarly prove bottomless, leaving the entire crowd ‘satisfied’ with twelves baskets of leftovers. And, perhaps, we are reminded of the bottomless manna provided by Yahweh to the Hebrews.
Figure 2Mosaic of Last Supper in Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna
Comfortably reclining in the guest room of a Jerusalem house, Jesus breaks bread and distributes wine to his most intimate followers. They are celebrating exactly that: the Exodus from Egypt, remembering Yahweh’s faithfulness to the Hebrews as he guided them to their promised land. In celebrating the pesach or Passover feast, Jesus acts as host, delivering the bread and wine to those assembled. He, however, reinterprets these elements in light of his vocation: the bread and wine will represent his sacrificed body as well as the ‘new covenant’, bringing back echoes of the covenant established between Yahweh and Abraham.[11] He will not dine like this again (or, perhaps, celebrate another Passover) ‘until the kingdom of god comes’, further elaborating that ‘you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.’
The account in Luke continues with the arrest, execution, and then resurrection of Jesus. Luke, however, does not leave us there: he chooses to conclude with one final account of hospitality.
That very day [when Jesus’ tomb appeared empty and two angels had declared him risen from the dead] two of the apostles were going to a village in Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, ‘What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?’ And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, ‘Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘What things?’ And they said to him, ‘Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.’ […] And Jesus said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.[12]
As Jesus discussed the nature of the messiah with Cleopas and the other apostle, they came to a village and the two apostles invited Jesus to stay with them. While they offered Jesus hospitality, Jesus himself becomes the host:
When Jesus was at table with them, he took the bread, blessed it, and broke it, giving it to the two apostles. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized Jesus.
Caravaggio, Emmaus [Public domain]
The parallel with Jesus’ final Passover feast is striking and, for the Christian, Jesus continues to regularly break bread with his followers and sip the wine of the ‘new kingdom’, as they congregate to celebrate the eucharist/communion. Jesus’ kingdom – Yahweh’s kingdom – of feast and plenty was arriving.
Jesus’ apostles are not permitted to remain in peace, to enjoy the delights of Jesus’ kingdom. He, in the subsequent (and final) section in Luke, once again sends out his apostles, saying:
‘It is written in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms that the messiah should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead. Further, repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in the messiah’s name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you.'[13]
The apostles knew of their divine host, but Jesus instructs them (again) to journey abroad and bring Jesus’ message of repentance and forgiveness to the world. While Luke concludes at this point, its companion volume, Acts, begins here with Jesus’ sending out his apostles.[14] In the next post, we will follow the apostles, continuing to trace our theme of hospitality.
- Cf. Matthew 9.12, Mark 2.17, Luke 5.31.
- Luke 14
- Luke 15.25f; see particularly Luke 15.1-2 for context of these three parables.
- Isaiah 55.1-7 (this and subsequent based on ESV)
- Isaiah 25.7-9
- Psalm 23.5-6
- Cf. Deuteronomy 8; Exodus 16; Numbers 11; Psalm 78.23f
- Luke 9.12f
- 1 Kings 17.8f
- Ovid, Metamorphoses VIII
- Luke 22.14-28 for this and subsequent quotations; see the covenant with Abraham in, e.g., Genesis 17.
- Luke 24.13-35
- Luke 24.44f
- Acts 1.6f. Also, importantly, Acts 2.