For this second-to-last post in our brief consideration of hospitality, we will continue our analysis of Jesus’ disciples (and, more broadly, Christians) as the commissioned ambassadors, representing Jesus (and, by extension, god) to the world. Previously, we reflected on their role as guests in continuing the spread of Jesus’ message, seeing how those whom they visited either chose to welcome these emissaries and their message, or reject it. And yet, just as Jesus served as both guest and host, so we see the earliest Christians practicing both of these roles.
The host is the provider – the provisioner of food, drink, and supplies to his guests. In the Jewish scriptures, god established himself as the exemplar host. He selected a group of misfits lacking peace and freedom and led them to a new land. Along the way, he continually met their needs, regardless of how inhospitable his guests might prove. Paul reflects on this in his first letter to Corinth:
I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them; they walked through the sea on dry ground. In the cloud and sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses. All of them ate the same spiritual food, and all of them drank the same spiritual water, having drunk from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was the messiah.[1]
Israelites leaving Egypt; wall of synagogue at Dura Europos
God provided for his chosen people – quenching their hunger with manna and their thirst with water flowing from rocks – and Paul deftly connects this with the messiah (i.e., Jesus) as similarly serving as host to his chosen people. The messiah served them wine (identified with his blood) and bread (identified with his body).
When we bless the cup [of wine] at the lord’s table, aren’t we sharing in the blood of the messiah? And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing the body of the messiah? And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body. Think about the people of Israel. Weren’t they united by eating the sacrifices at the altar?[2]
The ‘lord’s table’, ‘lord’s supper’, or ‘eucharist’ are the variety of labels for this meal. Paul’s ultimate point is that Christians ought to be suitable guests when dining at the lord’s table lest they be punished,[3] though it serves to symbolize god’s continued care of his community. We, however, are more interested in how the early Christians assumed the role of host – they, rather than Jesus, are in charge of serving the eucharist, extending it to others, and providing for their needs much as Jesus had done (e.g., feeding the multitudes). Acts describes just such a portrait:
All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to sharing in meals (including the lord’s supper) and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. All the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had, selling their property and possessions to share with those in need. They worshipped together at the temple each day, met homes for the lord’s supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity – all the while praising god and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. Each day, the lord added to their community those who were being saved.[4]
Luke depicts a thriving community, prior to the conflicts which would arise with fellow Jews over whether or not Jesus was the messiah. They saw themselves as a single community (cf. Paul’s ‘we are one body’), worshipping god as good and faithful Jews, and providing for not just their own poor, but for all poor. This is one of the actions which we saw in the prologue of this series particularly troubles the Emperor Julian (called ‘the Apostate’): the Christian care and concern for all the needy, not just their own number.[5] He decries that the Christian care for the poor is one of the primary reasons that people are attracted to it. Luke seems to agree: their kindness and hospitality contribute to a growing community – an inclusive family which called one another ‘brother’ and ‘sister’. Selfishness and deceit could not be tolerated, much as they could not be tolerated in the days of the Exodus cited above, and an example is subsequently furnished with Ananias and Sapphira doing just that.[6]
So important was the role of hospitality that when dissensions arose surrounding the giving of food to the community, seven ‘well-respected’ individuals, ‘full of the spirit and wisdom’ were given responsibility for meeting the needs of the community and the poor. They were deacons.[7] This included Stephen who regularly defended and debated with fellow Jews about the messiah, and was eventually dragged before a Jewish council and stoned for blasphemy, becoming Christianity’s first martyr. Clearly, early Christians took their role of the hospitable (divine) host quite seriously.
The nature of the disagreement which required the appointing of deacons appears to have been a dispute between traditionalist Jews and Hellenized Jews, in which the traditionalist Jewish Christians were receiving preferential treatment. The Hellenized Jews had adopted elements of Greek culture, including language, being seen by their traditionalist counterparts as compromising their Judaism. Stephen was on of the Hellenized Jews. How much greater would the dispute be between Jews and Gentiles!
Domenico Fetti, Saint Peter’s Vision of a Sheet with Animals, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna
This opening of the table, providing hospitality to Jew and Gentile alike is a central theme throughout Paul, but it is Peter who must first cross the line. Traditional Jews like Peter would not dine with Gentiles (though their Hellenized counterparts would): they were not Jews, not part of the fold. Peter discovers that this is not how the Christian ought to behave: to god, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, all one in the messiah Jesus. The fast-paced account of Acts slows down to crawl as Peter enters the house and dines with the godfearing Roman military captain, Cornelius. Peter is shown a vision:
Peter went up on the roof to pray. It was about noon and he was hungry. While the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance and saw the sky open, and a large sheet being let down. In the sheet were all sorts of animals, reptiles, and birds. A voice told him to eat them, but Peter refused: ‘I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure and unclean.’ The voice responded: ‘Do not call unclean what god has made clean.'[8]
Peter is initially confused, but open being summoned by the Gentile Cornelius, he realizes its interpretation, declaring:
‘I see very clearly that that god shows no favoritism. In every nation he accepts those who fear him and do what is right. This is the message of good news for the people of Israel – that there is peace with god through Messiah Jesus, who is lord of all. […] Everyone who believes in him will have their sins forgiven through his name.’
Even as Peter was saying these things, the holy spirit fell upon all those who were listening to the message. The [traditionalist Jewish Christians] who came with Peter were amazed that the gift of the holy spirit had been poured out on the gentiles too. For they heard them speaking in other tongues and praising god.
Peter asked, ‘Can anyone object to their being baptized, now that they have received the holy spirit just as we did?'[9]
The Christian community in Jerusalem assents to this revelation: just as Hellenized and traditional Jews are to have equal places in this new community, so Gentiles are as well. Each, regardless of race or wealth were to be included and given appropriate hospitality. How we can but quote from Paul once more:
There is no longer Jew nor Gentile, slave nor free, male nor female, circumcised nor uncircumcised, civilized nor barbaric. For you are all one in Messiah Jesus.[10]
Next, we will conclude this study with a return to where we started: how the practices of hospitality continued into the first few centuries, and consider how these might relate to the responsibility of the modern Christian.
- 1 Corinthians 10.1-4 (this and following based on NLT)
- 1 Corinthians 10.16-18
- This point is continued in 1 Corinthians 11.17f
- Acts 2.42-47; n.b., the NLT explicitly translates ‘breaking bread’ as ‘lord’s supper’
- See Stevenson (2012), Creeds, Councils and Controversies: Documents Illustrating the History of the Church, AD 337-461, 66.
- See Acts 5.1f; this follows another description of the generosity of the early Christian community in Acts 4.32-37 which parallels Acts 2.42-47.
- The action of ‘serving tables’ uses the Greek verb διακονέω (diakoneo) from which the word ‘deacon’ is derived.
- Acts 10.9f
- Acts 10.34f
- Galatians 3.28; circumcised/uncircumcised and civilized/barbaric were added from a parallel statement in Colossians 3.11.