Let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. ~Hebrews 13:1-2 NKJ
I love the Christmas season. This is definitely the most wonderful time of the year. I grew up in Minnesota and never experienced a Christmas that wasn’t white (unless we traveled south for the holiday) until I moved to Texas for grad school. There were a few years that came close, but those first flakes always landed, and stuck, before Christmas Eve.
Next week we’re starting a Christmas series. I always like to start that after Thanksgiving, but I didn’t want to leave the last chapter of Hebrews hanging for a month. (On a side note, I don’t use the King James Version in my studies, but I really like the way the New King James phrases this verse. There’s something quaint about “unwittingly entertaining angels.”)
Christmas is the one time of year families set aside their arguments to enjoy a few hours together. I’ve lived enough life to know that’s not a hard and fast rule, but for the most part, people seem more willing to express joy in place of bitterness.
It’s the one time of year where even the most spontaneous and unorganized among us spend time planning meals and decorating the house. We bake so many cookies that we could live off of sugar alone for a month. We make lists, check them twice, and make sure that every name is on that list before heading to the stores in search of just the perfect gift. In my family, my mom still does Santa gifts for me and my sisters, and since we’re all married, our husbands too, so I also put together a list of ideas for her. With the abundance of Christmas parties, we make lists for those too, making sure we have white elephant gifts and our contribution to the potluck meal.
All that to say, we put more effort into hospitality at this time of year than at any other.
This verse from Hebrews is an awesome description of how we approach the Christmas season. Brotherly love. Entertaining strangers. And showing hospitality to angels.
Someday when we all get to heaven, I think it would be fun to have God show me when exactly I’ve been surrounded by angels. That’s something we will never be fully aware of, but I hope when I see that picture, I hope I’ll see that I was hospitable and not disengaged.
If this verse were stuck in the middle of the Christmas story, I’d leave it there. But it’s not. Hebrews is not specific to Christmas, and even if it were, the principles found here are meant for every day.
What would life look like if we lived with this kind of hospitality every day? Maybe not the excess cookies, big meal planning, and gift buying. But what if we lived with that kind of attitude every day? Always ready to set aside our differences and pay attention to the people God puts in front of us? What if we spent more time just listening, asking about what people are up to, ready to hear their stories, instead of jumping to conclusions and assumptions? What if we let go of that “root of bitterness” (Hebrews 12:15) that so easily gets planted and instead just listened?
I joke that I stink at hospitality. It’s definitely not my spiritual gift in a traditional sense. My house is usually messy and there are always dishes in the sink. But true hospitality is an attitude of the heart. True hospitality is a willingness to sit with a friend or an acquaintance (or as this verse specifies, a stranger or an angel) and just listen. Hear their story. Take an interest in them.
We are naturally inclined to look out for ourselves, but as we seek to dive deeper into relationship with Jesus, take some time this week to show true hospitality to those around you. Who knows? You may be “entertaining angels unaware!”