“Let mutual affection continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” -Hebrews 13:1-2

As a youth pastor, I am always looking for ways me and the students in my care might “serve” our local community. We frequently volunteer in a local soup kitchen. We pack and deliver meals to an elementary school just down the road. We walk in something called the CROP walk each year, a couple-mile walk in which people pledge to donate funds which then go toward fighting food scarcity both locally and globally.

I typically attempt to excite the teenagers in my youth group with phrases like: “let’s go and be a blessing to those around us!” or “let’s act as the hands and feet of Jesus in our community!” or even “serving in this way is a great opportunity to show Jesus’ love to those who might need it.”

However, and even though these are all very common expressions, I’ve recently begun to change my thinking about them. Does the Bible tell us that we’re supposed to serve others so that we might be a blessing to them?  

It’s a bit more complicated than that.

God is the Stranger

Genesis 18 contains a very unusual narrative in which Abraham and Sarah welcome three “strangers” into their home. Yet, in some mysterious way, it was also the LORD that Abraham welcomed and showed hospitality to: “The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. [Abraham] looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them and bowed down to the ground (Genesis 18:1-2).” The textual tension between these three men (or at least one of them) being God isn’t ever really explained either. Sometimes Abraham refers to them as strangers he’s showing hospitality to. Other times he’s aware that he’s talking to God and accepts prophecies about Sarah having a child, or the imminent destruction of Sodom, from Him/them. And even later on, two of these strangers are labeled “angels” (Genesis 19:1, 19:15-16).

This biblical oddity also isn’t merely a one-off thing. While it isn’t as described narratively anywhere else, God described as mysteriously within strangers shows up all over the Bible.

There are two axioms in Proverbs that link “the poor” with the Lord: “Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor Him (Proverbs 14:31).” and “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord and will be repaid in full (Proverbs 19:17).” The author of these Proverbs links care for the poor with service directly to God himself. When one insults, or makes life difficult for the poor in their community, they are insulting God. When one lends money to someone who might not be able to pay them back, they are lending money to God.

For the sake of the argument, I don’t think Proverbs, or the rest of the passages in scripture that I’m am about to cite, are attempting to explain to us metaphysics.

These passages aren’t panentheistic. God isn’t literally intersected within all things; the stranger down the street isn’t really God in disguise. But just like I love my daughter, and any kindness done to her I also feel as kindness toward me, kindness toward creation is felt by it’s Creator. And likewise, hatred toward creation is felt by it’s Creator too.

For example, in Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable in which a king separates the righteous and unrighteous from each other based on their care for the least of these. Within this parable, Jesus states: “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me (Matthew 25:37-40).” Jesus isn’t claiming that he is actually all of these people. Yet, he is claiming that by serving the least of these, we are serving God.

Mark 9:35-37 makes a similar point. Jesus calls his disciples over. Jesus then takes a young child, has that child stand in the center of his disciples, and says: “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me (Mark 9:37).” In other words, when disciples of Jesus welcome those who have no social or economic power, they aren’t showing Jesus’ love to that person but instead welcoming Jesus himself.

They aren’t bringing God to this person.

Rather, within this person, God is meeting and transforming them.

The book of Hebrews brings us back full circle. After reminding us to serve God with fear and in awe, the author of Hebrews calls forth the narrative about Abraham’s visitors in Genesis. Just like Abraham welcomed these three strangers, we too should be sure to welcome strangers because we might be “entertaining angels unaware (Hebrews 13:2).” It is again important to note the motivation behind the exhortation toward hospitality. The believers that the author is writing to aren’t told to welcome strangers so that they might bless them, although I am sure that such a thing would be a welcome byproduct. It is instead the case that the believers are to continue their welcoming efforts because they themselves might be blessed with God’s presence in doing so.

Serving Others is Experiencing God

What does all of this mean for us?

At the very least, I think it should make us rethink how we approach the way we show hospitality others. Instead of using language like “let’s go and be a blessing to others,” we might say “let’s serve our neighbors so that God can continue to teach us, bless us, and transform us into what He’d like us to become.”

It should also fill us with great hope and excitement! By welcoming strangers, helping the poor, caring for widows and orphans, or by visiting those in prison, we ourselves can experience God. That is to say, God’s aim is to bring about our transformation through those in creation whom He loves. And because God is a God who is especially near to those who might be deemed “the least of these,”[1] we might experience God’s presence the most through our service to the vulnerable and needy around us.

Lastly, I think that this all should also cause us a bit of hesitation.

If God is within the lowly and expects his church to be transformed through their hospitality and love to the vulnerable, we need to be sure that we aren’t complacent in our efforts. Or worse, like Proverbs warns, we need to be sure that we are not actively shutting out the vulnerable as doing so would be to shut out God.

There is currently a bit of conspiratorial political propaganda going around about immigrants eating household pets.[2] Statements like these have gotten a large portion of the country in a frenzy. Many folks, even fellow Christians, are calling for mass deportation or serious jailtime. Now, immigration policy is complicated and I do not claim to be an expert. Yet it seems to me that the Christian response to such things should be to recognize that there might be individuals around us who are so hungry that they’ve had to resort to desperate acts in order to survive. Instead of dehumanizing humans in the attempt to label them as monsters, we should find them some food. Doing so might make us terribly uncomfortable; but, within that discomfort, God will meet us.

With all of that said, it might be best to end this blog with a quote from theologian Gustavo Gutierrez: “So you say you love the poor? Name them.”

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[1] If my above citations aren’t proof enough of this, consider also: John 12:26, Luke 7:36-50.

[2] https://apnews.com/article/haitian-immigrants-vance-trump-ohio-6e4a47c52b23ae2c802d216369512ca5