Hospitality brings new life (Henri Nouwen)

   [I]f there is any concept worth restoring to its original depth and evocative potential, it is the concept of hospitality. It is one of the richest biblical terms that can deepen and broaden our insight in our relationships to our fellow human beings. Old and New Testament stories not only show how serious our obligation is to welcome the stranger to our home, but they also tell us that guests are carrying precious gifts with them, which they are eager to reveal to a receptive host. 

   When Abraham received three strangers at Mamre and offered them water, bread and a fine tender calf, they revealed themselves to him as the Lord announcing that Sarah his wife would give birth to a son (Genesis 18: 1-15). When the widow of Zarephath offered food and shelter to Elijah, he revealed himself as a man of God offering her an abundance of oil and meal and raising her son from the dead (1 Kings 17:9-24). When two travelers to Emmaus invited the stranger, who had joined them on the road to stay with them for the night, he made himself known in the breaking of the bread as their Lord and Saviour (Luke 24:13-35). 

   When hostility is converted into hospitality then strangers can become guests revealing to their hosts the promise they are carrying with them... Thus the biblical stories help us to realize not just that hospitality is an important virtue, but even more that in the context of hospitality guest and host can reveal their most precious gifts and bring new life to each other. 

--Henri Nouwen, Reaching Out

Image source: Giovanni Andrea de' Ferrari, Abraham and the Three Angels (ca.1660-1669), http://www.slam.org/collection/objects/34104/
Quotation source