It is this transformation of the body of Christ that I will highlight for the purposes of further ecclesiological investigation in hospitality. Richard provides a thorough historical and scriptural analysis of the foundations of hospitality to the stranger in order to establish how the Kingdom of God relates to this hospitality. These various stories become the impetus for the people of God to be attentive to the needs of neighbor, stranger, and enemy.
Richard follows Israelite history and a people called to identify with the stranger because of its own strange origins. More still, the encounter with other strangers depicted in the Hebrew scriptures, also becomes an occasion for encounter with God.
This identity and history, and the possibilities and responsibilities inherent within them, become central to what it means to be the people of God in present-day. This rich history guides the body of Christ today in continuing, embodying, and living into its identity and heritage. The narrative history and identity formed here become the foundation for the nature and mission of church. Richard finds the longer tradition of ancient Israel essential to the body of Christ in understanding where the ethical responsibility for Christian hospitality originates.
Next, Richard explores hospitality in the narrative of the Christian scriptures embodied in the life of Jesus Christ. D of Zeus and Hermes disguised as poor travelers, narrates the sacred relation between host and guest, embodying the ancient Greek tradition. The two ancient Greek Gods, the story goes, visited many villages in search of refuge for the night.
A poor elderly couple — Baucis and Philemon welcomed them as guests in their home and generously served them food and wine. Philemon then realized the visitors were actually gods and she offered to kill their only goose to feed them.
Touched by this gesture, Zeus rewarded their generosity by transforming the humble cottage into a beautiful stone temple. Both the Odyssey and the Iliad are filled with episodes in which xenia is either honored or ignored and the subsequent consequences are notable. The cyclops is punished for the transgression. The cyclops episode depicts an abuse of xenia.
The guests not only make unreasonable, burdensome requests that were impolite for guests but they do so with the assumption the host himself is no longer alive. This violent ending can be seen as retribution for an egregious abuse of xenia, or conversely, a violation of its very precepts. There are many possible reasons why hospitality philoxenia was more prevalent in those times. Because of this, many more nights were spent away from home in many different locations.
Also, there were not hotels or inns where travelers could pay and stay the night. Because of this, travelers had to rely on the hospitality of others for shelter, food, and protection. Luke portrays the life and ministry of Jesus as a divine "visitation" to the world, seeking hospitality.
The One who comes as visitor and guest becomes host and offers a hospitality in which the entire world can become truly human, be at home, and know salvation in the depths of their hearts. In The Hospitality of God Brendan Byrne, SJ, provides to-the-point commentary on those parts of Luke's Gospel that bring home to people a sense of the extravagance of God's love for them.
The Hospitality of God approaches Luke's Gospel through the interpretive key of "hospitality.
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