For me, the traditional picture of hospitality I often painted in my mind was somebody welcoming in their next door neighbors, and sitting at a table eating with them. But hospitality may not always be the next door neighbor. Let me tell you a story about a pool named Bethesda and a man that was healed. It is found in the Bible, in the book of John, chapter 5, verses 1-9. Read the whole passage. "After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaiac called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a MULTITUDE of disabled- blind, lame, and paralyzed. ONE man was there who had been disabled for thirty-eight years. When Jesus SAW him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, 'Do you want to be healed?' The sick man answered him, 'Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.' Jesus said to him, 'Get up, take up your bed, and walk.' And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked."

The word hospitality literally means "the friendly and generous invitation and reception of guests, visitors, or strangers: lover of strangers; a welcoming in." I want to draw your attention to the words in all caps. There was a feast going on. In other words, there were a lot of people already there before Jesus showed up. Jesus went into the city where there was a MULTITUDE of people who needed to be healed, a MULTITUDE. Yet Jesus healed the ONE man who had been sick for 38 years. I do not know why Jesus chose to heal that one man. But I do know he SAW him first. Sometimes the first step to hospitality is to SEE someone. That man had been waiting for 38 years. It does not take long to realize 38 years is a long time. And the question 'Do you want to be healed?' was the door that opened into healing. Maybe hospitality will start with a question. That question may be: "Do you want to come over for a meal?" Or that question may be: "Is there anything you need?" It is more about asking the question than it is saying the right words.

This story has many applications, so here is one. Hospitality does not have to be the box of only your next door neighbors (although it can be). Take a moment and think about all the areas of influence in your life. How can you welcome yourself into ONE of those areas of influence. A wise friend told me instead of trying to keep up with showing hospitality to every single one of my areas of influence, maybe just pick a few. Take a step back to the man at the pool of Bethesda. Jesus could have healed a lot of people that day, but he healed that ONE. Maybe healing others would have meant that ONE missed out. When we put hospitality in a box of only certain people or only certain neighbors, others miss out.

So, the application is this. SEE the areas of influence in your life, SEE the people in them and show hospitality to those people. Pick a few areas of influence. A sports team. A work group. Whatever it is. "Welcome in" others into your life.The beauty of hospitality is not in the numbers, the beauty of hospitality is in asking "What are your needs?" Hospitality does not have to fit into a box. It may be your next door neighbors. It may also be your sports team. And it may even be those two friends who are waiting to be invited into someone else's life. My view of hospitality changed with one conversation, and I'm hoping yours will too.


~ God Bless! Amanda ~