“Paul told the believers at Rome, ‘Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality’ (Rom. 12:13). Peter charged his readers to ‘offer hospitality to one another without grumbling’ (I Pet. 4:9). The apostle John in III John 8 affirms that ‘we ought therefore to show hospitality.’
“Although a typical dictionary definition limits hospitality to ‘friendly and generous entertainment of guests,’ the underlying meaning is that of making these guests feel at ease, making them feel so welcome as to be a part of the whole. Hospitality, as has been so aptly defined by Karen Mains, emphasizes not the host or hostess but the guest; not what I have, but what you share with me! Its concern is not what you think of me, or how I impress you. It is other-centered, and it brings a sense of relief and life as it contrasts with the coldness of the everyday, competitive world.
“Opening our homes to friends and others with whom we hold much in common brings great enjoyment to most of us. A good meal and shared laughter give a sense of warmth and acceptance. Yet Jesus, having been invited to the home of a Pharisee, had words of admonition for him and for us:
When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous (Luke 14:12–14).
“Radical hospitality obeys this command. While we often think of radical as being extreme, its primary meaning is ‘going to the center, foundation, or source of something; fundamental; basic.’ Radical hospitality says to the disheartened individual, ‘Stay with us, see us as we really are. We’ll love you, we’ll deal with you, we’ll stick with you, and we’ll encourage you to become all that God intended you to become. By God’s grace, we will not give up.’
“The ministry of radical hospitality is basic, though it is often not easy. It is opening a Christian home — a home where family members are consciously working at their relationships to the Lord God and to each other — to someone who has been torn emotionally or relationally by sin or by others, so that he or she can see firsthand the power of God to redeem, change, and heal. It is bringing the Virginias and her multitude of sisters and brothers into a place of refuge where somebody will listen, will love, will accept. It is bringing them into a place of challenge where God’s law is the standard for behavior, where sin is defined, where manipulation is thwarted. It is what the psalmist cherished when he wrote, ‘God sets the lonely in families’ (Ps. 68:6).”
— from David and Ruth Rupprecht, Radical Hospitality (Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, 1983)