Point University’s Office of Spiritual Formation’s community chapel theme this year is hope. I am really excited about us as a school digging into the topic of hope. The chapel last night specifically covered discovering abundant life through hospitality. Hope has a way of being present especially when people are hospitable to each other. I have lost count of those tough days when people showed kindness and hospitality to me and turned my whole day around. Seeing good being done would change my whole outlook on my present and my future. In hope is where we find life, and we share that hope through hospitality.
My favorite story of hospitality in the Bible comes in Mark 2:13-17. Jesus was over at his disciple Levi’s for dinner. Tax collectors and other sinners came to Levi’s house to join him and Jesus for dinner. Pharisees, the religious leaders of the time, also came to Levi’s house. They began to question Jesus about why He was there having dinner with sinners. Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” This is important because Jesus did not come to be available to only the people who had been studying the Bible their whole life. He came to be available to everyone.
Jesus did not come to be available to only the people who had been studying the Bible their whole life. He came to be available to everyone.
This tells me that I should not only be available to those who are like me. I should be available to—and even engage with—everyone even if they have a different backgrounds or interests. Through taking a Christ-like mindset of being engaging and hospitable towards others that are not similar to me, I have experienced some of the most beneficial and fruitful relationships in my life. Together we can grow more into the hope that is found in Jesus. We are not meant to do this life alone, so let us start treating each other with the loving, forgiving and hospitable way of a hopeful life.
Written by Parker Anderson, Junior Biblical Studies major and member of the Chapel Planning Committee
