What is Hospitality?

One day Elisha came to Shunem, where there was a woman of influence, who pressed him to dine with her. Afterward, whenever he passed by, he would stop there to dine. So she said to her husband, “I know that he is a holy man of God. Since he visits us often, let us arrange a little room on the roof and furnish it for him with a bed, table, chair, and lamp, so that when he comes to us he can stay there.” One day Elisha arrived and stayed in the room overnight. Later Elisha asked, “What can we do for her?” Gehazi answered, “She has no son, and her husband is old.” Elisha said, “Call her.” He did so, and when she stood at the door, Elisha promised, “This time next year you will be cradling a baby son.” She said, “My lord, you are a man of God; do not deceive your servant.” (2 Ki 4:8-11, 14-16a)

            When reading this passage, the one striking thing that jumps out is hospitality.  However, what is hospitality to us aside from being nice and friendly?  In what way(s) are we to show hospitality?

            The Lexham Bible Dictionary informs us: “The importance of Elisha in the biblical narrative is signaled by his title ‘man of God’ and by parallels between Elisha and other formative leaders.” ^[1]  It goes on to say: “The ‘man of God’ title and its link to Moses is only one piece of a larger argument that the narrative of Elisha has many parallels to the exodus and conquest narratives in the books of Exodus and Joshua.”^[2] This is interesting in that Moses had prophesied that there would be one coming like him from their own people.  Therefore, Israel was looking for the “new” Moses.  However, my thinking is that Elijah would more portray Moses and Elisha, Joshua because Elisha was given the “double portion” of the spirit of Elijah, whose name means “strength of the LORD; my God is Jehovah; the LORD God.”^[3]  “Elisha” means “God the Savior; to whom God is salvation; God of salvation; God is Savior.”^[4] This is more in line with the meaning of “Joshua.”  Of course, Joshua is a type of Christ.  The word “Shunem” also adds intrigue to the situation, in that it means “two resting places; their sleep.”^[5]  To add to it, “Gehazi,” means “valley of vision; the valley of sight.”^[6]  Realizing these things, it is easy to look at the woman as a type of the Virgin Mary, a type of the Catholic Church.

            Now, we can see a scene playing out:

            One day Elisha came to Shunem, where there was a woman of influence.  In this, we first see the Incarnation, since “woman” can be a picture of humanity itself.  The of influence reminds us that we are important, great, in the mind of God.  We are so great that he sent his Only Begotten Son to save us.  We also see the great piety of the Blessed Mother, and her being without sin.  When God is revealed to us, we press upon him to dine with us, to teach us his word and his ways.  We begin to arrange a little room for him.  We begin to furnish it with a bed, table, chair, and lamp, so that when he comes to us he can stay there.

            The bed is for rest, which connotes peacefulness, a peace between God and man.  This peace leads to a desire to commune, and this is portrayed by the table.  Immediately, our minds turn to the Eucharist.  Communing connotes a unity, a sharing, which we see in the Church.  The chair is for sitting, for teaching.  We desire that God teach us his Word, which he does normally by way of his Body, the Catholic Church.  The lamp connotes our being enlightened, coming to an understanding, an apprehension, of God’s Word. “If you remain in my word, you will truly be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”^[7]  As the Father loves me, so I also love you.  Remain in my love.  If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. ^[8]  On that day, you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.  Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me.  And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”^[9]  “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us…”^[10]

           When we “prepare” this room, we truly are communing with God.  If we are in unity with God, sharing his life in Baptism and in the Eucharist, then we should be desiring the things God desires, desiring to submit our wills to his, that his will done, not ours.  Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.^[11]  If, then, we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.  We know that Christ, raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has power over him. As to his death, he died to sin once and for all; as to his life, he lives for God.  Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.^[12]  This is one of the reasons why we go to Confession, confessing that we are not being who we are, crying out that we be conformed to the One with whom we are communing.  This is Shunem, the Valley of Vision.  We see what we are to be, who we are to be like, and we must continue to cry out until we have arrived in that state—which means that, in this world, we must continually cry out.

            “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.  Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.  “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.  Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives only a cup of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because he is a disciple—amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”^[13]

            All of this we see in the Virgin Mary and in the Catholic Church.  Our Blessed Mother was constantly pondering God’s Word, establishing a room for Him.  In the Incarnation, the Son of God actually abided in her.  In the Eucharist, the Son of God actually abides in the Church.  In the Eucharist, when we take him, apprehending what he has done and what we are doing, he abides in us experientially, performing what he has promised.  The Father will honor whoever serves me. ^[14]

            Pope Benedict XVI teaches us:

When we believe in the God who loves us, who in Jesus became man for us, it is at once a profession and a certainty of eternal life. And when we profess our belief in eternal life, it is a profession of faith in the living God. Because there is a God, we, whom he calls and sees, know that we shall not fall into a vacuum. For that reason, belief in eternal life becomes a very practical testimonial, not just a theory about something that will come to pass at an unspecified date in the future. That is why it was timely and proper for the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to remind us, and all Christendom, once again of this profession of belief in eternal life, which is identical with the profession of belief in the incarnate God who loved us even unto death. It was right and necessary to remind us that the measure of human life is what we call eternity, that heaven and hell and Purgatory actually exist, and that human beings have souls that do not die with their bodies, but are bearers of the good news of God’s love and of the Resurrection. Such a testimonial is practical [i.e., not merely theoretical] because the whole measure of our lives is determined from this standpoint, because this means that we must live for what is lasting.… Faith has as its goal—and this is the goal of all the love that exists between Christ and us—that there be an interchange of life, that Christ’s life and ours be intertwined, that our lives be inscribed in his and his in ours, that that promise be fulfilled that Saint Teresa of Avila heard addressed to her by the Lord: “Do not be troubled; my concerns are yours and yours are mine!” We should live in such a way that this interchange of lives becomes a reality, that his concerns truly do become ours and ours become his, and that Christ’s life and ours are inseparable and therefore true.^[15]

            Jesus loved the Father, and he loved his neighbor.  This is showing hospitality.  The Father loved his creation; therefore, Jesus had to love that which his Father loved.  Otherwise, he would not have loved the Father.  The same applies to us.  We cannot love vertically (God) without loving vertically (neighbor), and we cannot love horizontally without loving vertically.  This is hospitality.  Without this, without God first loving us and showing us we cannot show true hospitality or know what hospitality is about.  We learn from experiencing.  Christ is constantly knocking—although he is abiding in us—knocking that we will cooperate more with his grace.  We must remember that, when it comes to God, we are beggars.  We cannot do anything without him.  Therefore, we must not allow ourselves to assume that we have already attained.  We must constantly be praying for his aid, and thanking him because he is giving us this aid.  We know this because that is his will.  We also need to be asking him to aid us in cooperating with him and his grace.  Oftentimes, we get distracted.  As long as Jesus remained on earth, he worked, and he is still working, showing us hospitality in order that we may know what it means to be hospitable and how to show hospitality.  To put it in simple words: Since the Head of the Catholic Church is Jesus, let us submit to the teachings of the Church and be obedient to her.  If Jesus—God—could submit to his creation—Mary and Joseph—can we not submit to him through his Church?  His Church teaches us hospitality.

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^[1] Amy Balogh, The Lexham Bible Dictionary, 2016.

^[2] Ibid.

^[3] Stelman Smith and Judson Cornwall, The exhaustive dictionary of Bible names, 1998, 65.

^[4] Ibid., 66.

^[5] Ibid., 226.

^[6] Ibid., 77.

^[7] New American Bible, Revised Edition., (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Jn 8:31–32.

^[8] Ibid., Jn 15:9–10.

^[9] Ibid., Jn 14:20–21.

^[10] Ibid., Jn 17:20–21.

^[11] Ibid., Ro 6:3–4.

^[12] Ibid., Ro 6:8-11.

^[13] Ibid., Mt 10:37–42.

^[14] Ibid., Jn 12:26.

^[15] Joseph Ratzinger, Co-Workers of the Truth: Meditations for Every Day of the Year, ed. Irene Grassl, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992), 212.