A model of hospitality

I was walking to my hotel one evening when I noticed someone following me not too far behind. The street was poorly lit so I couldn’t clearly recognize the person. I paced faster. The one trailing me did as well. I could see the gate of my hotel from a far distance but it was quite awkward to run.

That day, I had befriended the locals. From the boys on the streets to the motorcycle drivers, to the street vendors and just about anyone I met. This somehow jaded me on my first day while making acquaintances in that foreign country.

As I walked faster, I tried to comfort myself that it just could be one of the locals I met earlier. I decided to shake my fear off. I was too soaked in my thoughts that when I looked back, I was surprised to see the person gaining speed and was pacing along.

Brushing off my fear I blurted, “Hi, good evening!”

The lady replied, “Good evening, too.”

In her early 20s she was obviously uneasy in the dark. This time I was relaxed and started talking to her.

“Where have you been?” I inquired.

“From the salon to have my hair cut,” was her kind reply.

I asked her name and told her mine. “Where are you from,” she asked. I told her I came from the Philippines.

“Surely?” she exclaimed, “You know what, I’m going to the Philippines tomorrow. And I’ll be there to represent my country for the Miss Earth 2008 beauty pageant in Manila,” she proudly added.

I never expected to meet and talk to a beauty queen that night, more particularly in a dark street.

Sometimes, on unexpected circumstances and unholy hours we meet special people.

While Abraham was sitting by his tent door on the plains of Mamre (Genesis 18) he noticed three strangers at a distance. He ran to meet them and with utmost respect invited them to drop by his place. They accepted his sincere invitation. He gave them water that they might wash the dust of travel from their feet.

While the visitors were resting under the shade of the tree, Abraham ran to the flock and took a good and tender calf. When the bread and the meat were ready he took the steamy food to his visitors and they ate under a cool shade and Abraham stood respectfully beside them while they partook of his food.

Ellen G White related: “Abraham had seen in his guests only three tired wayfarers, thinking little that among them was the One he might worship without sin and this act of courtesy God regarded of sufficient importance to record in His word” (Patriarchs and Prophets, 138).

We usually give value to a person based on how we know him. And that value is usually associated with how we treat him or her. A person who is unknown to us is always of less value even though we know that he needs help. In my case, my reactions could have been different had I already known that the person walking behind me was a beauty queen.

Usually, we change our treatment toward someone if we already know something about him or her. That lady was not comfortable to be walking alone in the dark but I misunderstood her predicament and attempted to flee from her.

Abraham executed that utmost hospitality no matter how unknown those men were to him, notwithstanding the fact that entertaining strangers is not always safe to do. He cared for them though it was not evident that these strangers in any way could repay him.

Thousand years later this incident became a reference to this text: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.” Hebrews 13:2

Can’t this be our model in helping, accommodating, and entertaining people including those unknown to us? [Jerson Paican]