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12 Theological Implications of Mobile Hospitality    DEIRDRE GOOD JOANNE MCWILLIAM exemplified hospitality and charity wherever she was: in the welcome she and Peter Slater gave to others and in her openness to discussion and ideas at all times and places. This essay is a small way of honouring her memory. Hospitality to strangers is a Christian virtue. By virtue, we mean something we esteem highly, a quality we try to practise. We did not, however, invent this particular virtue. In most countries of the world, strangers are shown hospitality. Hospitality is a biblical mandate. Leviticus 19:33–34 instructs ancient Israelites, “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.” And in the New Testament, the Epistle to the Hebrews 13:2 exhorts, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have inadvertently entertained angels.” Perhaps the author has the entertainment of angelic strangers by Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 18:1–3) or Lot (Genesis 19:1–14) or even Tobit (Tobit 12:1–20) in mind. The allusion in Hebrews is vague, but the practice of “love of strangers” is commended in a wider context of “letting brotherly love remain.” The presumption is that those addressed should continue in a practice already evident among the letter’s recipients. In a context of the itinerant ministry of disciples, hospitality is of course an 197 important means of spreading the Gospel. But hospitality is not simply kindness to strangers. It has always been a virtue practised without regard to location. Indeed, Paul counsels “[p]ursuing hospitality to the stranger” in Romans 12:13 using an active verb. The odd NRSV translation, “extend hospitality to strangers,” simply demonstrates how hard it is to dislocate hospitality. By this I mean not only that hospitality is not practised from a specific location, but also that this aspect of hospitality is not widely understood . Because this inconvenient feature of hospitality has been a neglected element of biblical texts, their interpretation and application, it is the focus of this essay. Abraham in Biblical and Post-Biblical Tradition If we suppose that Abraham is the paradigm of hospitality to strangers that the author of Hebrews has in mind, Genesis 18 might be a good place to begin. It preserves lengthy details of Abraham’s encounter with three strangers. The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate. They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. (Genesis 18:1–10) The practice and location of hospitality in this passage is clear: it is food offered to passing guests under the oaks of Mamre at some distance from Abraham’s tent. Hence all the to-ing and fro-ing: a seated Abraham sees three travelling figures whom he runs to meet. Anxious to offer hospitality , he persuades them to rest under the tree and runs back to the tent to 198 CHRISTOLOGY AND ETHICS [3.145.115.195...

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