Reflections of God in Middle Eastern Hospitality
Every culture reflects God differently. When someone from my sending church asked me, “What is something our church can learn to do better from people in the Middle East?” The answer was abundantly clear – hospitality.
Early in our time here, a couple shared how they have seen the biblical value of hospitality in their many years in the Middle East. One of them, a teacher, talked about how he sees this value in his students. He said that generosity and hospitality are so expected that it would be shameful not to help someone when you are able. For example, if a student knows the answers and his classmate doesn’t, it is his duty to help his classmate, even on an exam. This view on what we would call cheating challenges our individualism.
My tendency is not towards this kind of generosity or hospitality, but rather towards guarding my time and resources. Further, this couple pointed out the qualities listed for overseers and elders in 1 Timothy and Titus. We read the list—upright, self-controlled, faithful to his wife, not given to drunkenness, etc.—and nod along, “Yes, yes, of course,” and often skip right past the call to be hospitable. Do we consider hospitality as high a value as faithfulness to our spouses? Would we consider a lack of hospitality as high an offense as drunkenness?
Our own experiences with hospitality in the Middle East began in our first week here. We met a woman in a park who invited us to come over and visit her the following week to drink lemonade and talk together. A few weeks later, while buying furniture for our apartment, the shop owner invited us to meet his family and have lunch together. Not only did the shop owner invite us to his home, but this new friend also invited all his adult children and grandchildren to come and meet us.
We were served tea, ate a huge meal, as they piled more and more food on our plates, and were then served fruit, coffee, chocolate, and more tea. After hours together, when we tried to leave, they tried to convince us to stay. We were shown honor beyond what I could ever have imagined. And now, this family has become like our family, even calling themselves our Arab mom and dad.
These were surprising interactions, coming from an American culture where we tend to meet up in restaurants and coffee shops and only invite people we know well to our houses. If a shop owner in the US invited me to his house and offered to pick me up, I think I would be a bit leery and politely decline. But here, it is a normal part of the culture. Guests are treated with great respect and honor.
And this is exactly in line with what we see in the Bible. Think of how Abraham told Sarah to take 36 pounds of flour to make bread when they had just three visitors. Or how Lot offered to give his own daughters to the men of Sodom in place of the visitors whom he welcomed into his home. These acts go beyond what seems reasonable to my Western mind. But they reflect the God who welcomes us. The God who gave his own Son so that we could be adopted into his family. The God who is preparing a place for us in his house. The God who does more than we could ever ask or imagine. We are made in the image of this hospitable God. And through the culture here, I am learning to value and practice hospitality more.
As two single women living in our own apartment, we have been given a unique opportunity to host women in our home. In a culture where women typically live with their families until they get married, not many homes are female-only spaces. There is always the chance of a brother, father, or husband being in the home and changing the dynamic. We have begun hosting a monthly dinner night for women we know from our neighborhood, language classes, and church. There is something special about seeing women from all different backgrounds and cultures gathered in our home, eating, talking, laughing, and playing games together.
And even more incredible is when the conversation shifts toward Jesus. We pray that they would sense a difference in our home and that they would experience the peace and love of Jesus in powerful ways. We pray that His name will be glorified in our attempts to show and accept hospitality well here.
Pray for people here to know the true God who gave his own son for them. Pray for more teammates to multiply the relationships being built here in the Middle East. Pray for believers around the world to embody generosity and hospitality as we look to reflect God to others.