The Hospitable Leader DevotionalSample

After Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross, many of his followers were in despair. Many had seen this man, Jesus, as the “Messiah,” the one who would come and save Israel. However, his death signaled, like many other claimed messiahs before him, that he was just another man. But on the third day after his death, a surprising twist occurred: Jesus wasn’t in the tomb. Rumors of this started to spread, but even though there were eyewitnesses, the story was too hard to believe. Thus, Christ himself began to appear to people in disbelief in order to prove his resurrection and even explain it through the Scriptures. Interestingly enough, many of his resurrection appearances happen in the context of food. In Luke 24:1–35, their eyes were opened at the table after the breaking of bread; in John 21:9–15, Jesus asks for food when he reveals himself to his disciples; in Acts 10:41, Peter equates those who were witnesses to Christ’s resurrection with those who “ate and drank” with him.

What was Christ doing here, and why was eating so central? First of all, eating and drinking after Jesus’ resurrection would show he wasn’t a ghost or a spirit, but a real embodied being truly resurrected. But second of all, eating and drinking were signs of close personal fellowship, and it was in this context that he wanted to reveal the magnitude of the truth about his rising from the dead. The two people on the road to Emmaus were skeptical about this Jesus, and before he revealed to them the truth about who he was, he “warmed their hearts” and ate with them, and then revealed who he was. There seems to be this intimacy that develops over the meal, over this hospitality, that allows deep truths to be conveyed and received.

As most of us know, we can’t always shoot truth from the hip and expect everyone to happily receive it. Sometimes truths hurt, or they’re difficult to believe, but we need to lead people to realize the importance of the truth. In order to do this, we need to create contexts where people’s hearts are warmed before their eyes are fully open to the truth. Sometimes the warming of the heart is what opens our eyes to see. Once the heart is warmed, then we can communicate the truth to those around us, and those truths can change everything!