by Roger Alcaraz

Something I love about my wife is how kind she is to all people, especially strangers. When I was a sophomore in college, my family visited me and I wanted to be a good host. But rather than attempting this alone, I decided to just grab the nicest person I could find and let them do the work. That person was my good friend who is now my lovely wife, Grace. I had roommates and other nice friends who were also a joy to be around, but I wasn’t just looking for someone who loved people. My family hardly knew anyone in San Diego, so I was looking for someone who loved strangers. I knew she wouldn’t have to “warm up” to my family; she loved them the moment they met and it was obvious. As a result, when I told my mom that Grace was now my girlfriend, she was excited and knew I had made a wise choice, even after meeting only once.

Love stories aside, I believe my wife was simply modeling the love that we are all called to by God. I’m sure many of us are aware that the qualification for being a church elder is that he is hospitable, literally, “a lover of strangers.” But this requirement applies to all of us because it goes back to when God first gave his law. In Leviticus 19:18, God says, “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.” It should be obvious that if our neighbor is the person we would want to seek vengeance, then our neighbor is really all people. But this is the question a lawyer had for Jesus when he asked in “Who is my neighbor?” (Luke 10:29). Jesus proceeds with the parable of the good Samaritan in which a Levite and a priest take precautions to avoid a fatally injured man lying helplessly on the road, but a Samaritan made sacrifices and suffered a great inconvenience to save this man and restore him to good health. Jesus never indicated any relationship between the Samaritan and the man because in Jesus’ mind, that should bear no factor in the way we love one another. I’m reminded of Matthew 25:34-35 where Jesus taught that in the final judgement, he will one day commend his elect, saying, “Come…inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” And when people ask when they did such a thing, Jesus will respond, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” (v. 40). He continues to say that those who do not show love like this will go away into eternal punishment.

Clearly, loving strangers is serious in God’s eyes as it deals with the second and even the first greatest commandment. So then, why are we not more hospitable? I can’t speak for the individual, but I can say that when people walk through our church doors, they should immediately feel like the guest of honor. Instead, we often let them pass by in order to show love with those we’re more familiar with or those who are easier to love. This isn’t the way it should be but I am encouraged by all the times I see members inviting people they just met on Sunday into their homes, or spending hours listening to a stranger’s struggles. In college, the tendency can be to spend the most time with your own class and love them more than the rest. But if Christ came to divide the wall of hostility between Jew and Gentile (Ephesians 2:14), I’m sure the wall standing between classes, schools, genders, or stages in life is in pieces now. So let us love without boundaries, and as we do, Christ will be glorified and pleased.