Weekly Devotions

2Kings 4:8-11

The impact of COVID-19 is causing many persons and communities to concern themselves how they may be able to aid and assist others impacted by the virus. The suffering of our neighbors has made us aware of the need to do something especially by those who have the means and ability to be of assistance.

What we are discovering is that assistance can be found in all kinds of ways both large and small. Sometimes the assistance comes in the form of a community fund that provides dollars to non-profits who help with rent assistance, medical supplies, food, and a host of essential needs. Sometimes the assistance comes in the form of individuals who set up Zoom accounts to keep those in nursing homes connected to their loved ones, or phone calls to those who live alone to break the sense of isolation.

Each time there is an act of assistance it is our way of relearning the old biblical practice of hospitality. Hospitality is not the private possession of any faith group. But it is one of the ways we practice what it means to be human. To be human is to see a need that you can meet and chose to do so without being asked.

Today’s text begins by reminding us the woman who showed hospitality to the prophet Elisha does not share his ethnic make-up nor his faith tradition, but she did not allow their differences to stand in the way of showing him hospitality. The woman shares with her husband why she believes they should show hospitality to Elisha because she perceives that Elisha is a man of God. Whatever God is doing in this man who constantly passes her way, she wants to be able to assist in whatever way she can.

The way she chooses to provide assistance is by opening her home to him and providing a place to rest, a bed, a place to eat, a table, a place to work, a chair. The offer of hospitality makes Elisha's journey less stressful and frees him to focus on other matters as he serves as God’s mouthpiece in the land.

Hospitality can be a difference-maker because of the witness of grace that it makes known. The Bible even tells us some of us have entertained angels without knowing it through the act of hospitality. So, let us go out and show hospitality in both small and large ways to the glory of God and for the betterment of our community.