The Missing Key to the Refugee Crisis: Christian Hospitality towards Muslims

by Mark Cannon

We live in a rapidly changing world in which massive amounts of people move from one place to the next. Many people who have come from other places live on the margins of society as socially excluded international refugees or immigrants. 

We live in a rapidly changing world in which massive amounts of people move from one place to the next. Many people who have come from other places live on the margins of society as socially excluded international refugees or immigrants. 

One out of every 122 people worldwide has left their home (Johnstone and Merrill 2016, Kindle Electronic Edition: Location 195). Globally, this movement of migrants makes up 3.2% of the world’s population (Jackson 2016, 13). These refugees are often seen as marginal strangers and off limits to normal interaction within society.

More than one million refugees poured into Europe in 2015. According to the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM), “1,005,504 migrants…entered Europe during the year—more than quadruple the number of the year before” (Johnstone and Merrill, Kindle Electronic Edition: Location 174-175). The panic and confusion caused many Europeans to lose sight of important political, social, and religious issues that come with this expansive migration (Legrain 2007, 298).

Unfortunately, this has also affected the attitude of many Christians, who due to fear and distrust, refuse to share their lives in any meaningful way with these refugees. The current reality means that “some people—including some Christians—have allowed fear to dominate the refugee conversation” (Bauman 2016, 179). 

In our ministry in Spain, as we embrace refugees in our home and ministry, our lives daily become enriched by them. For example, on May 11, 2016, I had a knee replacement in Madrid. When I went into surgery, my wife sat alone in the hospital waiting room. Suddenly, some of the refugees we work with showed up to wait with her. When the doctor came out and said, “Would the family of Mark Cannon please come into my office,” they all stood and marched into his office as a group. They have become like family to us as we have been face to face and heard their stories.  

Unfortunately, in spite of a large “Welcome Refugees” sign on many government buildings, our personal observations and experiences working with refugees in Spain shows the opposite. The exclusion of refugees is often the norm. 

To illustrate, one of our refugee friends called to ask for our help in finding an apartment to rent. We trudged around the city and finally found a Spanish landlady to rent her apartment to our friends. However, we were shocked when two months later they were told to leave, and when asked why the tenants had been told to leave, the landlady said that she “did not know where the refugees got their money.” 

A Spanish lawyer assured them that they could not be evicted since they had a signed contract and they were paying rent. Nevertheless, this story serves as an illustration of the ill-treatment and paranoia creating barriers between Christians and refugees.

In spite of the mistrust towards refugees at large in Spanish society, followers of Jesus can find an alternate response to refugees when looking to Christ and his example. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer stated, “It is not Christian men who shape the world with their ideas, but it is Christ who shapes men in conformity with Himself” (Bonhoeffer 1955, 82). 

In this article, I demonstrate that a biblical view of hospitality can offer a corrective to the current view of refugees, including the millions of marginalized Muslims. I want to examine Luke 5:27-32, the example of Jesus’ hospitality towards marginalized Jews in his culture, and how Jesus and his apostles interacted with their undesirable foreign neighbors, the Samaritans. These interactions provide a biblical model to challenge the current attitudes regarding the refugee crisis.

The Calling of Levi: Jesus Invites the Marginalized

There is no way to know if Jesus and Levi had previously met, but this still demonstrates the radical encounter between Levi and Jesus, who simply states, “Follow me” (Luke 5:27). The text states that Levi sat at a tax booth, which would indicate his occupation as a tax collector. This type of tax collector taxed people as they went from one city to another, and were generally much hated. The Jews thought these tax collectors to be in league with the Romans, and known for extortion (Marshall 1978, 131). 

Yet Jesus’ words of invitation created a reversal in Levi’s life (Craddock 1990, 77). He may have been the wealthiest of the disciples, and yet Levi left everything to follow Jesus (Marshall 1978, 131), making an exemplary break from his previous life (Bock 1994, 108). After his decision to follow Jesus, he could not go back, as likely his bosses replaced him for abandoning his position. 

Levi’s Feast: The Challenge of Hospitality to the Marginalized 

Immediately following Levi’s calling, Levi held a feast bringing together many undesirable “sinners”. He apparently had enough money and sufficient social networks to offer a great feast in order to introduce his associates to Jesus (Marshall 1978, 132). 

Luke tells us that a large crowd gathered (Luke 5:29), and more tax collectors and as well as “others”, which according to Bock, would be a short-hand for “sinners” (Bock 1994, 219). Jesus’ presence at Levi’s invitation strongly identified him with Levi. Apparently, these kinds of sinful people would not normally be welcomed by a holy teacher like Jesus, as noted by the Pharisees response. 

Yet Amy-Jill Levine recognizes that these unclean Jewish sinners could become ritually pure at the temple” (Levine 2006, Kindle Electronic Edition: 2775). Still knowing this, many believed Jesus should not mingle with this dirty class of people in any social setting (Rogers 2003, 95). The law of association kept the holy from being in contact with the profane (Just 2003, 95). Jesus’ inclusive view perplexed many of Jesus’ neighbors. The Pharisee in the story most likely felt confused by Jesus’ gathering with Levi’s friends (Luke 5:30).

Hospitality was not optional in the New Testament world. In fact, “part of hospitality included recognizing and valuing the stranger or guest” (Pohl 1999, Kindle Electronic Edition: Location 392). Who a person ate with had consequences. Therefore, Jesus clearly disregarded the Pharisees’ standards by socializing with the sinful “such as the various tax collectors who receive such praise in the Gospels, who deliberately choose to remove themselves from the community” (Levine, 2006, Kindle Electronic Edition: Location 2789). The Pharisees’ criticism of Jesus’ behavior became an opportunity for Jesus to go beyond the normal social boundaries of his culture.

Jesus Reveals His Motive 

Jesus responded with a parable to answer the religious leaders’ question regarding his purpose. The dilemma appears to be: how could someone accept the friendship of sinners and still be religiously acceptable in God’s presence? Jesus’ approach to sinners (the spiritually sick) did not show Jesus condoning their sinful behavior, but rather extending grace.  

Jesus used two metaphors—the “well and the sick” and “the saint and the “sinner” (Craddock 1990, 79), which indirectly indicted the religious leaders and affirmed that Jesus did nothing sinful. He took the role as host of a community of sinners and defended his right to commune with them. He continued his ministry, refusing to be caught up by the religious leaders’ labels and social identification markers. 

Luke’s account demonstrates the redemptive motif of calling sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). The second half of Jesus’ response leaves no doubt about his hospitality towards sinners and tax collectors. Jesus accepted the social and religious outcasts by sharing meals with them as well as calling them to a deeper place spiritually. This was an act of hospitality and an invitation that brought people outside their normal religious groups to rub shoulders with Jesus, who could touch the deepest recesses of their hearts. Repentance can be viewed both as a gift and a demand of the age ushered in by the presence and the preaching of Jesus (Craddock 1990, 79). 

Fred Craddock notes that those who read this passage should consider their own response. He reminds the reader of Luke 5:27-32: we cannot just be a spectator at the banquet; the real question is if we are willing to join at the table with Jesus, tax collectors, and sinners—or if we belong to his critics (Craddock 1990, 79). 

Jesus and the Samaritans: Enemies among the Marginalized 

In Luke 9:51-55, as Jesus journeyed towards Jerusalem, instead of going around the edges of the hated Samaria, he went right through their villages. Even more significant were his plans to arrange for lodging and food in the Samaritan village. Jesus chose to take his ministry among these outsiders, “these despised half-Jewish heretics” (Craddock 1990, 218-219). 

The Samaritans and the Jews had a long history of hatred and mixed messages. Jesus’ view of them was not popular: “In Jewish eyes, the Samaritans were half-breeds, ethnic traitors, bad guys” (Bock 1994, 181). 

Jesus’ viewpoint differed: “Clearly, what Jesus seeks is not only conventional hospitality but a welcome that embraces fully the message of peace” (Green 1997, Kindle Edition: Location 9710). The disciples returned and reacted to the Samaritan’s resistance to extend hospitality to them. They suggested that Jesus should judge the Samaritans like Elijah did by calling down fire on them. 

Their super-spiritual expression of hatred did not line up with Jesus’ direction and motive. This demonstrates why Jesus did not seek vengeance even upon those who insulted him (Marshall 1978, 403). He rebuked the disciples and moved on (Morris 1974, 194). This event shows Jesus’ amazing desire to include people outside of Judaism (Bock 1996, 966).

The Early Church: Embracing Marginalized Enemies 

Acts 8:4-25 gives a vastly different account of the Samaritans in which Phillip proclaimed the gospel to the Samaritans and many came to faith. As a result, the Jerusalem Church sent Peter and John as representatives to investigate. They sent the same John who earlier wanted to call fire down from heaven on a Samaritan community for their inhospitable behavior towards Jesus (Luke 9:52–55). Yet John probably felt a different attitude as he set out for Samaria with Peter (Bruce 1988, Kindle Electronic Edition: Location 6306-6307). 

When Peter and John arrived, they witnessed the work of the Spirit of God among the Samaritans. Instead of calling judgment upon them, they extended their hands and prayed for them. As a result, the Samaritans experience an outpouring of the Spirit: “Suddenly the Spirit of God is poured out and their lives too and they will never be the same” (Barrett 1994, 412).  

Convinced of God’s work among these Samaritans, Luke pointed out the impact of their change. While Peter and John were on their return journey to Jerusalem, they were “preaching the gospel in many other Samaritan villages” (Acts 8:25). This time, they were not asking for judgment by fire on more Samaritan villages (Luke 9:51–55). 

The Spirit of Jesus changed John and Peter’s hearts. Other Samaritan villages welcomed them and they bore witness to what Christ had done as they were hosted by these Samaritans. We don’t know how many different Samaritan places they likely stayed during this ministry outreach, but Jesus’ message of “loving your enemies” (Matt. 5:44) certainly came through.

These critical engagements by Jesus and his apostles with the marginalized Samaritans do not just demonstrate a casual meeting; rather, “Jesus’ movement aims at nothing less than the transformation of human society” (Koenig 1985, 29). There is a bigger picture of Luke-Acts that demonstrates how “God in Jesus Christ … show[s] a marked clemency to the enemies of the Jews” (Ford 1984, 89-90). Amos Yong summarizes that strangers can be welcomed and engaged following Jesus inclusive practices (Yong 2008, Kindle Electronic Edition: Location 836).

The Church’s Response: The Marginalized Today 

Today, many Christians view Muslim refugees much like the Jews felt about the Samaritans at the time of Jesus’ ministry. It takes courage. That why Christine Pohl says, “…hospitality that welcomes ‘the least’ and recognizes their equal value can be an act of resistance and defiance, a challenge to the values and expectations of the larger community” (Pohl 1999, 62). It is necessary to move beyond fear, and in doing so we do not simply accept the stranger’s mere existence, but rather we actively welcome a stranger with the least status (Bretherton 2010, 148). In essence, the marginalized and the outsiders become guests.

The massive influx of refugees in Spain today represents a genuine opportunity to reach those who have been unreached. Patrick Johnstone and Merrill agree that this current massive migration represents a tremendous opportunity as a strategic opportunity for unprecedented outreach to people who may have never heard or understood Christ’s message and these migrants as possible fertile soil for the gospel seed (Johnstone and Merrill, Kindle Electronic Edition: Location 1205-1206). 

Here, hospitality meets the real needs of incoming refugees, and mirrors Jesus’ actions. This challenges the Church to relate to refugees, who face “greater levels of discomfort, disadvantage, and risk” (Jackson 2016, Kindle Electronic Edition: Location 179). This does not mean that it will be easy: 

It requires understanding a people geographically, demographically, culturally, spiritually, politically, historically, and linguistically helps us to understand how best to communicate the gospel, make disciples… The best way to understand the people whom you are called to serve is to get to know them. (Payne 2012, Kindle Electronic Edition: Location 1157) 

Due to the influx of migrants and media attention, many Christians, especially in Europe, voice their fear of the possibility that the Muslim refugees may actually have terrorist motives. The result is that

numerous people who came out of Islam but ended up isolated and lonely, cut off from their family. They didn’t get the welcome in the Christian community that they had hoped for. (Christians were too busy asking one another, ‘What if he’s a spy?’) Often these seekers have gone back to Islam. (Johnstone and Merrill 2016, Kindle Electronic Edition: Location 1286-1288)  

Fear, apathy, and lack of true hospitality can have eternal consequences on new arrivals. Outreach need not be proclamation alone, but rather generous hospitality and the sharing of one’s life that can lead Muslim refugees toward knowing the loving Savior. 

It is possible that many people at first feel overwhelmed when they think of opening their homes to strangers, and yet, “when strangers and hosts are from different backgrounds, the intimacy of a shared meal can forge relationships which cross significant social boundaries” (Pohl 1999, Kindle Electronic Edition: Location 827).  

The hosts are also richly blessed in that they can break out of the norm: “For most of us, the private circle of family and friends are confined to persons of the same race, economic status, and life-experiences as our own” (Palmer 1981, 41). William Willimon argues that “encounters with strangers require more brain work than meetings with friends, where our brains tell us to expend less energy and hunker down in our comfort zones among the familiar and the accustomed” (Willimon 2016, Kindle Electronic Edition: Location 357), but this is precisely what Jesus did: he broke out of the religious and social norms of his day. 

In turn, his followers must learn that:

The ‘practice of exclusion’ and the ‘language of exclusion’ go hand in hand with a whole array of emotional responses to the other, ranging from hatred to indifference; these exclusions both call forth emotional responses and are sustained by them. (Volf 1996, Kindle Electronic Edition: Location 261)

One of the most wonderful discoveries when engaging with refugees and the marginalized is that public interaction brings the stranger down to the human scale and makes our perceptions less paranoid and more realistic (Palmer 1981, 41). Hospitality to the foreigners opens new opportunities. 

In other words, “The call to follow Jesus is a call to remove from our vocabularies the phrase ‘We’ve never done it that way before’” (Payne 2012, Kindle Electronic Edition: Location 125). When engaging with refugees, the Church is offered opportunities for discovery that transforms her attitudes. 

Conclusion 

The example of Jesus and the Early Church in the Luke-Acts passages serve as a rubric for the Church today in offering hospitality to the marginalized. This biblical view of hospitality can transform and correct the current mindset of believers in Europe towards those who God has brought to their doorstep from many of the least reached people groups. 

Hospitality gives the key to forging relationships that can bear witness to the redemptive love of Jesus, while simultaneously transforming his Church to be an outward focused, welcoming body, equally transformed by the joy of knowing people who enrich the life of the Church regardless of their background. Hospitality can function as an outflow of the transformational nature of the missio Dei for those who are currently outside the reach of the Church. If we embrace the ‘foreigner’ today, this missing hospitality link can make a difference for generations to come.

References

Barrett, C. K. 1994. Acts: Volume 1: 1-14. The International Critical Commenttary. London: T & T Clark.

Bauman, Stephan. 2016. Seeking Refuge: On the Shores of the Global Refugee Crisis. Chicago: Moody Publishers.

Bock, Darrell L. 1994. Luke. The IVP New Testament Commentary Series. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press.

_____. 1996. Luke Volume 2: 9:51-25:53. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. 1955. Ethics. The Library of Philosophy and Theology. New York: Macmillan.

Bretherton, Luke. 2010. Hospitality as Holiness. Burlington, Ver.: Ashgate Publishing Company.

Bruce, F. F. 1988. The Book of the Acts. Rev. ed. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Craddock, Fred B. 1990. Luke: Interpretation: A Biblical Commentary for Teaching and Preaching. Louisville: John Knox Press.

Fernando, Ajith. 1998. Acts. The NIV Application Commentary. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan. Kindle.

Ford, J. Massyngberde. 1984. My Enemy Is My Guest: Jesus and Violence in Luke. Maryknoll, N.Y.: Orbis Books.

Green, Joel B. 1997. The Gospel of Luke. The New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Jackson, Darrell and Alessia Passarelli. 2016. Mapping Migration Mapping Churches’ Responses in Europe. Geneva, Switzerland: World Council of Churches.

Johnstone, Patrick and Dean Merrill. 2016. Serving God in a Migrant Crisis Ministry to People on the Move. Colorado Springs: Global Mapping International. Kindle.

Just, Arthur A Jr. 2003. Luke. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scritpure. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Knoppers, Gary N. 2013. Jews and Samaritans: The Origins and History of Their Early Relations. New York: Oxford University Press.

Koenig, John. 1985. New Testament Hospitality: Partnership with Strangers as Promise and Mission. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.

Legrain, Philippe. 2007. Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them. 1st ed. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

Levine, Amy-Jill. 2006. The Misunderstood Jew: The Church and the Scandal of the Jewish Jesus. 1st ed. San Francisco: Harper San Francisco.

Longenecker, Richard N. 1995. Acts. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary with the New International Version. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan.

Marshall, I. Howard. 1978. The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text. The New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Morris, Leon. 1974. The Gospel According to St. Luke: An Introduction and Commentary. 1st ed. The Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Payne, J. D. 2012. Strangers Next Door : Immigration, Migration, and Mission. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press. Kindle.

Pohl, Christine D. 1999. Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. Kindle.

Rogers, Glenn 2003. Holistic Ministry and Cross-Cultural Mission in Luke-Acts. missionandministryresources.net Mission
and Ministry Resources.

Volf, Miroslav. 1996. Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation. Nashville: Abingdon Press. Kindle.

Willimon, William H. 2016. Fear of the Other: No Fear in Love. 1st ed. Nashville: Abingdon Press. Kindle.

Yong, Amos. 2008. Hospitality and the Other: Pentecost, Christian Practices, and the Neighbor. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books. Kindle.

. . . .

Mark Cannon is pursuing his PhD in Intercultural Studies at Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in Springfield, MO. For the last ten years, he co-founded and directs a community center in a Muslim community of Madrid, Spain, that connects Christians with people in the community and refugees.

EMQ, Vol. 53, No. 3. Copyright  © 2017 Billy Graham Center for Evangelism.  aAll rights reserved. Not to be reproduced or copied in any form without written permission from EMQ editors.