Bible Passages I Haven't Heard Preached

No. 5: A New Commentary on III John

“Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me.” -Psalm 41:9, quoted by Jesus about Judas in John 13:18.

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One summer in her university years, my wife Cheryl, was bicycled across the United States. She and a few other bikers broke off from the main group as they continued across Kansas, developing a rather ingenious method of finding good food and shelter each night. After a hard day of riding they would pedal into the next town looking for a family home next to the local church. Once they found it they would park their street bicycles in the driveway, knock on the front door, and ask whoever answered the door if they could recommend a park where they could stay for the night. Inevitably, due to the tradition of hospitality in that part of the United States, the family would invite them in for a meal and, eventually, to stay in a guest room for the night. During one homestay the host mother washed all of their clothes! My wife and her fellow bike riders had successfully adapted the practice of hospitality to their journey across the United States.

We have a similar challenge when we seek to apply 1, 2, and 3 John to our lives. The main difference is that we are not seeking the best way to receive hospitality, but to offer it! How, then, can we be both faithful and hospitable in our own lives today?

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In the last two posts, on 1 and 2 John, we have discussed the following:

• Christianity has grown well beyond “Judea and Samaria” and is beginning to move toward the “ends of the earth.”

• It was spread by itinerant ministers who left their community to share with other communities. (Luke 9:4-5, 10:5-8)

• The ancient custom of hospitality¹ was utilized to provide food and housing to the itinerant ministers.

• Some people abused this system to spread their own version of Christianity among churches that had already been started. (I John)

• The leadership urges faith communities not to show hospitality to these people because their guests would implicate them in their malfeasance. (2 John)

• So how would they know who to trust and who to offer hospitality for and who n?

• Letters of recommendation from the leadership served as bona fides.

Now another challenge has appeared among these Christians and thus a third letter, the shortest book in the Bible, is necessary.

A letter about the Elder who wrote it (vs. 1, 13-14), Gaius who received it (vs. 1-8), Diotrephes who caused it (9-10), and Demetrius who carried it (vs. 11-12)

The author of 2 John wrote the letter of 3 John to a man named Gaius in another town. By discerning the “other side” of the conversation we learn that a leader in Gaius’ village was misusing the advice in both 1 and 2 John to strengthen his control over the community of faith. Diotrephes had refused hospitality (2 John) to the associates of the Elder and said he would disfellowship (1 John) anyone who showed the Elder-approved itinerant ministers hospitality. This letter urges Gaius to accept Demetrius, who brought 3 John as a reference, regardless of what Diotrephes does.

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Whenever we strive to translate the Bible into our lives we need to look at both the general principle and the specific applications. 1,2 and 3 John are specific, real-time examples of the challenges of translating hospitality into our lives. But what are some passages showing the more general rule?

We have already mentioned Romans 12:12-13 as a general statement about hospitality in a previous post.² To this, we can add a well-known parable of Jesus, The Good Samaritan that highlights the Christian responsibility more creatively. For our purposes, I will simply highlight the question as it changes on either side of the story in Luke 10:

“But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ “(vs. 29)

“‘Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?’ The expert in the law replied, ‘The one who had mercy on him.’ Jesus told him, ‘Go and do likewise.’” (vvs. 36-37)

Jesus wants to emphasize that the issue isn’t “justifying one’s self” by offering mercy to the correct people, but whether or not we offer care and hospitality to those within our orbit, whoever they are. This includes a willingness to cross over boundaries of political and racial animosity as highlighted by the Samaritan, the arch enemies of Jesus’ people at this time in history, being the hero in the story.

Given the general and specific passages, we now turn to a real-time example in our world.

Just a few days ago, the Episcopal Church in the United States decided not to offer hospitality to the more than 59 Afrikaaner families who immigrated to the United States. Not only this, the white South Africans are the final straw breaking a four-decade relationship of assisting the U.S. government in settling immigrants in this country. According to NPR, they are taking a stand against apartheid and in support of racial justice and reconciliation.

Is this an appropriate denial of hospitality by Christians? Why or why not?

This is a test case for our challenge. What matters most for each of us are questions like,

• On what basis do you offer hospitality?

• When and why do you deny it?

• Is that in line with the general passages (add Hebrews 13:2 to the mix) and with the specific passages of 1, 2 and 3 John?

Translation is difficult. It is an “organic” work, alive with each moment of our lives. It requires creativity and innovation. Andrew Walls, one of my heroes, highlights the challenge of translating the Bible when he called it “The art of the impossible.” Yet it is this impossible art of translating hospitality, as well as other Christian habits, into our everyday lives that is our calling as followers of Jesus.

We will get it wrong at times. Getting it wrong seems to be a part of how we get it right. But remember what 1 John 1:8,9 boldly proclaims?

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

So, the question remains: How are you working to translate hospitality into your own life?

1. For example, sharing salt was a pledge of friendship among Arabs. “We had now eaten salt together, and in his own tent, and so he was bound by the strongest tie, and he knew it.” (Rob Roy on the Jordan, p. 260.

2. “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”