“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’"
-Matthew 25: 34-40
Whenever I read this passage or scripture like this, I wonder what exactly hospitality looks like in our world today. I think to myself all the time that it is hard to feed the hungry and welcome the strangers in the same way that Jesus did and that Jesus wants for us to. I think of all the differences between that day and age and now and am convinced that there is no way to show that kind of hospitality these days.
Well, now I can bite my tongue. Because this weekend I realized how wrong that is-how wrong I have been to think that showing Jesus's love and hospitality in our normal lives is unattainable. Not because I learned what it meant to clothe and feed and house the needy--but because I was on the receiving end of such hospitality.
Coming from California all the way to Georgia in a school where 91% of the more than 35,000 students come from the state of Georgia. People are born and bred Bulldawg fans and wait their whole life to come to UGA. And then when they get here, oftentimes they go home for the weekends. On long weekends like this for Labor Day, it seems that not a soul hung around the Classic City. On the contrary, everyone gets out of town fast enough that they can eat home cooked meals, have their laundry done for them, shower and sleep in their own home and spend time with the family. Now I love my school and the beautiful state of Georgia and would never change a thing about my college experience, but weekends like these make it hard to be an out of stater. When weekends like these roll around, I itch to go home and be fed and loved on by family just as much as the next person. I just never have the option.
I do have family down in south Georgia I visit a couple of times a semester and being close to them has truly been a blessing the past few years. But this year for Labor Day, everyone had big plans to go home or visit family or go somewhere and do something. It seemed every single UGA student did-except for me. By the end of the week though, I too was leaving Athens. I too was headed to a home and a family and a bed and a home-cooked meal like everyone else. One of my best friends invited me and a group of girls home for the weekend-an opportunity I literally jumped at. Her family fed me, gave me somewhere to sleep and watch Georgia football, hang out at the lake and enjoy time spent at home and away from school.
All weekend, I just couldn't get it out of my head. Jesus answered my prayer for somewhere to belong for the weekend and showed me that despite my convinced stubbornness that His hospitality is not revealed on a daily basis, His love is, in fact, everywhere. This is not the first time I have been invited and welcomed into the home of strangers for the night or for a weekend and fed and loved and I know it will not be the last, but my eyes were finally opened to the reason and the man behind it all. And for that, I am truly blessed, humbled and thankful.
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