THE BLESSING OF HOSPITALITY

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Once safely on shore, we found out that the island was called Malta. The islanders showed us unusual kindness. They built a fire and welcomed us all because it was raining and cold.

Acts 28:1-2

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As Acts 27 ended, we found all 276 people who were onboard the grounded, destroyed Alexandrian ship making it to the shores of a nearby island, either swimming or using parts of the shattered wooden vessel to float ashore. It was a massive miracle given that shipwrecks typically produced numerous casualties in biblical days and the Alexandrian ship was minus its lifeboat. But God is in the business of miracles and we know He assured Paul through an angel that he would make it to Rome to “stand before Caesar” and the lives of all those sailing with him would be protected.

God said it would happen and it did happen because He always perfectly keeps His promises. The rescue and deliverance of the shipwrecked crew and passengers at the end of Acts 27 is just one more of many examples of this in the scriptures.

And so we move to the final chapter in the Book of Acts with 276 people stranded on an island, quite some distance away from the country of Italy and its capital city of Rome. The people have nothing but the proverbial clothes on their backs. They have no food and they are unfamiliar with the island they are on, an island they learn is called Malta.

Well, God had promised that Paul would make it to Rome and he would watch over all the people with him on that journey, and we already remembered the truth that God always keeps his promises. So it should come of little surprise that things would quickly work out for the shipwreck survivors. They didn’t have to scavenge the island for food or worry about shelter from the elements. No, God sent them all the blessing of hospitality.

Now I’m sure that you, like me, have gone on trips before to visit family. Likewise, family has come to visit my wife and me on many occasions. Either way, the hosts always go out of their way to ensure their guests are cared for. Nice sleep arrangements are provided. Meals are cooked and served. And there is always sensitivity to the needs of those visiting. It’s an exercise in selfless service and sacrifice, a true blessing from God as He cares for the needs of His beloved through others.

As we go back to the opening verses of Acts 28, we see where hospitality is not just a present day occurrence. Read the entire Bible and you will find consistent accounts of people visiting places and being taken care of by others, sometimes total strangers which actually can make biblical hospitality even better than what we know now in the 21st century because ask yourself this:

How many people today would welcome people they don’t know into their home and provide them food and lodging?

I’m afraid it would be very few.

But this wasn’t the case on Malta and the reaction and response from the islanders was nothing short of amazing. Think about it. These people didn’t venture out to too many places and they rarely had visitors, I would imagine. Malta wasn’t exactly a hot spot in the Mediterranean Sea. In fact, the only place this island is mentioned in the scriptures is here in Acts 28. That’s it.

With this, you may expect the islanders to be standoffish, socially isolating themselves from the people who showed up on their island uninvited. Further, you wouldn’t have been surprised if they attacked the invaders, protecting their home territory and eliminating what they may have perceived to be a threat.

But none of these things happened. For the scriptures tell us that the native “islanders showed” Paul and the others “unusual kindness”, building them a fire and welcoming them with open arms. It was a warm welcome, both literally and figuratively, and a real blessing to the marooned passengers of the destroyed Alexandrian ship as we read where the weather on Malta was rainy and cold.

Coming ashore on an island foreign to them, the 276 survivors had to be wondering if they had just escaped death only to face it all over again, trying to fend for themselves off the land. But God, true to His promises, brought them the blessing of hospitality and I’m sure Paul and all the others were eternally grateful.

So Paul was stranded on Malta and far from Rome, the place he knew God had him destined to visit. How would he get from where he was to where God wanted him to be? And further, why did God put him on Malta in the first place?

We’re going to find answers to those questions over the next few messages and I hope you’ll come back as we finish up our study of this book, the book of Acts which shows us how the Christian church got established.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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