HOSPITALITY
Hospitality was an important Jewish practice. “You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt. I, the LORD, am your God” (Lev 19:34). The residents of Jerusalem used to open their houses for free to the pilgrims who came from faraway places to the Temple for worship during the three prominent pilgrim feasts. “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have; God is pleased by sacrifices of that kind” (Heb 13:16). People like Martha and Mark’s mother Mary offered a warm welcome to Jesus and his disciples to their houses, and Jesus accepted such invitations.