“No Vacancy.” Those words on a neon sign discouraged my family as we traveled late into the night when I was a child. Where do we go when we find there is “no room in the inn”? One of my family members is a Free Mason. He says he can go anywhere in the world and find a place to stay along with monetary support, if he needs help. A simple handshake binds the community together. They share an implicit promise of hospitality to others whom they have never met. I confess I do not know much about freemasonry, but I am reporting what I have heard.
After Paul took his belt back from the prophet Agabus, and revealed his intention to go up to Jerusalem, even if it cost him his life, he and his companions set out to go “up” to Jerusalem. Geographically they were heading south, but topographically, from Caesarea by the sea, they were moving up to the mountains which surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Absent a security detail, Paul found comfort in the company of fellow disciples. Like Tolkien’s character Samwise Gamgee who would not let Frodo travel to Mordor alone, these followers of Jesus took the journey with Paul. If he was headed to trouble, they were going with him.
Before there were masons, in Jerusalem there was Mnason. He was one of the early disciples. To his house the disciples from Caesarea led Paul, Luke, and their companions. Christian hospitality goes back two thousand years. Mnason surely knew about Paul’s past as a persecutor of his people. He had seen Paul wreak havoc in the church. Following the example of Ananias and Philip before him, Mnason opened his heart and home to Paul.
As a young single pastor, I was welcomed into the homes of so many of our members. Tommy and Jerry Smith opened a prophet’s room for me. I could always find supper and a Dr. Pepper at Ann and Alvin Marek’s home. The Hudsons and Walstons made space for me more than once. Rosaria Butterfield has written a book titled, “The Gospel comes with a housekey.” As followers of a Savior who owned the world, yet had no place to lay his head, we open our hearts and homes to fellow believers. Some in our church have welcomed foreign exchange students into their homes. Let no other organization offer better hospitality than the disciples of Jesus. May our lives embody the teaching of our Lord who said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28-29).
