The Hospitality of God: A Reading of Luke’s Gospel

Luke portrays the life and ministry of Jesus as a divine visitation” to the world, seeking hospitality. The One who comes as visitor and guest becomes host and offers a hospitality in which the entire world can become truly human, be at home, and know salvation in the depths of their hearts. In The Hospitality of God Brendan Byrne, SJ, provides to-the-point commentary on those parts of Luke’s Gospel that bring home to people a sense of the extravagance of God’s love for them. The Hospitality of God approaches Luke’s Gospel through the interpretive key of “hospitality.” It looks at the Gospel as a whole, yet lingers upon scenes where the theme of “hospitality” is particularly prominent, such as the infancy stories, Jesus at Nazareth, Jesus in the house of Simon, the Good Samaritan, Martha and Mary, the banquet in 14:1-35, the Prodigal Son, Jesus’ visit to the tax collector Zacchaeus, the institution of the Eucharist, and the Emmaus event. Byrne stresses that those in Luke’s Gospel who readily offer hospitality – chiefly the marginalized and the poor – find themselves drawn into a much deeper sphere of hospitality, the hospitality of God. Those who have difficulty sharing are challenged by Jesus to conversion so that they, too, may not be left out of the banquet of life to which God calls all human beings. Luke’s Gospel, ever interested in the process of human transformation, explores this resistance to God’s gift and the ways in which individuals need to be converted if they are to come to “knowledge of salvation.” Luke’s Gospel is written out of faith in the risen Lord. Its primary intent is to bring people of al subsequent Christian generations into saving encounter with the Lord who was raised from the dead and lives among us in the power of the Spirit. Reading and hearing the Gospel in faith allows individuals and communities to access the hospitality of God brought by Jesus. In this work, Byrne offers an invitation for all to join in the life-giving “hospitality of God.” Chapters are “The 1:1-4 and the Lukan Time Frame of Salvation,” “The Infancy Stories Before the Birth of 1:5-80,” “The Infancy Stories The Birth and Childhood of 2:1-52,” “Prelude to the Ministry of 3:1-4:13,” “Hospitality and Inhospitality at Jesus Inaugurates His 4:16-30,” “The Early Galilean 4:31-6:11,” “The Community of the 6:12-49,” “Response to the Ministry of 7:1-8:3,” “Later Galilean 8:4-9:17,” “Climax of the Galilean 9:18-50,” “The Journey to Jerusalem 9:51-10:24,” “The Way to Eternal 10:25-11:13,” “The Prophet Continues His Way 11:14-12:53,” “The Prophet Continues His Way 12:54-14:35,” “Celebrating God’s 15:1-32,” “The Hospitality of the Two Responses to 16:1-31,” “Towards the End of the 17:1-18:30,” “Hospitality in 18:31-19:27,” “Jesus in 19:28-21:4,” “Hope and Discourse on the 21:5-38,” “Jesus’ Journey to The Passion Narrative 22:1-53,” “Jesus’ Journey to The Passion Narrative 22:54-23:56,””Hospitality The Community of the Risen 24:1-53.”