Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64“It won’t kill you to come with us this one time. Your friends will be around when you get back. I’ve packed a great lunch with your favorites— Tapia fish and flatbread.” He’d never seen so many people gathered at one time. After listening to Jesus speak, it was clear why so many were there. There was power behind His words. As He finished His talk, Jesus said, “There are a lot of hungry people here. Who has something to share with the rest of us?” Most people had brought at least a little bit of food, but no one volunteered to share theirs. His parents gave him the “eye”—code for, “Hold onto your lunch. You don’t have enough to share.” It was confusing—how could people not want to give what they had after hearing Jesus speak? It was hard to believe, but no one was willing to share what he had, even if it wasn’t much. One of the guys who came with Jesus walked by to ask who had food to share. “It’s not much, but you can have mine if it would help.” That little boy did something that is as rare now as it was in his day. He showed radical hospitality. “Go after God…do good…be extravagantly generous” (1 Timothy 6:18). In general, hospitality is a force that changes everyone it touches. Then there’s “radical hospital- ity.” We call this type “radical” because it requires the very life of God to succeed. Much of what Jesus did in His three-year ministry was that kind of hospitality. He went from day to day and from person to person to bring what He called “The Kingdom of God.” Radical hospitality is just that—offering His life-giving presence to others. To bring His life to others means we need to climb out on a limb. At times it even calls for us to go out to the twigs. Frederick W. Faber said, “Kindness has converted more sinners than zeal, eloquence, or learning.” I ran across a verse I’d read dozens of times but never caught on to the root of it. It was an eye-popping moment when I “got it” with Romans 2:4: “The kindness of God…brings a radical life change” (NASB and MSG). Of the thousands present, that little boy seems to be the only one who understood the idea that God is the source of all we need. He is the provider of lunch, whether it’s a boy’s sack lunch or a buffet for thousands. To flow with the hospitality of God, we need to understand God’s part and ours. Our job is to pay attention to those He puts on our path. His is to cover the bills. Chances are the crowd didn’t want to share because they couldn’t see the equation. As far as they could tell, they were barely surviving themselves. What business did they have giving away what they had that was barely enough to survive on? That’s true. If we are clear-thinking people, it’s 24 WWW.AGRM.ORG MARCH/APRIL 2017 Radical hospitality flows from God’s heart through us, then out to the lives of others. It’s the “kindness of God” that changes lives— both those who receive it and those who carry it.