In Christ’s parable about the sheep and goats (Mt. 25:31-46), the punchline may strike us as odd. The division between the saved and the damned hinges on who showed hospitality.
I had occasion to reflect on this parable recently when listening to a lecture from the late Christine D. Pohl. Presented at the Henry Center back in 2013, Pohl convincingly demonstrated that hospitality is an organizing motif throughout the redemptive-historical narrative, even forming a backdrop for the gospel. Moreover, she also discussed how the earliest theological disputes—the identity of the covenant community, the conflict with the Judaizers, even justification by faith—were all worked out within the context of hospitality.