The Holy Great-Martyr Theodore the General (286-305); the Holy Prophet Zechariah (c. 520 BC)
3 John 1:1-15; Luke 19:29-40; 22:7-39
Read 3 John 1:1-15
One of the marks of a Christian is hospitality. We open our doors, and our tables, for days at a time, to those we love and to those who work for the sake of the Gospel, and for strangers, for those in need. As Christians, we live this life in Christ radically; indeed, the world may even look at us as radicals!
John writes primarily to Gaius, most likely a presbyter in the local Christian community, about hospitality. He commended them to be hospitable to the visiting preachers. This is juxtaposed with Diot’rephes, he also most likely a presbyter, who has, it seems, embraced the beliefs of the rising gnostic communities at that time (Gnosticism is a heresy that would deny the Incarnation, that Jesus took on everything of what it means to be human—soul, spirit, body; Gnosticism denies the goodness of material things, including the human body).
It seems that today’s epistle reading and yesterday’s Gospel reading are connected. As Christians, we need to be hospitable to whoever comes before us. As we are made in the image and likeness of the Lord, all of us, when we welcome one in need, we welcome Christ.