Introduction
"There are beautiful furnishings, beautiful sofas, beautiful tables, a beautiful counter, but these things don't welcome people. It takes people to welcome people." Antonio Morra preaches just as his church has carefully fitted out a welcome room. He recalls a study carried out in American churches: a person who comes for the first time forms an idea of what they will receive within the first ten or fifteen minutes, well before the preaching and well before the worship.
The room is not a project: it expresses what the church wants to be. To show this, the preacher reads the whole third letter of John, fifteen verses that fit on a single page in most Bibles. Two men are set face to face in it: Gaius, who welcomes, and Diotrephes, who shuts the door. His question runs through the whole message: Gaius or Diotrephes?
Outline of the Message
1. Gaius Welcomes Even Those He Doesn't Know
- The apostle John writes to Gaius, whom the preacher presents as an elder of the church. He calls him "beloved" four times.
- In verse 5, John writes to him: "you do a faithful work in whatever you accomplish toward the brothers and strangers." Antonio Morra invites us to pause on those last words.
- It is easy to welcome those we know, friends and family: even people who don't know the Lord do that. The strength of the church is knowing how to receive those who are not yet part of the family.
- The Greek word translated "hospitality" is philoxenia: love of the stranger, of the one who is different, of the one who is not like me.
- "Biblical hospitality begins exactly where our comfort zone ends." It doesn't rule out our friendships, but it pushes us toward people with whom there is no natural affinity. We do it out of obedience, and we discover great richness.
- Gaius didn't advertise himself. If his testimony reached John, it is because the brothers "testified about your love before the assembly" (verse 6).
- "True hospitality tells its own story." Those who were warmly welcomed talk about it, because they felt that warmth.
- Those who were badly received talk about it too. If someone treats you badly at their home, in an office or at the hospital, it stays with you, all the more when a crisis is already under way.
2. Welcoming in a Way Worthy of God
- John adds: "You will do well to send them forward on their journey in a way worthy of God." Not according to your means, not with what is left over, but in a way worthy of God.
- "Christian hospitality is not measured by what you can give, but by what God tells you to do."
- The preacher testifies that God has sometimes pushed him beyond his abilities, his means and his desires, notably to bless someone financially, with sums that were hard to give at that moment. He adds that this applies to time and energy too.
- In verse 8, John concludes: "We therefore ought to receive such, that we may be fellow workers for the truth." Gaius didn't write a letter and perhaps wasn't a great preacher, but through his welcome he became a co-worker of the truth.
- A hug, a greeting, a coffee, an aperitif, a lunch or a dinner in the home groups can open people's minds and hearts to the truth. Hospitality brings down great barriers and prejudices. "Do you have problems with someone in your building? Bake them a cake and take it over."
- A woman once said to the preacher's wife: "I'd like to argue with you, but I can't. You're too kind."
- Preparing the space, cleaning, setting two chairs around a table: this is not a secondary service. Some will listen to the Word with an open heart because a look or a smile will have brought down years of prejudice against Jesus and his church.
3. Diotrephes, the One Who Loves to Be First
- Verse 9: "I wrote to the assembly, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, doesn't accept what we say." Many scholars think he had hidden John's letter, while the apostle was probably the only one, or nearly so, of the Twelve still alive.
- In verse 10, John describes his attitude. He rejects authority. He spreads malicious words: when you shut the door on someone, you need to justify yourself, and it is easy to do so by speaking ill of the person. The Greek word can also be translated as words of envy.
- He doesn't receive the brothers, and he stops those who would like to. The preacher recalls his message on allēlōn, "one another": "There is no neutral ground." Either you sow blessing, or you sow evil words.
- A church that doesn't welcome becomes a closed, stagnant circle that ends up dying. "John wasn't worried that the world doesn't welcome; he was worried when the church doesn't welcome."
- The Greek word used for Diotrephes, philoprōteuō, appears only once in the New Testament: the one who loves to be first, who loves preeminence. Like philoxenia, it contains the root philo, love. "Welcome reveals what you love: others or yourself."
4. When We Love Ourselves Above Others
- Loving yourself is not bad: Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself. Diotrephes' problem is that he loved himself to the point of placing himself above others. He loved to be seen, to be noticed, to climb onto a pedestal.
- "When you love yourself too much, more than others, then every other person becomes a threat." The preacher takes his own example: if God sends someone who, after a few years, has a powerful preaching of the Word, the leaders must make room for them, even if that means giving up the pulpit.
- Someone who welcomes doesn't just receive: they recognize what is in people, even what is not yet visible but what God reveals.
- Should we welcome without discernment? "No, no, no." But good discernment doesn't only see what is wrong, it sees what God has placed there. The question is not "what is this person taking from me?" but "how can I serve them better?"
- Jesus was very welcoming. His great battles were not with sinners, but with the scribes and Pharisees who thought they were better than others and had the same spirit as Diotrephes.
- Nobody will admit to being like Diotrephes. That spirit hides in exclusion, in judging the newcomer who is different, in the look that sizes someone up because they aren't dressed the way we think appropriate. "These things have done damage in the church that you cannot imagine."
- "Welcome is one thing, transformation is another." It is neither you nor I who transform, it is God. The world says "come as you are"; the church adds: "and God will transform you." Christ died for us while we were still sinners.
- John says to Gaius, perhaps for fear that he might fall into the same trap: "Beloved, don't imitate that which is evil, but that which is good. He who does good is of God. He who does evil hasn't seen God" (verse 11).
- What Diotrephes was doing was not a mere personality trait. "Wanting to be first is an evil in the church."
- The preacher hears John saying: "I have seen God. I walked three years with Jesus. He washed feet, he went to the prostitutes. I laid my head on his chest, I touched him. And he is not like that."
5. Accept One Another as Christ Accepted You
- Romans 15:7: "Therefore accept one another, even as Christ also accepted you, to the glory of God." The church in Rome was cosmopolitan, like Milan, New York or Shanghai today: believers from a Jewish background who knew the law well, and others saved out of paganism. Another preacher of the church had already developed this point well.
- The verb is proslambanō: to take to oneself, to draw close, to bring into one's circle. In the previous chapter, Paul already writes: "Now accept one who is weak in faith" (Romans 14:1), in order to accept and not to judge.
- Paul gives the command and the measure: as Christ accepted us. "The measure is always God."
- In Luke 15, people criticize Jesus: "This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them." One of the most beautiful descriptions of Jesus is a criticism, and for us it is a liberation: friend of sinners. He gathered fishermen, a tax collector and a zealot, two men who would have killed each other, and he sat at their table, when the table was a place of fellowship in the Jewish world.
- The goal? The glory of God. Not numerical growth, nor the church's image, nor having a welcome room like everyone else. "Our welcome is a preaching without a pulpit."
6. The First Christians Known for Their Welcome
- Around the year 125, Aristides of Athens, a philosopher who had converted, wrote a defense of the Christian faith for the emperor. He speaks neither of buildings nor of political influence, but of their way of life: Christians do not abandon widows or orphans, and when they see a stranger, they bring him under their roof and rejoice over him "as over a true brother," for they do not call themselves brothers according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.
- "We are brothers and sisters not because we were born of the same human blood, but because we were born of the same heavenly Father." And this Father has very wide arms.
- In the fourth century, Basil of Caesarea, in Cappadocia, sold the goods he had inherited to feed the hungry and strangers during a terrible famine. He had a complex built outside the city to welcome the poor, the sick, travelers and even lepers, whom he is said to have cared for with his own hands. A friend described it as a new city; many historians see in it the first hospital.
- Basil wrote: "The clothes you keep at home belong to those who are naked. The shoes you leave to rot belong to those who go barefoot. The money you keep hidden belongs to those in need."
- The Latin word hospes, the host, gave us "hospital." Without great means, these Christians had understood that someone who suffers must be welcomed, and that warmth sometimes matters as much as the remedy. "I am the first to be far from Basil," the preacher confesses, "but the same word they read, we read too."
7. A House of Gaius or a House of Diotrephes
- In the welcome room, in homes, in groups, in the street, when someone knocks at the door, the question remains the same: Gaius or Diotrephes?
- You don't necessarily become Diotrephes on purpose. It is enough to stay always with the same people while the person who comes for the first time stays in a corner with no one speaking to them.
- In Naples, people are known for the "shall I make you a coffee?" It is a way of saying: relax, make yourself at home.
- The preacher leaves three simple commitments: arrive a little early to enjoy fellowship and welcome those who are there; stay to get to know people, exchange a few words, smile; help your friends and loved ones feel included, far from easy judgments.
Key Takeaways
- It takes people to welcome people: furniture doesn't replace a welcoming heart.
- Biblical hospitality, philoxenia, begins where your comfort zone stops and is measured by what God asks of you.
- Welcome reveals what you love: others, like Gaius, or the first place, like Diotrephes.
- Welcoming is not transforming: your role is to welcome, and God is the one who transforms.
- You are called to welcome others as Christ welcomed you, to the glory of God.
Personal Application
- Whom have you welcomed recently outside your usual circle of friends and family?
- When you give your time, your energy or your money, do you go by your means or by what God asks of you?
- Is there a bit of Diotrephes in you: the desire to be seen, the fear that someone else will take your place, a look that judges the newcomer?
- Who in your building, your workplace or your church could you invite for a coffee or a meal this week?
- Which of the three proposed commitments (arrive early, stay to get acquainted, include your loved ones) will you put into practice next Sunday?
Verses Cited
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are Gaius and Diotrephes in the third letter of John?
They are two men of the church, Gaius an elder and Diotrephes probably a leader too, whom the apostle John sets face to face. Gaius, whom he calls "beloved" four times, faithfully welcomes the brothers, even strangers. Diotrephes, who loves to be first, refuses to receive the apostle and his messengers, spreads malicious words and drives out of the church those who would like to welcome them.
What does hospitality mean according to the Bible?
The Greek word is philoxenia: love of the stranger, of the one who is not like me. For Antonio Morra, human hospitality stays within the circle of people we feel comfortable with. Biblical hospitality begins where our comfort zone ends, and it is measured by what God asks, not by our means.
Should we welcome everyone without discernment?
No, discernment is necessary. But good discernment doesn't consist only in seeing what is wrong in people. It also consists in seeing what God has placed in them that has not yet appeared. Welcoming is one thing, transformation is another, and it is God who transforms.