Jesus spoke liberation to the “ptochos,” neighbors pressed down by poverty systems. (Lk. 6:20-23; 12:22-34). Jesus often brought attention to them when talking with others (Mk. 10:21; 12:41-44; Lk. 14:13-14; 16:19-31). His relentless commitment to extending God’s hospitality to them and others labeled “sinners” was controversial and outside of the social, political, and religious norms. In part it’s why Jesus stayed in trouble (Lk. 7:31-34).

There are moments when it seems his disciples struggled to catch the vision of how God’s abundance opens up God’s hospitality. Their desire for group-identity and social connections based upon commonalities revealed a kind of exclusionary posture within them. You see it when they wanted to keep children away from bothering Jesus (Mk. 10:13-16) or when they side-eye’d the guy casting out demons in Jesus’ name but was not a part of their local group (Mk. 9:38-41; Lk. 9:49-50). You see it in the shock they felt as they saw Jesus talking to a Samaritan woman at a well (Jn. 4:27) or how they wrestled with the boundaries and limits of forgiveness (Mt. 18:21-22). Each time you hear Jesus’ response you catch a common theme: trust God’s abundance, see how freely God welcomes you into the Kingdom, and extend that same welcome to others (Mk. 9:40; 10:15; Jn. 4:34-38; Mt. 18:22). And if he offered these responses in public, which it seems he did for at least three of them, those within ear shot would know that no one is beyond the reach of God’s provision and welcome.

Jesus’ teaching on loving enemies, what could be seen as the most subversive expression of God’s hospitality and abundance, makes this particularly clear. As my mentor and friend Dr. Arthur Sutherland has written, “This gladness takes us to the heart of christian hospitality: I see the stranger, even the armed and threatening enemy, and because I know that Christ has died and been raised for both of us, the final and ultimate seriousness of their threat is taken away.” (I Was A Stranger: A Christian Theology of Hospitality, 38.)

I bet his followers and hearers liked this teaching on loving enemies about as much as many do today. Nothing pokes at false allegiances to nation-states than the summons to love enemies rather than kill them.