The Hospitality of God

Luke portrays the life and ministry of Jesus as a divine "visitation" to the world, seeking hospitality. The One who comes as visitor and guest becomes host and offers a hospitality in which the entire world can become truly human, be at home, and know salvation in the depths of their hearts. In this new edition of The Hospitality of God, Brendan Byrne, SJ, provides to-the-point commentary on those parts of Luke's gospel that bring home to people a sense of the extravagance of God's love for them.

The Hospitality of God approaches Luke's gospel through the interpretive key of "hospitality." It looks at the gospel as a whole, yet lingers upon scenes where the theme of hospitality is particularly prominent, such as the infancy stories, Jesus at Nazareth, Jesus in the house of Simon, the Good Samaritan, Martha and Mary, the banquet in 14:1-35, the Prodigal Son, Jesus' visit to the tax collector Zacchaeus, the institution of the Eucharist, and the Emmaus event.

This revised edition includes a new introductory chapter titled "Features of Luke's Gospel," which includes distinctive themes and motifs of the gospel that invite all to join in the life-giving hospitality of God. This revised edition is an excellent resource for students, teachers, and pastors interested in Luke's gospel or in search of a helpful perspective for pastoral and homiletic reflection and preparation.

Brendan Byrne, SJ, is a professor of New Testament at Jesuit Theological College, within the United Faculty of Theology, Parkville, Melbourne, Australia. He is the author of Romans (1996) from the Sacra Pagina series, Galatians and Romans (2010), A Costly Freedom: A Theological Reading of Mark's Gospel (2008), Lifting the Burden: Reading Matthew's Gospel in the Church Today (2004), and Life Abounding: A Reading of John's Gospel (2014), published by Liturgical Press.