A Sunday School teacher asked her class, “If Jesus came to your house for dinner tonight, what would you do?” Little Emily’s hand shot up first. “I’d give Him my biggest piece of chicken!” Jacob said, “I’d let Him sit in Dad’s special chair!” The teacher turned next to little Tommy. Tommy was always a bit too honest. He thought for a moment and said, “Well, first I’d have to clean my room. Then I’d have to hide my video games. Then I’d tell my older brother to not use any swear words. And then...” The teacher smiled, “And then…what?” Tommy shrugged, “I guess, then I’d look at Him and say, ‘Jesus, are You sure You don’t want to eat next door instead?’”
This morning’s topic is hospitality, and our conversation centres upon a powerful story that is shared among our the three monotheistic faiths: Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Abraham, the father of these 3 traditions and Sarah are two of the characters in this drama. Several chapters earlier, God has called Abraham to leave his home and journey towards the promised land. The have faithfully followed the call. “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” They have left behind their homeland for God’s promise. Yet…there is a problem. The couple have not yet birthed the children through whom the faiths would unfold. It was a time of uncertainty. God had called them, yet the generations had not been birthed. And to make matters more complex, Abraham was 99 years old and Sarah was 90. They were in a time of ‘holy waiting’, if you will…waiting in the gap between God’s promise and God’s deliverance. Yet God was still there…still present…and in this text, Abraham teaches how to wait upon God’s promise.
The story unfolds in Abraham and Sarah’s home; they are in a wonderful spot with large oak trees giving them shade; they have love in their home; food on their table…yet they also wonder. They wonder how God will ever arrive and deliver the promise once made. And then God mysteriously appears. As the reader, we must read this carefully. The Lord appears to God mysteriously… hidden… not revealed (just yet). The text says: “The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. 2 He looked up and saw three men standing near him.” So, what is initially visible to Abraham is not the glorious radiance of God. But rather, what appears to Abraham are three strangers. And what unfolds is a profound teaching in the miraculous events that MIGHT occur when we host strangers with grace and care.
Many of us have participated in a “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” event through the church over the years…right? The event is quite fun. You are either a host or a guest and you have no idea who you will be meeting for dinner. The host is only told the date and time and number of guests to expect. The guests are merely told the address, date and time to show up. And what unfolds is a mysterious, wonderful surprise dinner event. You have the opportunity to meet new friends, to host new friends, and an opportunity for surprise and wonder is created.
I think a good way to look at Abraham hosting the 3 strangers in Genesis 18 is to look at it from this perspective. In the early stages of our faith…in the first book of scripture…Abraham teaches us the depth of gracious hospitality. In the passage, we see some of the characteristics of good hospitality and see the surprising results. We see that good hospitality: is extended to those whom we do not know (strangers); it is given to those who appear unexpectedly; and it follows a certain protocol (seeing the stranger, running to meet them, honoring, inviting, preparing and serving). Going through each of the features of Abraham’s hospitality, we recall that Abraham does not know who the strangers are…he simply offers it. In fact, he runs to the strangers and bows before them. Gracious hospitality extended. The strangers appear unexpectedly. The dreaded ‘pop in’. When do strange guests ever appear at a good time? In Abraham’s case, he simply looks up and there they are. Abraham’s kitchen is bare. He has no leftovers on hand. He needs to prepare food and drink. Bread is prepared, curds and milk, the calf is killed. The feast is made ready. And they eat under the shady breezes of the massive oak trees. Gracious hospitality extended. Abraham teaches us a good lesson in hospitality to strangers. And, if we were to read on further, we find the unknown surprise gifts in hospitality.
The unknown surprise occurs as we read a little bit further past Gary’s reading. The three strangers promise “you will have a son” and to that promise Sarah laughed! And the promise was complete. All because Abraham had hosted the Lord without even knowing it! Sarah’s laughter echoed through the generations as God’s promise brought forth a child: Isaac who along with Ishmael allowed the faiths to unfold. And that unfolding all started with Abraham and Sarah’s hospitality: hosting God without even knowing it!
Scripture continues to unfold with example after example of the surprise received in hospitality. The book of Hebrews stresses its importance saying “some have entertained angels without even knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2). Can we imagine forgoing that opportunity to host one of God’s angels by saying: we are too busy, we have no food, we have no time, we don’t know you? Jesus will teach towards the end of the gospel of Matthew that lack of hospitality is, in fact, grounds for judgement (Matthew 25:43).
Interestingly, all hospitality calls for is what you have. Abraham didn’t need to run to the store. He simply prepared what he had on hand. Certainly it wasn’t ready to be laid out for his guests. It took time, effort and attention. It took a posture of hospitality to welcome the guests with what he had: his resources, his time, his grace. And that was all that was needed.
Many will know that long before churches adopted this wonderful idea of community-building, “Look Who’s Coming to Dinner” was a 1967 American film by Stanley Kramer in which Joey, a young white woman, brought home her fiancé, Dr. John Prentice to meet her parents. Joey’s parents were (supposedly) liberal, upper-class and accepting; however, the twist occurs when they realize that Joey’s fiancé is black. And interracial marriage was highly controversial at the time. The story unfolds testing the hospitality of the two families: both Joey’s and John’s, that thought they were open-minded and liberal.
The challenges to hospitality continue into our modern day, don’t they? How do we affirm and fully include the 2SLGBTQIA+ community so that we can co-create something that God is blessing and affirming? How can we be a meaningful part of the ethnic diversity of Fleetwood? This are ALL changes with hospitality at the very core. How can we create welcome, inclusivity, and a space for grace in our families, in our communities, in our churches. The unknown surprise that Abraham received was the fulfillment of God’s promise and Sarah’s laughter that continues to echo throughout time. I wonder if we might happen if we lived with the faithful hospitality of Abraham and see what God’s promise might look like unto us. Of course there are considerations of safety that must be held up; however, I wonder what we might do when we meet a stranger?
We close with a story…a few winters ago, a young woman named Sarah was rushing to her downtown office, balancing a coffee in one hand and her phone in the other. She was late for a meeting, stressed about a deadline, and frustrated that her bus had been delayed by snow. At the corner of the busy street, she noticed an older man sitting on the cold sidewalk, bundled in an old coat, holding a sign that simply read: “Hungry.” Sarah glanced at him — and then quickly looked away. She had walked past people like him many times before, often with a guilty pang but rarely with a pause. But that day, something tugged at her heart. Maybe it was the cold. Maybe it was the look in his eyes. Maybe it was that whisper of a voice we sometimes hear but don’t always heed. She ducked into a nearby café, bought a hot coffee and a fresh muffin, and returned to where he sat. She knelt down — in her business suit, on the salted sidewalk — and handed him the coffee and muffin. “Hi, I’m Sarah,” she said awkwardly, realizing how strange this must look. The man looked up and smiled, a wide, weathered smile that reached his eyes. “I’m Henry. Thank you.” They talked for just a few minutes — about the weather, about where he used to work, about how he ended up there, about how hard it is to be invisible. When Sarah finally stood up to leave, Henry surprised her by saying, “God bless you, Sarah. You made my day today.” But as she walked away, coffee-less, late for her meeting, Sarah realized it was her day that had been changed. In that brief encounter — in the simple sharing of a coffee and a muffin — she had met Christ in the face of that stranger. And for the rest of that cold morning, she felt warmer inside than she could explain.
Amen