Proper 6 / Pentecost 4 / OT 11
Devotional
Water From the Well
Lectionary Devotional For Cycle A
Object:
Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?...
-- Genesis 18:14
This mysterious story of Abraham meeting God at the oaks of Mamre has become an important text for Christians. In Hebrews 13:2, Christians were told, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." The offering of hospitality was a central ethic in both the Old and New Testaments. In Luke 24:13-33, it was through the offering of hospitality to a stranger that they encountered the risen Christ. Abraham went to elaborate means to offer hospitality to the three strangers that had come to him. There is no indication that he was aware that there was any transcendental quality to the strangers that had come to him. Yet, it was because of his act of offering hospitality that he discovered that God was addressing him. As people would repeatedly discover throughout the scripture, just because God addressed you did not mean that everything made sense. When God, in the form of one of the strangers (or perhaps all three), told Abraham that Sarah would become pregnant, Sarah overheard them and thought that the promised child was an impossibility. As often happens to people when they hear the promises of God in light of the practical realities of life, Sarah laughed. In a society that is increasingly fearful of strangers, we risk missing the experience of the divine and discovering the power of resurrection in our lives.
-- Genesis 18:14
This mysterious story of Abraham meeting God at the oaks of Mamre has become an important text for Christians. In Hebrews 13:2, Christians were told, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it." The offering of hospitality was a central ethic in both the Old and New Testaments. In Luke 24:13-33, it was through the offering of hospitality to a stranger that they encountered the risen Christ. Abraham went to elaborate means to offer hospitality to the three strangers that had come to him. There is no indication that he was aware that there was any transcendental quality to the strangers that had come to him. Yet, it was because of his act of offering hospitality that he discovered that God was addressing him. As people would repeatedly discover throughout the scripture, just because God addressed you did not mean that everything made sense. When God, in the form of one of the strangers (or perhaps all three), told Abraham that Sarah would become pregnant, Sarah overheard them and thought that the promised child was an impossibility. As often happens to people when they hear the promises of God in light of the practical realities of life, Sarah laughed. In a society that is increasingly fearful of strangers, we risk missing the experience of the divine and discovering the power of resurrection in our lives.
