Genesis 18:1-21 (ESV)
And the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on, since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.” And Abraham went quickly into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quick! Three seahs of fine flour! Knead it, and make cakes.” And Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to a young man, who prepared it quickly. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them. And he stood by them under the tree while they ate. They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “She is in the tent.” The Lord said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “No, but you did laugh.” Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, I will know.”
Now this passage is a bit weird for us because we don't understand ancient Near Eastern etiquette particularly well. Hospitality in our culture, at least in the West, is not what it used to be in ancient Near Eastern times. In ancient Near Eastern times, water, rest, a lavish meal was the way in which you welcomed strangers. Hospitality played a massive part in that culture.
And in the heat of the day, here we see Abraham rushing to welcome these three travelers. And the narrative, the story, quickly shows us that this is actually the Lord, God himself, accompanied by two angels. And so in showing hospitality to these strangers, Abraham actually invites the Lord and his angels in to dine with him. And so it becomes the backdrop against which this extra blessing is set and the background against which the story reveals itself.
So in the story of Abraham, this passage is a rehashing of promises that already had been made, except this time there is now a date by which—a due date if you like—by which Sarah is going to actually have the baby. The guests announce, "This time next year Sarah will have a son." And she also, like Abraham, laughs as we heard yesterday, but the laughter she has is a different kind of laughter. This is not the laughter of great joy but the laughter of incredulity. She doesn't believe this great pronouncement that she will have a child.
And in response the Lord actually rebukes Sarah with a gentle rebuke. He says, "Is anything too hard for the Lord?" He lays bare this thin line between skepticism and faith. There is a common sense approach that we should take to life, but nothing is too great for the Lord. We should never doubt that God is able to overcome what seems impossible in our lifetime or in our human hands.
I think what's perhaps most interesting about this passage is that God here treats Abraham like a friend and he kind of lets him in on a secret. In verses 16 to 21, there's a new scene that emerges in this play. The party is heading down towards Sodom and Gomorrah. And so God kind of ponders whether he would hide his plans. But because Abraham is the chosen one, the one through whom the child of promise would come, he is treated with great blessing. And so because of that, the Lord ultimately reveals to Abraham that he is about to judge the city of Sodom and Gomorrah.
It sets the stage on the drama of what's about to happen next, which we'll look at in a little while. But it does give us this picture that God purposefully acts both here to bless and announce the child that is to come—this is Isaac—and also to announce the judgment that is to come on those who don't accept the child of promise, ultimately Jesus himself.
Now why does this matter? Well this matters because scripture shows us that everyday hospitality is a means by which someone like Abraham and Sarah actually hosted the hosts of heaven. Now it's unlikely I think in our time that we are going to host God himself, but opening our homes and opening our tables to strangers may well be the means by which God is going to bless us. It is often around the dinner table and around a hospitality showing that we can introduce people to Christ. They might come to meet God actually through our hospitality.
The second thing is that doubt doesn't disqualify us from God's grace. Here we see Sarah, she's hiding at the door of the tent and she laughs with doubt that she would actually be able to have a child. She's kind of saying, you know, "Yeah, right, this is not possible." But the Lord actually goes beyond her doubt and he does convert her laughter, her incredulity into Isaac's laughter as the child of laughter. Our doubts actually can become our testimonies over time.
Has this happened in your life? Is there a testimony that you can share where your doubt has been turned into something that ultimately glorifies God as he comes through on something that you thought would never ever happen?
The last thing I want us to think about here is how this passage points us to Christ. Well really we see that Jesus is the true visitor, the true stranger that comes to earth. In Jesus, he doesn't come to drop in for a meal. But in fact, the way he's introduced in particularly in John and the gospel of John is that he tabernacles amongst us. He comes into to tent, I guess, with us and he permanently comes to live with us. He is the ultimate revelation of God joining us at our table.
And in fact, it's not just him joining us at our table. It's him through his work, allowing us to have hospitality at God's table. It is through the work that Jesus has done that we have a seat at the table, that we are invited in to God's presence and into God's family. We are now the children of God through the work of Jesus.
Is anything too hard for the Lord? Well, this rhetorical question finds its answer in the empty tomb. It looked like everything was too hard. Jesus, God's son, had been killed and died. And yet the resurrection showed that what was seemingly impossible, humanly speaking, is not impossible for God.
Let me pray.
Lord, help us as we wrestle with the idea of hospitality and how we might share your love with those around us. Help us to open our homes and our tables so that we might share your love with them. Thank you that you came and shared your love with us, that you tabernacled with us in Jesus Christ. Help us to always look to him as the example for us to follow. We pray this in his mighty name. Amen.
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