When April and I were in seminary, part of our learning involved taking a trip to southern Mexico, to the state of Chiapas, to see what the church was like in that community. It was a long journey to get there. And our first couple of days were spent in the larger communities. Then we took a trip into one of the villages. And we visited the church there. They welcomed us with a meal. They spread the table with homemade corn tortillas, chicken, and sweetened coffee. It was a simple, yet lovely meal. Their hospitality was incredible. As I think back on that experience though, I am sad to say that I don’t remember the names of any of the women and men who provided that hospitality to us. They blessed us so richly, only to be mostly forgotten.

In our story this morning from Genesis 18, we read about Abraham’s hospitality toward these three strangers who happened by him. He sees the three men in the distance, approaching his tent. As they draw near, he invites them to stop and rest. And he offers to feed them and to have water brought that they might wash their feet. They stay. Abraham runs off to get the preparations started. Now, this is the part of the story that I think gets mostly ignored when we study this passage. Maybe not intentionally, but because we have a natural tendency to focus our attention on the main characters. We want to know what Abraham and the three visitors are doing and we don’t really notice anyone else. But I want to read verses 6-8 again and I want you to pay close attention to who else appears in this story. Listen closely:

Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. 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.

So, who did you notice? (Sarah and the servant) Sarah and the servant do all the work, right? Abraham tells them what to do, but he leaves it with them to make it happen. I’ve heard this story many times and I don’t think I ever once thought anything about Sarah’s and the servant’s roles in this story. I may have remembered the strangers talking about Sarah, but until that point, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed her. And I definitely would have taken very little note of the servant as well, perhaps even less than with Sarah because the servant is not named or known outside this story. They are forgotten, like those wonderful church members in Chiapas. But that does not mean they are not important. In fact, they may actually be the most important characters in the story. Abraham may have offered hospitality, but Sarah and the servant make that offer a reality.

There is a verse in the letter to the Hebrews chapter 13 that says, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.” And when I first read this passage and began to think about what it was saying, I immediately connected it to that passage. And I saw Abraham as the one entertaining angels without knowing it. But the more I researched this passage and the more I thought about it, my perspective began to shift. And then I came across a commentary from Dr. Lisa Davidson who said this:

Hospitality customs were a vital part of the culture of the ancient near east. The people followed these customs as formal, even sacred, codes of conduct. The environment of the desert and arid land in most of the Middle East is harsh. For a traveler, access to water and food was a matter of life and death. Also, they needed a safe place to spend the night, and there was no Motel 6 to leave the light on for you. Without the hospitality of strangers, a traveler could die. When one invited a guest into their home, the host was required to provide that person with food, water, and safety.

Many preachers and interpreters have used this text to lift up Abraham as the epitome of hospitality, but we may need to abandon that image from a close reading of the story. While he does make the invitation to the strangers, he does very little of the work to provide them with food to eat. First, he runs to the tent and tells Sarah to make cakes, and then Abraham gives the fatted calf to a servant who slaughters and prepares the meat. Then Abraham presents the meal to the guests as if it was all his doing and gets the credit for being such a great host.

Abraham was credited as the host, the one providing the hospitality, but it was Sarah and the servant who did all the work. So, then, if this passage is not about the hospitality of Abraham, what are we to take from it? I think there are two things that stand out to me. And for each, I want to recommend an image for us to add to the scrapbook of our faith that we’ve been making for the past few weeks.

So, first, I’m reminded of all the people who contribute to the things we use and enjoy every single day. The people behind the scenes who make the parts for our phones, our cars, our food, our entertainment, the soap we wash with, the towels we clean with, the yarn we knit with, and so much more. It’s so easy to take for granted that those things just are available to us in the store whenever we want them. And we forget about all the people that had a hand in making that stuff. So, what can we do about that? We obviously can’t trace every product we buy back to all the people who had a hand in getting it to us. But I think the first step is recognizing that those hands exist and remembering that behind every product or service is a person or people who matter and deserve to be treated with respect and to be valued. But along with that, we can also be kind and courteous to people, no matter what their job, no matter what their relationship to us, no matter even how they treat us.

The gospel text in the lectionary this week is about Mary sitting and Jesus’ feet and Martha upset that Mary is not up helping her serve. And in that story, Jesus tells Martha that Mary is doing the better part and Martha is too worried and distracted. But I don’t think Jesus is commenting on Martha choosing to serve over choosing to sit at Jesus’ feet. I think he is commenting on priorities and the posture of the heart. But Jesus makes it clear in his ministry that serving is important. And I think Jesus is trying to tell Martha that she is not invisible. He sees her and he values her. In fact, he wants to give her rest from her worries and distractions. He says to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” What can we do to give value and rest to others, both those who we know and love and those who we don’t know but who we are called to love anyway. That might be the person bagging our groceries or the person serving our meal at the restaurant or our neighbor who just moved in. We are called to love others and that means valuing them and offering them rest. There are many ways we might do that. But for our scrapbook, I think we might include a picture of a tree to remind us to rest in the God’s shadow and to invite others into that rest as well.

The other thing I think we can take from this passage in Genesis 18 has to do with Sarah. Now, we know who Sarah is. And we know from reading on in Genesis that she does in fact have the baby that these strangers foretell her having. But it is interesting how she is mostly kept out of this part of the story…a part of the story that quite directly pertains to her. Why do you think that is? Dr. Davidson talks about it this way: 

Focusing on Sarah, both the writers of Genesis and the Revised Common Lectionary committee have made certain that she remains off stage. The selection for this Sunday ends in verse 10a, leaving Sarah at the entrance of the tent, just as the storytellers leave her on the margins. After helping to prepare the food for the guests, Sarah does not get to enjoy the meal. Even more problematic is that the conversation between Abraham and the visitors directly concerns Sarah and her well-being. The guests announce that Sarah will have a child “in due season,” even though she is over 90 years old and well past childbearing age. Many have imagined that Sarah would have been joyful about becoming a mother. Would she have felt that way?

I think that is a valid question. Would she have been excited about being pregnant at 90? I don’t know many 90 year olds today who’d be excited to be pregnant. And as Dr. Davidson said, this is the first Sarah is hearing this news. And she’s not even being told directly. How often do we make decisions for others or that deeply impact others without consulting them first? Maybe we make them already knowing the impact they might have on others or maybe we make them without even considering how those affected might feel. And those decisions can have really painful results.

If I were to select an image for our scrapbook page to encompass this idea, I think I might choose a door. I would choose that partly because Sarah was standing in the doorway of the tent when she heard the news, but also because doorways are like decisions, we don’t always know what is on the other side and we have to decide whether to go in or not. And that decision might have an impact on others besides just us. So, we need to consider those decisions wisely.

Hebrews says that we should show hospitality to others because we never know when we might be entertaining angels unaware. And that is true. It is also true that we don’t always know when our entertaining of strangers might have an impact on others around us and we must be aware of those impacts as well. And we must be careful that in showing hospitality to the stranger, that we don’t trample on others. It’s a balancing act, as are most things in life. But one we must take care to keep in balance and the focal point for that balance is love. All of the things we do should be based in love. That doesn’t mean we won’t make mistakes and hurt people. But we should always seek to love and to make right on the times we hurt others…as best we can. And learn from them, so we can love better in the future. And in doing so, may we find favor with God. Amen!