Genesis 18:1-15
“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. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them and bowed down to the ground. He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little 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 hastened into the tent to Sarah and said, “Make ready quickly three measures[c] 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.
They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I be fruitful?” 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 wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh,” for she was afraid. He said, “Yes, you did laugh.””
This scene of the three visitors to Abraham’s tent at Mamre is as infused with mystery as any story we encounter in the Bible. On one level, the encounter seems ordinary: three men (there’s no indication that their appearance was unusual), tired from a long day of travel, requesting hospitality in order to facilitate their journey. While it’s certainly the case that Abraham’s actions in verses 2–8 are to be understood as commendable, they are not in any way surprising within their cultural context. As Clinton Bailey explains in his book, Bedouin Culture in the Bible (pp. 63–64):
“In addition to the goodwill that hospitality conveys, it is essential to the survival of Bedouin in the desert, enabling them to travel in its remote reaches under conditions of safety and relative comfort… Bedouin have therefore understood that hospitality in the desert is indispensable for life and thus redounds to everyone’s mutual benefit. As they say, ‘Today’s host is tomorrow’s guest.’ Hence, the reception of guests is automatic.”
So, Abraham fulfills his noble but expected obligation to host these guests, providing them every comfort that was available. At the same time, there is something extraordinary in the encounter because of the nature of the guests themselves. The text is ambiguous about their identities in a way that perhaps mirrors Abraham’s experience with them, as figures who appear ordinary initially but whose divine aura grows as he interacts with them further. In fact, they are mediators of both the presence and the plan of the LORD—this chapter follows upon the promise to Abraham that he would become a great nation and the establishment of the covenant of circumcision, and now the LORD was entering into Abraham’s world in a seemingly ordinary way—as guests in need of hospitality—in order to fulfill his promise.
This sense of the extraordinary within the ordinary is also what God demonstrates to us in the Incarnation. God with us; the presence of God in the ordinary (a baby born in a manger in Bethlehem). The message of Advent is that renewal is possible when God enters our lives, but that entering is often (always?) at a moment we do not expect.
The writer of the Book of Hebrews advises: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Heb 13:2). May we continue to do good and act faithfully in the ordinary, knowing that God can and will meet us in ways we cannot imagine or expect.