Sunday, July 20th 2025
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Series C (Proper 11C)
Text: Genesis 18:1-14
Sermon Audio
As we gather… The author of Hebrews writes, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Hebrews 13:2). Perhaps he had Genesis 18 in mind when writing this verse. Certainly it was not merely an angel that visited Abraham that day. Our text reads, “The Lord (Yahweh) appeared to [Abraham] by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day.” We see the hospitality that Abraham shows the Lord as he visits him. At the end, the Lord leaves Abraham a blessing, promising that Sarah will bear a child even when she is too old to do so naturally. In the same way, we see Mary and Martha hosting Jesus in our Gospel text. Martha is distracted with much serving and she fails to see the blessing that Jesus leaves behind, namely, His word. As the Lord serves us through Word and Sacrament, we can show hospitality to others, serving Christ in our fellow human being.
Some of our best memories are from gathering with friends or family around a dinner table or sitting in the living room with a favorite drink. The hospitality we show others as well as the hospitality shown to us makes for some of the most enjoyable moments of our life as we not only eat and drink together, but share in life together. The Lord gets that, and we see numerous examples of the saints of old showing hospitality and being shown hospitality in the Bible. THE LORD HIDES HIMSELF IN HOSPITALITY SO HE CAN BLESS US.
As we go through this sermon, I don’t have any cute analogies or illustrations, I’m just going to teach you from the Bible in three points, and for each sub-point, I am going to tell you how it applied to Abraham in our Old Testament Lesson, how it applied to Christ throughout His ministry, and finally, how it applies to us. First, I. The Lord hides Himself in everyday ways.
Our text begins: “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.” However, in the next verse we read, “He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing in front of him.” It would appear that the Lord came to Abraham not necessarily as a fearsome being of pure energy or of radiant light, but as a being that for all intents and purposes was normal.
In the Old Testament we see the Lord appear to the saints of old. Sometimes He is called the messenger of the Lord, but in other places, He is called the Lord. This is the Son of God, the 2nd Person of the Trinity, who appeared to Abraham and others. The fancy term for this is the pre-incarnate Christ. The Christ before He was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. The Lord, along with two other angels, chose to hide Himself in this way to test Abraham’s faith, to see how he would react to such a guest.
In the same way, when Jesus was born, He hid His divinity from the standard observer. Paul writes of Jesus, “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” At times Jesus revealed His divinity through miracles, but many times He looked just like any other Middle Eastern man of the time. He wanted people to follow Him because they trusted His words, not because He did miracles or inspired fear in their hearts.
Today, Jesus comes to us in hidden ways. He comes to us through His Word. The Bible is the inspired Word of God, but to the untrained eye, it appears no different than the Quran or other holy book. Jesus comes to us in the waters of baptism “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” When we partake of the Lord’s Supper, we have God for Dinner as Christ promises truly to be present in His body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine. That which hung on Calvary comes to our altar even if it appears to be no different than common bread or wine.
Finally, the Lord comes to us in the stranger. In the account of the sheep and the goats, the Lord speaks to the sheep and goats saying, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me” Although in a different way than Jesus being present in baptism and the Lord’s Supper, in hospitality, we see the Lord hidden in the face of those we help and those fellow believers in Christ.
Second, II. By faith we show hospitality. We see Abraham’s eagerness to serve the three strangers. He bows before the Lord, invites them to stay with him, washing their feet, feeding them bread, beef, and curds and milk. It is worth noting that Abraham gave no small sacrifice as he slaughtered a calf for these guests. We see the faith of Abraham who saw the Lord in these three guests and spared no expense to care for their needs.
If you think about it, it’s kind of strange. Can angels even eat food? Certainly the Son of God could have made bread rain down from heaven. By no means did the Lord need the food Abraham offered—it’s not as though He would have starved to death, but nonetheless, He graciously accepts Abraham’s hospitality.
The Lord Jesus Christ throughout His earthly ministry was the recipient of hospitality. Not all who had him over for dinner realized they were having God for dinner. Many people didn’t realize or believe it was God at the table. Their eyes of faith were shut. But nonetheless, we see many willing hosts. The hosts of the wedding of Cana gladly invited Him and His disciples. Peter and the disciples hosted a Passover meal which would be Jesus’ last meal. The disciples on the road to Emmaus begged Him to eat with them when they got to Emmaus.
Even then, Jesus was a gracious host, also. He served the best wine through a miracle at Cana turning water to wine. Instead of sending people home early, He taught them longer, and then fed the 5,000 from just two fish and five loaves.
By faith, we too can show hospitality. We are thankful for the hospitality of our volunteers at Church such as elders and ushers who welcome guests to this sacred place week after week. Some volunteers even are blessed with handling the holy things of the bread and wine of communion. What a privilege it is to serve as an elder assisting with communion distribution! What a privilege it is to serve on the altar guild!
By faith, we can welcome others into our homes. I’m not saying we’re duty bound to welcome a stranger who might endanger our safety. But I am saying that it does take a leap of faith sometimes to have a guest over for dinner. What if they don’t like our food? What if we run out of things to talk about? What if we invite them and then they ghost us?
A challenge for our members today. I know who is friends with whom in this place. Consider going through the directory and inviting a member at this church with whom you haven’t interacted much. Even more scary, if someone calls you and invites you, consider going over to his or her place! Invite a guest to dinner or coffee with you. It can be a leap of faith, but it is a good deed that Christ is inviting us to consider.
Finally, III. The Lord blesses us as we show hospitality to others. See what happened when Abraham welcomed in the three strangers. At this meal, the Lord blessed Sarah and promised that she would have a son in a year. Abraham and Sarah were in their 90s. Ninety-year-olds don’t have children. Sarah laughed at this promise. The Lord had the last laugh as a year later their son Isaac was born whose name means laughter in Hebrew.
I want to make a point clear here. In Genesis 17, the Lord had already promised to Abraham that he would have a son, Isaac. It’s not as though Abraham showing hospitality earned him the right to have a son as we might imagine putting a dollar bill in a vending machine will generate a pack of candy. The meal was the occasion for the promise to be repeated and reaffirmed.
Time and time again throughout Jesus’ ministry, when people showed Him hospitality, amazing things happened at the dinner table. He healed a man with dropsy. He forgave the sins of a woman of the city who washed His feet with her hair. He invited Himself over to Zaccheaus the tax collector’s house and proclaimed to Zaccheaus, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham.” The teaching that took place at those dinner tables changed people’s lives, and we’re still benefitting from this teaching as we have overheard these dinner conversations as recorded in the Holy Gospels.
The Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see with faith all that is taking place at a dinner table. The promise of forgiveness, life, and salvation was accomplished at the cross. Eternal life was secured as Jesus burst from the tomb. Yet every time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we who believe in Christ and observe everything He has commanded have the Lord come to us again and again to repeat and reaffirm the promise He made to us from the cross.
Likewise, we don’t earn salvation by showing hospitality to others, but we find that there are many blessings granted as people gather around a normal dinner table for fellowship and refreshment. The Lord blesses us richly as we invite people to our homes to get to know them better and share with them a peek into the life of a household of faith. The author of Hebrews encourages us writing, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” May God grant us the boldness of Abraham, Mary, and Martha to welcome in the stranger, and welcome those around us.