Monday 07 April 2008

Background

These four verses are just a snippet of a longer story that goesup to verse 16. Even then it is only one incident in the saga ofthe patriarch Abraham and his wife Sarah. The theme of the story isGod's promise of a child to the elderly couple, which results inSarah's understandable response of laughter (verse 12), which couldbe a mask for the anguish she feels. There will be many who canidentify with the pain of this childless woman.

When Abraham ran out of his tent to greet the three men he did notknow who they were. But in his offer of hospitality, he showedprofound respect to them. The story comes from an age wherehospitality was considered to be one of the most importantvirtues.

The reader of course has already been told that in these threestrangers the Lord is visiting Abraham (verse 1). One of theambiguities of these verses is the fact that Abraham talks to thethree men as if they are one person and it is also very unclear howthey are related to God. They also seem to suddenly appear toAbraham out of nowhere.

Perhaps the writer intended to convey a sense of mystery andsurprise in the way God directly interacted with humankind. Theearly Christian Church saw the trio of visitors as a reference tothe Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit), something that isreflected in the vivid colours in Andrei Rublev's Icon of theTrinity which depicts this visitation.

Although this Trinitarian interpretation is no longer widelyaccepted it is worth holding on to the tension between thestrangeness and the intimacy of this encounter between God andAbraham.

To Ponder

Can you think of an occasion when you have beenoffered unexpected hospitality? How did you feel?

To what extent do you think our society hasbecome so individualistic that we no longer see offeringhospitality to strangers as a virtue?

Is the God that you know and understand in Jesusboth intimate and strange? Why?