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Entertaining Strangers and Angels

"Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers,” writes the author to the Hebrews, “for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it” (Hebrews 13:2).

Entertaining angels doesn’t seem to happen too often, even by biblical standards. In this verse the author of Hebrews may be alluding to a ministry to strangers and guests by reaching back to the life and times of Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 18:1-19:29). The writer knows full well that the audience who will hear and read this letter are steeped in the stories of the Hebrew faith.

Abraham and his family are camped out by the “oaks of Mamre.” The Lord is on a visit and appears to Abraham through three men, later referred to as angels (19:1). The purpose of the visit is to both lay out an amazing promise to Abraham and Sarah about the birth of a son in their old age, as well as to announce a terrible judgment on two cities, a judgment which God promises to reverse if only a handful of righteous are still living in the cities.

Abraham, even before hearing the reasons for their visit, immediately lays out the red carpet. He offers to cleanse their dusty feet, provide them an opportunity to rest under the shade of an oak, and prepare tasty food from some of his finest grain and livestock. Later, his nephew, Lot, treats the visitors in the same fashion when two of them first arrive in Lot’s hometown of Sodom for their fact-finding visit.

Rest, refreshment, and fine food. What more could one ask for? To the author of the Hebrews, this example from the life of Abraham, Sarah, and Lot underscores how God’s people can treat strangers.

Today, another word for rest, refreshment, and fine food would be “hospitality.” The Greek word used in the New Testament for hospitality is philoxenia (lit., love to strangers). The Hebrews passage cited above uses that word, as does Paul in Romans 12:13.“Contribute to the needs of the saints,” he writes. “[E]xtend hospitality to strangers.”

At the end of Romans, Paul commends Gaius who was probably one of his converts from his time in Corinth. Paul mentioned Gaius, as well as Crispus and Stephanas, as the only three people he personally baptized (1 Corinthians 1:14-16). Gaius apparently ends up in Rome and becomes a “host” (NRSV) or, in Greek, xenos (one who receives and entertains another), offering hospitality not only to the one who baptized him but to “the whole church.” Quite a busy vocation!

Why do I mention this? I’ve noticed more than a few congregations, as they depict themselves on their Web sites or on signs firmly planted on lawns, wishing to be known as “A Welcoming Place.”

Many congregations, both Lutheran as well as other denominations, want others to know that this is a primary characteristic of their people. I picture hand shakes and smiles and baked bread and packets of material introducing the congregation to newcomers.

These activities are a great start to one’s hospitable outreach. Hopefully, in time, these activities will ultimately point to God’s fundamental act of hospitality.

God’s welcome is spelled out in Ephesians. This book speaks eloquently of the “mystery of God’s will” and a “plan for the fullness of time” to unite all things in Christ, including both Jew and Gentile, in heaven and on earth (1:8-10, 3:6).

According to Ephesians, the newcomers to the church of Christ are not the only strangers. All of us were once considered xenos — strangers — to God’s great plan and mystery (2:19).This plan aims at breaking down the estrangement between God and us, as well as ending forever the dividing walls which separate one people from another. In place of “strangers” and aliens, we have been given a new name: “saints.”

In deep and profound ways, we are no longer homeless nor estranged. God welcomes us based on the death and resurrection of Jesus, removing the deeply rooted scars of death and guilt. God has granted us access to our true home among God’s people, a home founded on the cornerstone of faith, Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:20).

Isn’t this the kind of welcome we experience through Word and sacrament? Isn’t this the kind of hospitality on which our plans for outreach and discipleship will be ultimately based?

William A. Decker is editor of Lutheran Partners magazine, Chicago, Illinois.