Three Cases of Hospitality

We find three test cases of hospitality in Genesis 18-19.

The first is when the Lord and two angels disguised as men visit Abraham. Abraham believing that they were mere men rushed from his tent, bowed down and offered to wash their feet. He had his servants slaughter a young calf to feed them and had his wife Sarah make fresh bread for them.

The second case was when the two angels, disguised as men, went to the city of Sodom. Lot was sitting at the gates when they approached. Like Abraham he approached the men and bowed down and offered to wash their feet and invited them into his home. At first the men (angels) said no we’ll just sleep out in the city square but Lot insisted and they accepted his hospitality.

The third case of hospitality was when the men of Sodom found out there were men visiting their city. They surrounded Lot’s home and wanted to greet the men by having gang rape homosexual sex with them.

Christians are supposed to be hospitable too. Will we be like Abraham and Lot who bowed down in humility and offer to feed and house our visiting guests? Will we be like Lot who didn’t accept the declination of the visitors but insisted upon serving them? Or will we be like the men of Sodom who wanted to take advantage of these strangers? Or will we be somewhere in the middle ground… nice to meet you… hope you have a nice visit. Or will we just ignore the strangers and walk right past them?

God’s people are supposed to be known for their hospitality… like Abraham and Lot. Their hospitality cost them something… time and money.