Message: The Divine in Hospitality / Genesis 18:1-15

Today's first reading from Genesis is a story about hospitality. It reminds us that hospitality can become a place where we encounter God's presence. By contrast, the next chapter tells a story of hostility in Sodom. Together, these stories reveal the true purpose of the blessing God intended to bring to the world through Abraham.

Genesis 18 begins in an interesting way. It says that “the Lord appeared to Abraham.” This draws the reader’s attention. In the Hebrew Bible, seeing God’s face directly is often described as something human beings cannot bear, sometimes even to the point of death. So, this opening line raises a question: how will God appear to Abraham?

Then, right away, three strangers appear. As soon as Abraham sees them, he invites them into his tent to rest and share a meal. Through welcoming these strangers, Abraham discovers that God is present in ways he did not expect.

In Abraham’s time, strangers could be a real threat. Abraham had left his homeland and was living as a nomad, with no police or government to rely on if something went wrong. So for him, a stranger at the door was a serious and sensitive matter.

But Abraham treats these strangers with respect and hospitality, as if he were meeting God. He offers water for their feet and a place to rest in the shade. He prepares bread, meat, and something to drink. His tent becomes a place of welcome. He says to them, “Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on.”

One of the most beautiful truths in the Bible is that every person is made in the image of God. Jesus said that whatever we do for the least of these, we do for him. Scripture repeatedly calls our attention to the stranger, the poor, and the vulnerable because the image of God in them is so often overlooked.

Abraham does not welcome these strangers for his own benefit. He respects them as they are. Without prejudice or bias, he welcomes them as people who carry the image of God. That kind of hospitality opens a holy door through which we encounter God.

After the meal, the strangers ask where Sarah is. They tell Abraham that by this time next year, Sarah will bear a son. Sarah hears this and laughs. Given her age, the promise seems impossible.

But hospitality can bring forth miracles. Biblical miracles are not about satisfying human selfishness. They are about hope breaking through what once seemed hopeless. It is a moment when God's purpose goes beyond human knowledge and understanding. Abraham’s hospitality becomes a seed of blessing. His faith aligns with God’s dream, and God does not let such faith die. That blessing passes through Sarah to Isaac and has come down to us across thousands of years.

Right after Abraham’s hospitality, the Bible shows us the hostility of the people of Sodom. Abraham’s nephew Lot welcomes two strangers into his home. As a foreigner in Sodom, he knew what could happen to them on the streets at night. He urges them strongly to come inside and gives them food and a place to rest.

But when night comes, the people of Sodom come to Lot’s door. They demand that the strangers be handed over to satisfy their sexual desire. They use violence to get what they want. For them, human beings are just tools for their greed. They have eyes, but they cannot see what they need to see. Hostility is highly contagious. Because of this, it becomes difficult to find even ten righteous people in Sodom.

The Bible does not hide the devastating consequences of hostility. There is another story like this in the book of Judges. A Levite and his second wife are travelling and stop for the night in Gibeah, a town in the territory of Benjamin. An old man takes them in and tries to keep them safe. But that night, many people surround the house and demand that the Levite be brought out for their sexual purposes. The Levite sends his concubine outside instead. She suffers violence through the night, and in the morning she is found dead at the door. This tears Israel apart. The other eleven tribes go to war against Benjamin and nearly wipe them out. Hostility destroyed Sodom, and it brought Israel to civil war.

These stories are uncomfortable because they are a mirror of the realities in our world. They are not ancient myths. They are stories that continue to repeat today, not only in places of war, but also around us. There are still people in our society whose dignity is ignored and who are treated as nothing more than a means to someone else’s end.

But the Bible does not leave us there. It takes us through the darkness so that we can see the light more clearly.

The Korean poet Lee Moon-Jae wrote a short poem called “South”:

    The south
    seen by someone
    who knows someone there,
    and the south
    seen by someone
    who knows no one there,
    how different they are.

Ever since I came to Canada, it has become a completely different place for my parents. When Canada comes up in the news, they call me. Whether the news is good or bad, whenever they hear the word Canada, they think of me. It is because this is where someone they love lives.

All of you likely have a direction like that as well. For some of you, it may be west, where someone you love lives in the Toronto area or farther west. For some of you, it may be east, because of family or friends who live in Montreal or Atlantic Canada. For some of you, it may be south, perhaps in the United States, where your children or grandchildren live. For some of you, it may be heaven, as you look up while missing someone you love.

The direction where someone we love lives is no longer just a direction on a map. It becomes a place where the heart stays. It becomes a place where longing rests.

Likewise, if we truly believe that every person carries the image of God, we can no longer see others simply as Homo sapiens, one biological species among others. Each person is created by the very same divine love that brought the whole universe into being. Therefore, as people of Christian faith, we cannot treat anyone without respect, and we cannot use anyone as a mere tool.

Abraham’s tent became a holy place because strangers were welcomed there with respect and care. The church becomes a holy sanctuary when people are welcomed as image-bearers of God, when the tired find rest, and when those who feel like strangers are given a place of belonging. May our congregation be that kind of place. May everyone who comes here find rest, receive grace, and leave refreshed enough to continue on their way.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Rev. Min Hwang