New Year’s Eve
Some Have Entertained Angels Unawares
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen! God says to you tonight in His Book of Hebrews, “Let brotherly love
continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some
have entertained angels unawares.”
Dear Christian friends,
The people of my generation remember more than the Sony Walkman and the
original Dukes of Hazard. We remember the Cold War. We did not understand the
full scope of tension between the nuclear superpowers, but we knew we could die
if someone pushed a button. We lived in the shadow of the atomic bomb.
Those were the good old days, when the threat of death lived far across the
ocean. Today, the threat of death might be wearing a baseball cap and suffering
from acne. Everyone must now be held in some degree of suspicion.
You now expose yourself to grave danger if you pick up a male hitchhiker. (You
might run a greater risk of sorrow and misfortune if the hitchhiker is a
female.) The popular website Craigslist has been used to identify victims,
turning common and everyday business transactions into risky business. Our
Missouri District president sang the praises of a recent pastor’s conference
devoted to church security. Why? Church security is—right now—a problem for
more than one congregation here in Missouri. You can’t even feel comfortable
hiring a transient to do a day’s work for you: if he does not hurt you, he
himself might get hurt and file suit against you. Simply stated, our culture
has become a minefield.
This is what God says to us who live in this minefield: “Let brotherly love,
continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some
have entertained angels unawares.” What in the world are we supposed to do with
these Words? Is our God telling us to fling open the doors of our cars and our
homes—ignoring the risk and danger we might thus impose upon our
families—because that guy asking for your help might be an angel?
NO. God has given you the office, the duty, the responsibility of protecting
and caring for your family. God has NOT given you the duty and responsibility
of sacrificing your family upon the altar of showing hospitality to strangers.
Stated another way, you do NOT have a Word from God to place your spouse or
your child into harm’s way. Father Abraham is the only person who ever received
such a Word from God, and once was enough for that! (Genesis 22. Our Lutheran
forefathers lamented, “The people heard that Abraham had offered up his son.
And so they put their sons to death…” [Apology IV.209].)
Nevertheless, these Words from God are very good for us, even if they might
seem exceedingly dangerous and possibly fraught with bodily harm. For example:
1. These Words from God teach us that we must never abandon our good works
of charity and love toward others—including works of love toward strangers,
“for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Certainly our acts of
brotherly kindness cannot be as glib as opening a car door for everyone we see.
But we must not simply chalk off any and all opportunities to do
good—“especially to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:10). We must, more
than ever, “be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). Every
act of kindness should be carefully mediated and clearly weighed so that, while
attempting to give help to one person, you do not expose someone else to harm
or danger.
In this regard, we must each be more careful to “play our position,” so to
speak. Like it or not, husbands and fathers might find themselves in a better
capacity to “show hospitality to strangers” than perhaps their wives or
children might be. Heads of households might need to decide which acts of
charity get shown to whom. And maybe—considering the climate of our
culture—maybe an angel or two gets turned away from your door in the name of
faithfulness to your office.
2. These Words from God also clearly show us how desperately and
continually we need our God’s ongoing mercy and grace. The increasing
aggression of our culture makes it increasingly difficult for us to do what God
commands—as if our own sins were not enough of a hurdle for us to overcome.
What are we to do, other than to beg God’s mercy and to trust in His
forbearance? Praise the God of our salvation! The forgiveness God has for you
in Christ Jesus extends even that far—even into the sin you commit against a
stranger while showing love and protection to your family.
3. Perhaps best of all, God’s Words here in Hebrews 13 go on to offer us
great comfort and deep consolation, even for those times when we find ourselves
taking a bit of a risk. Why? Because God says a very important thing to us
after He says, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers.” After God
says these Words—and after He goes on to say other things about prison visits,
marriage and living contentedly—God speaks this promise to you, which SHALL NOT
fail:
“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord
is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
That is a promise upon which you can hang your hat, dear saints! Even after we
do everything we are able to do, in order to remain safe, we are nevertheless
safe and secure ONLY because of our dear God’s continual care and protection.
Even though our culture has so changed that everyone around us must now be held
in some degree of suspicion, the Words and promises of God are never suspect
and they never change. God has promised you upon an oath, “I will never leave
you nor forsake you,” and these Words will faithfully keep and preserve you,
even if violence should tragically erupt right next to you.
“I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hardly any other Words will give us a
better start for this New Year! “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” That
promise is as faithful for your future as it has been for your past. “I will
never leave you nor forsake you.” Let’s keep our eyes open, and see what good
fruit these Words will miraculously produce in us!
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