Angels Unawares
One
Entertaining Angels
There’s a beautiful, strange line in the thirteenth chapter of the Letter to the Hebrews. Here it is, “Do not neglect hospitality, for by it some have entertained angels unawares.”
The first part of that passage is clear enough, and in a sense, it’s all you need: do not neglect hospitality. So, just for starters, if you are neglecting hospitality, then it’s time to do something to change that. But the second part of the statement is the really intriguing part. Through hospitality, some have entertained angels without realizing it.
I’m sure, by the way, we’ve all entertained angels without realizing it. Remember, they are there for every embarrassing moment we’ve ever had and they probably get a good laugh out of it. But the author of Hebrews isn’t talking about that kind of entertainment. He’s saying that some people, by being hospitable, have actually hosted angels.
When did that sort of thing happen and what does it tell us about why we shouldn’t neglect hospitality?
Two
Hospitality to Angels
So who offered hospitality to people that turned out to be angels? Well, there are several cases in the Old Testament.
The most famous case is Abraham and Sarah when three strangers came walking towards them across the horizon, Abraham was eager to be a good host. He begged them to stay and let him serve them, while his wife got the food ready. A second case comes right afterward. Two of those same angels go to visit Lot, Abraham’s nephew, who at the time was living in Sodom and Gomorrah. Here again, Lot offers the angels hospitality. He washed their feet and set a banquet before them. Finally, we can think of the case of Tobit and the Angel Raphael, Raphael, remember, was the angel who came disguised as a family relative of Tobit. And when Raphael reveals that he’s actually an angel, he specifies that when he’d been given food, he only pretended to eat it. That means that presumably Tobit and his family, and the other family in the story, the family of Raguel, had shared their table with the Angel.
So what can these Old Testament stories of hospitality to angels tell us about hospitality towards one another?
Three
The Angels as Representatives of the Lord
The first thing to appreciate is that the angels are always those who are sent to us by the Lord. The word “angel” just means messenger. Every angel is a messenger from God. And so, every angel is in that sense a representative of God.
This is really clear in the case of the three angels whom Abraham and Sarah hosted. Although they are angels, they speak in the name of the Lord. In fact, those three angels are one of the very clearest hints in the entire Old Testament that God is actually a Trinity. For instance, the most important painting of the Trinity in all of Christian history, by Andre Rublev, is of those three angels, each representing a different divine Person.
What that means, practically for us, is that in welcoming people into our houses, and serving them through hospitality we are welcoming representatives of God. And in serving others through hospitality, we are serving the God who has sent them to us.
Four
Christ has Identified us with the Least of His Brethren
Again, it’s not just the angels who represent God. It’s anyone with whom Christ has identified Himself. Our service to the poor and needy is service to Him, “Whenever you did it to the least of my brothers, you did it to Me” He has also said that just the basic service to the physical needs of other faithful people is going to be rewarded, “If anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones who is my disciple, that person will certainly not lose his reward” (Matthew 10:42).
Did you get that? If you give just a cup of cold water to a fellow believer, Christ will reward you! You will not lose your reward. But do you know how you will lose your reward? If you don’t give them a cup of cold water, or anything else. And do you know the best time for giving someone a cup of cold water? When you’ve invited them into your house! You shake their hand. You take their jacket. And then you say, “What can I get you to drink?” And even if they say, “Thanks, I’ll just take water,” you will not lose your reward.
Five
The Blessings Received from Hospitality
We started this meditation by reflecting on the passage from Hebrews, “Do not neglect hospitality, for by it some have entertained angels unawares.” And we looked at some of the cases in the Old Testament where human beings were good hosts to angels. But guess what? In each of those cases, the angel became a source of unbelievable blessing.
When Abraham and Sarah exercised hospitality, the angels told them that they would finally receive their long-hoped for miracle of a child together. When Lot exercised hospitality, the angels saved him and his family from the disasters that were about to utterly destroy the area. When Tobit exercised hospitality, the angel Raphael saved his son’s life, exorcised the demon from his daughter-in-law, and cured Tobit’s blindness.
So you see, the point of bringing up hospitality to angels is to realize that we can still exercise hospitality to the Lord, through His representatives. And the blessing of doing so will still be staggering.