Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 339 · December 5
Angels Unawares
“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”
Some people object to this verse because it sounds like a raffle. Be welcoming, it seems to say, and there is a small chance that the man at your table will turn out to have wings. Take that prize away, and you are left with a hard command to people who keep chain locks on their doors: bring strangers inside.
So look closely at what the verse actually offers. "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." It says some, not all. And the word "unawares" carries the weight, because the people who did this did not know at the time who their guests were. Abraham was sitting "in the tent door in the heat of the day" when "he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him." What he did next was homely and a little rushed. He ran to meet them. He hurried Sarah to bake with "three measures of fine meal." He ran to the herd for a calf, and "he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat." What he saw at first was three travellers in the midday heat, and he served them. You may never learn who your guests really were, and an evening with a stranger who turns out to be only a stranger is still not wasted.
Look at the company this command keeps. It comes right after "Let brotherly love continue," and right before "Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them." Then come marriage and money. These are costly instructions, given to people who already knew what an open door can cost. Earlier in the letter they are reminded that they "took joyfully the spoiling of your goods," which means they had cheerfully let their property be taken from them.
What makes the command possible comes three verses later, and it is a promise about money and fear: "be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." That is what lets a person open the door. The courage has nothing to do with the odds about who is knocking. It rests on the Lord who has promised never to leave you, and He will be in the room with you and your guest.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 339 is His People, His Sheep (Psalm 100:3).