Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.
Angels are spirit beings but they look like men to human eyes. Abraham entertained angels not knowing that they were angels. And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, see, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground (Genesis 18:2). The same angels departed from Abraham and went to Sodom and Gomorrah to destroy the wicked cities. Abraham’s nephew Lot found the two angels who looked like men, in the city square and urged them to come into his home. “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.” But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate (Genesis 19:2-3).
In the ancient Middle Eastern culture, travelers stopped at a city and camped in the city square at night before they embarked on the journey the next day. It was common practice to invite strangers into homes, give them change of clothes, basic comforts and food to refresh them and a place to rest the night. It was a time when there were no motels or Airbnb accommodations for travelers and transit passengers.
How can this verse be practiced in modern times when showing hospitality or entertaining strangers could be unsafe or even harmful?
Three practical ways of “Entertaining Angels”:
1. Engage: We can entertain angels by lending a helping hand to a complete stranger who will not be able to repay our kindness. Extend a helping hand to the lost, lonely and loathed. Whoever knows the good and does not do it, to him it is sin (James 4:17). By actively engaging in doing what is right we would accidentally entertain angels.
2. Empathy: By being empathetic towards the impoverished, vulnerable, aged and the physically challenged we might have divine encounters with angels. Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him (Proverbs 14:31). Empathetic compassionate actions would anecdotally engage with angels.
3. Entertain: We might entertain an angel by serving a cold drink to the worker who is fixing the drainage on the street. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others (Philippians 2:4). Practicing the fruit of the spirit, (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control) would make us stumble over angels!
Showing kindness and Christ-likeness will help us to extend hospitality to angels.
Galatians 6:2 Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.
Prayer: Dearest Lord Jesus, give me your heart and your mind to think and respond with compassion, kindness and love whereby I would show hospitality to angels inadvertently. Amen.
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