Genesis 18 : 1-7
The Lord appeared to Abraham, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, ‘My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.’ So they said, ‘Do as you have said.’ And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, ‘Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.’ Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch ; Acts 8
Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over to this chariot and join it.’ So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ He replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

‘Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,

   and like a lamb silent before its shearer,

     so he does not open his mouth. 

In his humiliation justice was denied him.

   Who can describe his generation?

     For his life is taken away from the earth.’ 

The eunuch asked Philip, ‘About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’ Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?’ He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

———

This scripture is a window into the sacred choices of hospitality; flour, water, milk…all of it sacred and all of it the work of hosting. Abraham sees strangers on the horizon and the Bible reminds us of the choice we have to make when in the same position. Do we choose hospitality or do we choose hostility. These works share the same root but zero in on the choices we make. And if you were not sure which choice God wants you to make…well these stories in Genesis will clarify. 

Abraham sees strangers on the horizon, surrounded by the waves of heat radiating from the sun’s rays. Abraham approaches them as a servant, he treats them as powerful, sacred and important folks…even if they are not traveling in an elaborate caravan and haven’t presented their business card. He greets with with humility, as servant and then asks them if he can serve. “He said, ‘My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.’” He wants to wash their feet a hall mark of service and hospitality that we will later see Jesus echo with the disciples. He wants to give them rest in the shade and bring them some food. See hospitality is so sacred in the ancient world because it is survival. Who know when these folks ate last, who knows how long they have been walking when it would have been better to rest in a tent. They live in a world where you can not pop into Starbucks for a moment or get something at McDonald’s at any given hour of the day or get a room at the closest hotel. Journey is risky and essential and the codes of the ancient world say it is sacred work. Abraham offers hospitality and then the guests have this space of consent. They say, “yes.” I think that is important for us to remember in church work because sometimes churches overwhelm people like Labrador Retriever of hospitality. Abraham is much more like a Rabbit Ninja of Hospitality, watching, anticipating needs, giving space and fast. The Scripture says with hast and quickly over and over as Abraham directs the household resources to this work.  

“And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, ‘Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.’ 
That’s right, there is choice flour and it goes to the guests. And this isn’t my Mom’s house so there isn’t a feast in the freezer to pull out and feed the guests. Sarah makes cakes to feed the guests and Sarah who is never shy about here honest feelings in the scripture doesn’t roll here eyes or make some passive aggressive comment to Abraham about making cakes for strangers at a moment’s notice, she jumps right in, ninja rabbit cake maker.

“Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it.”
That’s right, he finds the fattened calf and makes a feast, sorry vegetarians, but I think this is like the ancient Mediterranean love language. We hear it echo in the story of the lost son when Jesus says his father kills the fatted calf and hosts and epic party. Abraham brings the very best that he has to offer, not something that will be good enough and it doesn’t matter if he was saving that calf for a special occasion. He offers his best now. 

“Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.” 
He takes this feast of cakes and beef and milk and brings it to the strangers while they have been resting under a tree in the shade. They have had rest and shade and protection and now they have a beautiful and lovingly prepared meal. And the story doesn’t end there, these strangers are divine. They are angles, this presence of the divine and they bless Abraham and Sarah. They are changed by this moment of grace. 

This story reminded ancient people of the choice they have, hostility or hospitality. And if you are not clear about how important it is you just read a little further and you will see that while this story has this carrot of you might be entertaining Angles the next one has the stick.

This story is partnered with an infamous story, Sodom and Gomorrah. I have heard a lot about this lately because I have been going to Nebraska State Board of Education meetings where I heard one man say, “These Health standards belong in Sodom and Gomorrah.” (When you read that please read it with the most obnoxious voice you can imagine.) He is upset about the health standards including safe space for young LGBTQIA+ folks. But folks, this story has nothing to do with sexuality. It has everything to do with hostility. These sacred strangers wait in town to be received, to be welcomed as would have been the ancient honor code and nothing. No water for their feet, no room a the inn. Until at last Lot finds them invites them in and then the whole community, still unable to let it go, makes a violent threat against the strangers. And that threat becomes the most violent it possibly can be, it becomes sexual violence. The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is sexual violence, the most intimate expression of hostility. The sin is domination and has nothing to do with intimacy between folks who love each other. And even though this part is a little troubling to me, God makes it very clear that Sodom and Gomorrah made a bad choice and you know the rest of the story ends in fire and destruction.  

These stories of hospitality and hostility, challenged people and invited people to see the work of hospitality as sacred, sharing your best with another is sacred and making safe place for a stranger is sacred and bringing some water is sacred. Jesus grew up nourished by these stories and so did the disciples. We hear them echo in his life, when we feeds people on a hillside rather than sending them home for dinner, when he washes feet and asks others to do the same, when he sends the disciples out as vulnerable strangers to receive hospitality, when he touches folks and steps bound the boundaries in favor of welcome. The early church will constantly be asked to choose hospitality over hostility, to choose the bridge over the old boundary.  

Early in Acts, Philip, once who had followed Jesus, will have a chose and he won’t have Jesus right there to tell him what to do. He seems a powerful court official reading the Hebrew scriptures. He is known as the Ethiopian Eunuch in scripture, which places him as a leader in a powerful African nation but also as a sexual minority. 

“Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go over to this chariot and join it.’” 

He doesn’t fit into the easy boxes of gender and in a world where maleness is on top, he doesn’t get to be. And while he must find echos of meaning in the stories and poetry and prophets of the Hebrew bible, enough to study them, he doesn’t get to go to the holiest spaces as a eunuch. There are limits and he is on the other side of the line. 

Philip listens to the spirit and goes to be with this sacred prison studying the Prophet Isaiah in a chariot. 

“So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ He replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:

‘Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,

   and like a lamb silent before its shearer,

     so he does not open his mouth. 

In his humiliation justice was denied him.

   Who can describe his generation?

     For his life is taken away from the earth.’ 

The eunuch asked Philip, ‘About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’ Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?’”

What is preventing me from being baptized? Philip has a choice. Perhaps he listened when the spirit sent him over there or perhaps he looked at his WWJD bracelet; but the decision was his. He was the only thing that could prevent the baptism. 

He could have easily chosen to say, “no.” History was on his side, the norms that said the eunuch wasn’t welcome, wasn’t equal or wasn’t quite sacred enough were plenty. The eunuch wasn’t welcome in the holist of holy places and baptism is the only holy thing the early Christians have….another leader might have kept the boundary. But Philip, moved by the Spirit, offers baptism, no questions. 

Some folks love conversion stories, stories of people joining the early Christian Church are pretty abundant in Acts. They follow the stories of the Gospels where people join Jesus on the adventure. It’s just that I don’t really think the Ethiopian Eunuch has to be converted. He is already in, he is reading Isaiah on a road trip to the temple in Jerusalem. He isn’t convinced by Philip, he is all ready in and the Jesus movement isn’t something he needs a good argument to join. Perhaps, this is a story of the church being converted. The church has a choice hospitality or hostility, build a new bridge of welcome or rebuild the old boundary. And in this moment Philip, doesn’t form a study committee, petition the other disciples or take a vote at a church council meeting. He chooses inclusion and welcome; Phillip sets the course for inclusion.

Hospitality changes us, it changes Abraham and Sarah. It changes the church. Today we honor pride and this passage asks us how we will be converted, again and again towards love. To get out the water, honor baptism that makes us all sacred, family. May we have the courage. 

More reading: 
Why did Jesus, Moses, the Buddha and Mohammed Cross the Road? Christian Identity in a Multi-Faith World by Brian McLaren talks about the root of hostility or hospitality.