Tent Flap Invitation

It has been hot, has it not? These are good days for taking many sips of water, and for not being in a hurry. We stay indoors if we can, and if a friend comes to visit, we get them inside straight away and get them a cool drink.

I bring up the matter of hospitality because we cover a classic lesson next Sunday from the Genesis narrative: part of the tales of Abraham. Sarah and Abraham have their tent pitched among the terebinths or oaks of Mamre, a tree shrine, a holy place. Our good patriarch is sitting there by the tent flap in the heat of the day when he raises his eyes, and spies three sojourners. It is time for the holy act of hospitality, the essential courtesy of desert peoples. He surely intuits the divine character of his guests, running toward them from the tent flap and bowing to the ground.

Abraham either speaks to the greatest of the three or senses that their appearance implies the presence of the Holy One because he addresses them in the singular. He says something like, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please do not go on past your servant.” He wants to get them shade, water, including water to bathe their feet, and a bite of bread. He understates his intentions of hospitality because the hosts in the end prepare loaves of bread, a calf, milk, and curds.

Consider it an Epiphany, with the presence of God made known, and the human response of receptivity. Pay special attention to the desert dweller’s insistence that they do not pass by. He bets his visitors to refresh themselves with his provision of a morsel (a sumptuous feast, as it turns out). He sees it this way: they are doing him the favor should they agree to receive his extended hospitality. The lesson reads like this:

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, 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." (Genesis 81-5)

Scholars clarify that this experience of Abraham echoes an older Ugaritic Tale of Aqhat, in which a childless figure in the story is visited by the craftsman-god Kothar. There too, the receptive figure, Daniel is sitting by an entrance, overshadowed by a tree; He too lifts his eyes to behold the divine visitor, and, with his wife, puts together a fine meal.

My interest in the Abraham tale is that we recognize the importance of spotting the approach of God in our lives. Know the urgency; beg God to stay; extend hospitality to the One who blesses. We must not hide in our tent, but peer out the tent flap, behold your God, and give the invitation. In the Revelation of John, you recall how the seer shares messages to the seven churches. We learn of an opportunity. Jesus urges the lukewarm church of Laodicea to waken, to receive him, and become hotly alive: “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come into you and eat with you, and you with me.” (Revelation 3:20)

When you intentionally feed the hungry; worship with your family of faith; go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who sees in secret; listen intently to one who needs to be heard, these are occasions of offering a tent flap-invitation to Holy One who comes by your dwelling in the shade of the terebinths. Beg the sojourning Savior to remain and receive your refreshment. It will be the start of something new and wonderful.