Life Between The Trees: Oaks -- Genesis 18:1-8

You’ve worked hard all day.  You are exhausted.  It’s time to at least take a break.  You ease down into your chair, kick off your shoes, twist open the top of your Mountain Dew, take a sip, take a deep breath and let it out in a relaxing sigh as you lay your head back as you reach for the remote, and then it happens.  The doorbell rings.  Before going to the door, you glance out the window.  You don’t recognize the car sitting in the driveway.  You quietly ease over to the door and look through the peephole.  You don’t recognize anyone standing on your front porch, just a couple who look as exhausted as you feel.  What do you do?  You haven’t made a sound, as near as you can tell.  The garage is closed, they can’t know for certain anyone is home.  Do you ignore the doorbell, slide back into your chair, hoping they will go away or do you open the door, greeting the couple, ready to meet whatever need they might have?

It’s been a long week, and you know the next one is just as full.  You are ready to worship.  You walk into the sanctuary and there is someone you’ve never seen before sitting in the pew that you and your late spouse have sat in for the last forty-five years.  What do you do?  Do you stand impatiently until they feel so uncomfortable they move?  Do you inform them that they are sitting in your seat? Or do you say, “It’s good to see you here, do you mind if I sit with you”?  A couple come in with a young child, they sit toward the back at the end of the pew not to far from you.  The child is a little fussy, making noise as you are trying to prepare for worship.  What do you do? Do you judgmentally glower at them?  Do you say, “we have a nursery in the back you know”?  Or do you say, “It’s so good to hear the sounds of a child in worship again, if she gets to be too much for you, I’ll be glad to help you find our nursery worker”?  You notice someone new in worship sitting by themselves.  You can tell they are confused as they look through the bulletin and up at the screen and everyone else just going through worship as routine as getting up and getting dressed.  Do you ignore them, thinking, they’ll get the hang of it, or do you move from where you’re sitting, where you’ve always sat, and say, “This was confusing to me at first too, may I sit with you”?

We are on a journey, we are living “Life Between the Trees”.  Are there any new tree-huggers in our midst?  We are exploring the trees that fill God’s Word as we realize that not only are there Trees from Genesis to Revelation, but that we are living our lives between those trees.  We have explored the gift of Free Will as we considered the two trees of Eden, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life.  We have experienced the hope of the Olive Tree in the leaf of the dove returning to Noah.  We have seen in the mighty Cedars of Lebanon that as Ezekiel revealed that God’s promises can never be thwarted, and that restores us from our brokenness not for our own sake, but in order that all the world might come to know Him.

This morning we journey back Genesis, to the land between the Dead and Mediterranean Seas, to a spot north of Hebron and south of Ai.  Abraham probably rose early, before the sun came up, and set to his daily chores.  As the sun and temps rose to their peak points of the day, it was time for a break, time to to recline under the shade of his tent and sip some cool water.  As he settled into his time of rest, he looked up and saw three men standing under the shade of the huge oak tree that marked the region.  There was no struggle for Abraham.  He did not worry about whether or not he had closed the garage door when he parked the camel.  He did not try to inconspicuously slide into the tent and close the flap.  There was really no question about what he would do.

He jumped up, ran from his tent and greeted the visitors.  He asked that he might bring water and wash their feet and encouraged them to rest, while, remember this is the hottest part of the day, he sought to serve them and meet there needs.  He offered to bring them food to eat.  He ran back to the tent, had Sarah make three cakes of bread.  He went and found his best calf, and had one of his servants prepare it, and then he served them steak and rolls along with cheese and milk.  Then he stood by while they ate, watching to see if they had any other needs that he could meet.  Abraham had no concern that this was an inconvenience, that he was losing his rest time, or what it was having to give up of his own resources.  A model of hospitality under the oak trees of Mamre, as Abraham welcomed these strangers into his home, into his life.

It is a foreshadowing of the hospitality offered by Christ.  On that final night before his crucifixion, Jesus gathered His disciples together.  He took water, and as a servant, went about the table and washed each of their feet.  Then, as they were gathered, He offered them a meal, and at the end of the meal, He took the bread, asked God’s blessing upon it, broke it, and gave it to each of them…then He took a cup of wine, asked God’s blessing upon it, and offered it to each of them.  Unlike Abraham, though, He did not just stand around waiting to see if they needed anything else.  Moving forward, Jesus set everything in motion, and the next day He offered the ultimate act of hospitality, though He could have sat upon any throne, He offered His very life in order that all, not just strangers, but we who were enemies, might find life and be welcomed into His eternal home.

We struggle with questions of recliners and doorbells…we struggle with questions of pews, children, and strangers….  Why?  Because we live in a society that has taught us that it is all about us, that we are number one, and that we need to look out for ourselves and our own comfort first.  As I said, though, my brothers and sisters, that way of thinking, the “It-is-all-about-me-and-what’s-convenient-for-me” way of thinking, is a product of our society.  It is not at all Biblical.

In the world of Abraham, in the world of Jesus, in the world of Paul (be all things to all people), an understanding and life of hospitality reigned.  There was no question as to whether you would entertain or care for a guest, including a stranger.  To deny hospitality to someone would be to insult them and bring dishonor to your name and your home.  For the men and women of Scripture, there was no such thing as “it’s all about me,” unless we are talking about sins that were readily condemned.  The Biblical line of thinking is, “It’s all about them,” is about seeing the needs of others and offering to meet those needs, regardless of how inconvenient it might be or what sacrifices might be required.  It is always for the sake of the guest, the stranger…

That is the world and way of thinking that we are invited into if we are going to follow Christ, if we are going to be people of God’s Word.  We are to offer Oak Tree-Jesus Like hospitality.  That applies everywhere, from our recliners and doorbells to our pews and preferences.  We must be willing to sacrifice ourselves and our convenience for the sake of any that we might encounter, friend, family, or even stranger.  That is the way of God’s Word, the way of Abraham, the way of Christ.

I can hear the cries, “if we do that, we might be left with nothing.”  That is a risk, but consider who we might be offering ourselves for.  Abraham, as he entertained those folks under the oaks of Mamre, found that he was not just feeding three strangers, but actually offering hospitality to two angels and God Himself.  We are reminded by Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew, that “‘I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me…Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’”  My brothers and sisters, the hospitality we show is not simply hospitality to friend, family, or stranger, but hospitality to Christ Himself.  And as far as being left empty, there is no question that that will not happen.  Abraham and Sarah received the promise of a child.  Jesus promised that those who offered hospitality to Him through others, would be inherit a place within God’s Eternal Kingdom—while those who denied hospitality to others would be forever denied a place in the Kingdom.

My brothers and sisters, as we journey in this Life Between the Trees, moving toward that day when God’s Kingdom will be on Earth as it is in Heaven…that Day of New Jerusalem…let us be sure to remember the Oak Trees, and make ready to offer the hospitality of Abraham, that we might receive the hospitality of God under the Tree of Life.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.