Jacob Chanikuzhy

Probably Abraham was recovering from that minor surgery – circumcision. It was a hot day and he was sitting in the front porch of his tent, perhaps thinking of the strange promise God repeatedly made and never kept, viz., that Abram will have a son through his wife Sarah. Now Abraham is already 99 years old and still keep waiting for the fulfilment of God’s promises. But his hope in God’s promise was so strong and God’s intervention in his life was so striking that he dared to do a “bloody sacrifice” by cutting away a part of his own body as a permanent mark of his belonging to God. Though circumcision was practiced even before Abraham in other cultures like Egypt for various reasons, for Abraham and his progeny it was a sign of God’s covenant with them.

While sitting in front of his house Abraham finds three strangers coming towards him (Genesis 18:1-15). Being a graceful old man Abraham could have waited till the strangers reached his home and let him know if they wanted something. But, the story in the Book of Genesis narrates that Abraham ran to meet the strangers! Abraham was an old man, and it was scorching heat outside, and most probably Abraham was still suffering from his recent circumcision. One might forget all these and rush to a visitor if the visitor is a person of supreme dignity vested with great power and authority, or if he is a benefactor or a very close friend. But, in the case of Abraham, he hardly knew the visitors. They were just strangers to him; still he took haste to reach them. Herein we see Abraham’s respect for the strangers and his ideals of hospitality.

Matching to the hospitality of Abraham was the nobility of the guests. They graciously accepted the hospitality of Abraham, an old man. They did not ask for anything. They were satisfied with what Abraham served before them and they did not demand any additional dainties. Neither did they enter his home.

How Abraham treated the three strangers is unbelievable. He prostrated before them! Can you imagine prostrating before a stranger who happens to pass by your house? Abraham again begs them to stay with him. He offers them water to clean and comfort their feet which might have been dirty and aching through a long journey. He offers them bread and beef for food and waited on them while they wire dining under the comfortable shade of a tree.

Abraham was a rich man. But he did not want to enjoy his wealth all by himself. He was generous. He was ready to share his fortune with others. He did not withdraw his resources even from the strangers. Abraham did not lack a thing. Hence, his generous treatment of the strangers was not inspired by any selfish motives. He was trying to be just hospitable. Hospitality was a great value in his culture and he was trying to be a man of values.

But, in the end it turns out that even those strangers could be of great blessing for Abraham. These strangers were heavenly visitors in human form. They offered him a blessing which he never expected of them. While Abraham extended most tender welcome to his strangers the strangers offered him the most tender promise of a child. The story of Abraham teaches that we should never overestimate our sufficiency and underestimate what others can offer us. Very often God enters our life in the guise of fellow humans to bless us and to fulfil our deep seated longings.

The news of a child in the flesh and blood of Abraham and Sarah was too good a news for Sarah to believe. Sarah makes a cynical laughter within herself. Sarah was already made cynical by the passing of the years, by the unkept promises of the Lord and now she fears to hope again. Her laughter is perhaps laughter of mistrust and distrust of both herself and God. The Lord confronts her with the question, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” It was an invitation to hope even when hoping makes us a laughing stock in this generation.

As the story unfolds, the Lord proves that nothing is impossible to him by transforming the distrustful laughter of Sarah into laughter of joy over the new born baby boy.