Genesis 18:1-15
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.” 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.
They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and Sarah shall have a son.” But Sarah denied, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. He said, “Oh yes, you did laugh.”
The Lord (singular) appears to Abraham. Abraham looks up and sees three men (plural) standing near him. So what did Abraham see? Did he see ONE or did he see THREE? Do we have this story this way because the people who first wrote this story down were just terrible at telling a story and keeping their characters straight in a way that made any logical sense, OR… OR… did they include both (The Lord, singular, AND three men, plural) because they were they trying to tell us something important?
Some would say that Abraham and those original story tellers WERE trying to tell us something important, and that “something important” was the doctrine of the Trinity but that’s not something anyone would even began DREAMING about until several THOUSAND years after Abraham. So THAT, clearly, was not the important thing Abraham and the original story tellers were trying to tell us.
Unfortunately, that puts us right back where we began, with the question: Were Abraham and the writers just super sloppy story tellers who couldn’t keep their characters straight OR were Abraham and those original writers trying to tell us something important. Honestly, I think if it had been just sloppy story telling some editor along the way would have either picked “The Lord” OR the “Three Men” and done away with the sloppiness. But… BOTH are still in there. SO… I don’t think we have a case of sloppy story telling. I think this strange contradiction was indeed left in, on purpose, to tell us something important. The question then, is WHAT were Abraham and those original story tellers story trying to tell us?
The most honest answer to that question is, “no one can ever know what was in their minds,” but, for what its worth, here’s what I think they were maybe trying to tell us: Number 1. God Shows Up and when God shows up the impossible is made possible and a future opens up where there was no future before. And Number 2. When God shows up there is absolutely no telling where or when that will happen, what that might look like, how the Divine might appear, or if our tiny human brains will even begin to process that we are, in some profound new way, in the presence of the Infinite.
The promise of this story is that when GOD SHOWS UP the impossible is made possible, and a future is created where NO possible future existed before. Sarah was 90 and Abraham was 100 and together they were supposed to have been creating an entire future nation together. The impossibility they faced however was that at 90 and 100 respectively, their respective nation-creating bits were impossibly well past their best-used-by-dates. This was the impossibility they faced.
Now I’m guessing that isn’t precisely the impossibility that you are facing today but God’s promise here doesn’t just cover procreative impossibilities. It covers every personal, relational, national and international impossibility as well. Is there a genuine, full on, unfixable, impossibility that you are facing today? Me too. Are you looking for a future today and seeing nothing but but a complete void of total darkness? Yeah? Me too. This promise then, is also for us. The promise is that God shows up and when God shows up the impossible is made possible and a future is opened where before there had been none. The Good News in this story is THAT… is EXACTLY… the promise we have.
The second important thing this story is trying to tell us is that as we wait for God to show up… and apparently waiting is part of the story… we should keep it in the very front of our minds that the way God will choose to show up is entirely up to God! Will God show up as One… or Three… or Both… or maybe as a party of seven that needs a highchair? There is no way to know! Will God will show up in a way that aligns perfectly with our favorite theology, or in complete alignment with our orthodox doctrine, or championing our preferred dogmas? There is no way to know! What will God will look like? What will be the color of their skin, their eyes, their hair… will God have hair? There’s no way to know! How will God identify? What will be their preferred pronouns? Will our tiny little human minds be given even the tiniest of clues that THIS ONE standing there right now, is THE ONE? I Don’t know!
I think THAT was the point of keeping both The Lord and The Three Men in this story. That contradiction hangs on in this story to remind us that we will NOT know which one we meet along the way will be God, showing up with our desperately longed for promise. So what do we do? We do what Abraham and Sarah showed us to do. WE WELCOME THEM ALL… with the enthusiasm, generosity, graciousness, and the sense of humor we would lavish on the Divine if we were sure it was Them! WE WELCOME THEM ALL giving each person we meet the very best we have, knowing that we will never be able to tell which one might be God, but also knowing that God WILL be showing up. So we wait, and we watch, and we WELCOME THEM ALL until the day comes when God DOES show up as promised and makes the impossible, possible and opens up the new future that I, we, our country, and our world… most desperately needs. Amen.
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