Sermon for Proper 17 Yr. C: Angels Unawares

Proper 17 Yr. C: Angels Unawares

Sirach 10:12-18; Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14

The Rev. Paul D. Allick, The Church of the Advent, August 31, 2025

In our lesson from Hebrews today, the author gives a wide range

of advice on Christian living. The topics range from the

importance of ministering to those in prisons, to marriage and

human sexuality to how a Christian is to handle their finances.

The part that stands out for me is the advice about hospitality. It is

one of my favorite verses of Scripture, “Do not neglect to show

hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels

unawares.” (RSV)

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to entertain angels unawares?

This verse harkens back to the story in Genesis 18 when

Abraham and Sarah host the Lord when he appears to them as

three messengers. Sarah feeds them a hearty meal and then

laughs at them when they announce that she will have a child in

her old age.

In the Benedictine Monastic tradition, the brothers and sisters are

instructed to welcome each stranger as if they were Christ

himself. Chapter 53 of the 1500-year-old Rule of Life instructs

them, “All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as

Christ, for he himself will say: I was a stranger and you welcomed

me...All humility should be shown in addressing a guest on

arrival or departure. By a bow of the head or by a complete

prostration of the body, Christ is to be adored because he is

indeed welcomed in them.”

I have never seen such unconditional hospitality to guests and

strangers then when I lived with Benedictines. But I also learned

in my time living with them and subsequently as a parish priest,

that welcoming strangers as Christ himself can be tricky. Not

every stranger has wholesome intentions for the community.

Jesus told us, “Be as gentle as doves and as wise as serpents.”

St. Benedict warns this about welcoming the stranger, “but prayer

must always precede the kiss of peace because of the delusions

of the devil.” I have found it rare that guests or strangers have bad

intentions, but it does happen and we must be prudent.

Christian hospitality is rooted in humility. It is about hosting when

you feel like taking a break. It is about being receptive to

interruptions during important tasks. It is about bringing a new

person into the circle when you feel like relaxing with the familiar

crowd. It is about speaking to the community with visitors in mind

when it’s easier to just use insider language to get your point

across.

This last part happens regularly in parishes and diocese with our

singular terminology and interminable Diocesan acronyms which

can be ever so confusing and alienating to outsiders.

And hospitality is about more than interacting with strangers, it

also involves how we interact with each other within the

community. We also welcome those we have known for years, as

we would welcome Christ.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches about the essential connection

between humility and hospitality.

As Jesus enters the home of a religious leader the other guests

watch him closely. Will this uncouth teacher from the backwaters

follow the social rules? Banquets were social events where status

and familial honor were at stake. And to be invited meant one was

expected to reciprocate.

Of course, Jesus, as is his way, turns it all on its head, “When you

are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place...For all who exalt

themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves

will be exalted." He advises the host to not invite those who can

return the courtesy but those who cannot, “for you will be repaid

at the resurrection of the righteous."

Christ is pointing to the Kingdom of God as the Heavenly Banquet

where no one will define their own value by comparing

themselves to others. Where the invitation to the feast has no

strings attached.

Divine hospitality might make us uncomfortable. Our culture tells

us to scratch and crawl to the top of the social heap. Indeed, now

we can be famous for simply being famous. Yet, Christian

hospitality tells us to step down and get out of the way so that

God will exult us.

As we heard from the wisdom of Sirach, “The beginning of human

pride is to forsake the Lord; the heart has withdrawn from its

Maker.”

In the 12th Century the Benedictine Abbot and Bishop, St. Bruno

wrote,

“Every day the Lord makes a wedding feast...We are all invited to

this wedding feast...Here is the living bread come down from

heaven, here placed before us is the chalice of the New

Covenant...the gospels and the letters of the apostles ...the

books of Moses and the prophets. It is as though a dish

containing every delight was brought and set before us. What

more then can we desire? What reason is there for choosing the

first seats? There is plenty for all no matter where we sit.”

“But whoever you may be who still desire the first place here – go

and sit in the last place. Do not be lifted up by pride, inflated by

knowledge, elated by nobility, but the greater you are the more

you must humble yourself in every way, and you will find grace

with God.”

References:

The Rule of St. Benedict, Edited by J. Conor Gallagher

St. Benedict Press, Charlotte, NC 2007 (pp. 82-83)

Benedictine Daily Prayer: A Short Breviary

2nd Edition, Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN 2015

(St. Bruno, pp. 602-603)