YOU MUST BE JOKING!
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Opening Prayer
Holy Spirit, help me to listen to your voice as I read Scripture today. Help me to hear what I need to follow Jesus faithfully, trusting him fully for what he has promised.
Read GENESIS 18:1–15
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
The Three Visitors
18 The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them and bowed low to the ground.
3 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord,[a] do not pass your servant by. 4 Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. 5 Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way—now that you have come to your servant.”
“Very well,” they answered, “do as you say.”
6 So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah. “Quick,” he said, “get three seahs[b] of the finest flour and knead it and bake some bread.”
7 Then he ran to the herd and selected a choice, tender calf and gave it to a servant, who hurried to prepare it. 8 He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.
9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.
“There, in the tent,” he said.
10 Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”
Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”
13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”
But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.”
Footnotes
- Genesis 18:3 Or eyes, Lord
- Genesis 18:6 That is, probably about 36 pounds or about 16 kilograms
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
Take some time to reflect on the people you have met, or will meet, today. How can you receive them in the name of Jesus?Christian theologians have seen the three visitors in this text as an amplification of God’s appearance to Abraham, not as a separate incident. They argue that the text moves seamlessly between the three visitors and Yahweh (e.g., v. 13). Famously, Rublev’s icon depicts the three visitors as the Trinity.
One thing is clear. Through this incident God repeats his promise that a child will be born to Sarah. God speaks through three strangers under a tree, following eastern hospitality. And yet so much time has elapsed, so many hopes have been raised and unfulfilled, that Sarah can only laugh at what she hears.
One can understand, and even sympathize with Sarah’s laughing— she had long been barren; Abraham and she were now old—this was news too good to be true, too great to imagine…ridiculous to even consider! Her laugh was one of disbelief. But Sarah’s story is ours. How often do we long for, do we hope, do we wait and wait… and then are tempted to doubt, to lose faith?
Apply
How may God want to speak to you today? Through others, even through strangers, his Word may come. Even when you have given up hope, he may be speaking. Be prepared to listen.
Closing prayer
Forgive me, Father—all too often I don’t listen for your voice, I don’t hear what you tell me. Help me to be in tune with your Spirit, to be sensitive to your leading and assurances in whatever way you choose to communicate them.
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