Entertaining Angels

Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13:2

Michael Landon starred in Touched By An Angel, an 80’s TV show in which he played a sometimes faulty, but always helpful, angel. The character lived on earth, looking just like you or me…but with better hair. Not surprising, he was always there to assist others. That’s what angels do, right!? The Bible says, “Are not all angels ministering servants sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14)

But, our verse for today (from the same letter to the Hebrew Christians) might suggest even more. Maybe angels also come so we can serve them. Hebrews 13:2 says that, by practicing hospitality, some Christians have entertained angels without even knowing it.

We usually picture angels as bright beings, with wings, halos, and robes. What if angels sometimes come looking more like us than unlike us? What if they come to serve us by allowing us to serve them?

I can’t be sure if this is how/why God sends these ministering servants. I understand that my pastors in the past have usually interpreted this passage saying that the Greek word for angels used here doesn’t have to mean a heavenly being. Angelos simply means “messenger.”

Maybe the Hebrew Christians entertained earthly “messengers” like pastors, evangelists, or apostles. But, would it be too much for God to send heavenly “messengers”, angelic angels, looking as if they fit in among us, or even looking as if they were misfits among us?

I know that it wasn’t beyond God to send His own Son from heaven to earth looking just like us. In fact, at the end of His life He looked much worse than us – more impoverished, naked, infirmed, and in more pain than any person I’ve met. Of course, Jesus came to serve, not to be served.

But would His angels come, sometimes, not to serve but to be served? I know that when we meet needs, practice hospitality, give generously as God has generously given to us- we abound in joy and our love overflows.

Could they show up with troubles, challenges, and needs for people like you and me to meet? Would God put angels in our path for our sake, so that our love and joy could increase by serving someone besides ourselves? I’m not sure that I’ll know the answer on this side of heaven, anymore than I’ll know how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

The most loving and joyful people I know are the most generous people I know. They’re not without their own troubles, challenges, and needs; but they have been given a perspective beyond themselves that is as much a blessing to them as they are to others. While it can’t be the motivation for selfless giving, it can certainly be a wonderful blessing in return: we get as much out of giving as does the person to whom we’ve given.

PRAYER

Lord, send your angels to serve me, protect me, fight for me, and – if it fits your plan – to present a need that I can meet. Transform me by Jesus’ generosity to be a ministering servant for the sake of others. Let me experience abundant joy and love. Amen.