Unknowingly Entertaining Angels

Devotional Reflection, Monday, February 5, 2024

The week of the fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s reading:

13:1Let mutual love continue. 2Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. . . .

16Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

You will find the full text of today’s epistle reading at the end of this reflection.

Daily Office Lectionary Readings (BCP, 947)

AM Psalm 80; PM Psalm 77, [79]

Gen. 25:19-34; Heb. 13:1-16; John 7:37-52

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Martyrs of Japan. (See below.)

David’s Reflections

“Hospitality replaces crippling self-concern.” * Robert Karris wrote that comment about a post-resurrection appearance of Jesus in which a couple unknowingly hosted him in their home even as they grieved his death (see Luke 24:13-25).  To practice hospitality, to receive and treat others with kindness and care, is to get outside ourselves, to take the focus off our own needs, hurts, and fears and to focus our attention and energy on the needs, hurts, and fears of another. Today's epistle alludes to Abraham's hospitality extended to the angelic beings in Genesis 18 before he realized who they were.

Our existence blasts us with suffering and need.  Images assault us daily of starving children, abandoned elderly people, Alzheimer’s-ravaged minds, bodies mangled by terrorist bombs.  Agony can so over-stimulate us that we succumb to what registered nurse Carla Johnson called compassion fatigue, or in her words “loss of the ability to nurture.”$  Medical professionals, overwhelmed by successive suffering patients can lose the ability to nurture. The Nobel laureate Czeslaw Milosz has this line in one of his poems about the Holocaust,

If one can, let him avoid

Compassion, that ache of imagination. #

Perhaps the ultimate challenge, the ultimate act of courage, is to continue seeing, to remain open to the agony and need of those closest to us.  If we must tune out some of the distant screams of misery coming through the media, we can focus our attention instead on what is nearest us—the elderly shut in down the street, the children in the next block with an absentee parent, the grandmother in the next county with dementia.

How can we dare make the suffering of others about ourselves by focusing on how we feel wounded and threatened through exposure to their pain?  Rather, we can sense the loving heart of Christ alive within us; we can risk exposure to the pain of others and practice the radical hospitality of receiving them and caring for them.  To do so is to extend hospitality to the Christ who suffers in and with them;  it is to make the suffering about them and not about us (“If you have done it to one of the least of these, you have done it to me,” Jesus said in Matthew 25).

According to today’s epistle, such radical hospitality should be incorporated into our lives as a spiritual discipline.  What forms might that take in your life? When might you or I entertain angels without knowing it?

*Robert J. Karris, "Expository Article:  Luke 24:13-35."  Interpretation 41 (January 1987): 59.

$ Cited by Tad Coles, “Compassion Fatigue and Burnout: History, Definitions, and Assessment.” Veterinarians Monthly Digest, Oct 2017. https://www.dvm360.com/view/compassion-fatigue-and-burnout-history-definitions-and-assessment

# “Lecture III,” in The Collected Poems, 1931-1987 (New York:  HarperCollins, 1988), p. 486.

Collect of the Day, Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (BCP, 216)

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Martyrs of Japan  (died 5 Feb 1597 CE).

http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/Japan_martyrs.htm

Collect of the Feast of the Martyrs of Japan

O God our Father, who brought the holy martyrs of Japan through the suffering of the cross to the joys of eternal life: Grant that we, encouraged by their example, may hold fast to the faith we profess, even to death itself; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A Collect for the Renewal of Life

O God, the King eternal, whose light divides the day from the night and turns the shadow of death into the morning: Drive far from us all wrong desires, incline our hearts to keep your law, and guide our feet into the way of peace; that, having done your will with cheerfulness while it was day, we may, when night comes, rejoice to give you thanks; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (BCP, 99)

A Collect for All Baptized Christians

Grant, Lord God, to all who have been baptized into the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ, that, as we have put away the old life of sin, so we may be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and live in righteousness and true holiness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.  (BCP, 247)

A Collect for Early Evening

Grant us, Lord, the lamp of charity which never fails, that it may burn in us and shed its light on those around us, and that by its brightness we may have a vision of that holy City, where dwells the true and never-failing Light, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 110)

A Collect for Mission

O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh; and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100, 257)

Daily Office Epistle, Hebrews 13:1-16

13:1Let mutual love continue. 2Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. 4Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. 5Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never leave you or forsake you.’ 6So we can say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?’ 7Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings; for it is well for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by regulations about food, which have not benefited those who observe them. 10We have an altar from which those who officiate in the tent have no right to eat. 11For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the city gate in order to sanctify the people by his own blood. 13Let us then go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured. 14For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come. 15Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Daily Offices in The Book of Common Prayer

Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, The Book of Common Prayer

Noonday Prayer, page 103, Book of Common Prayer

Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p 109, Book of Common Prayer

Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer

Compline (Night Prayer), page 127, Book of Common Prayer

Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer