12th Week in Ord. Time, Saturday – 1st July 2023 – Genesis 18,1-15; Mt 8,5-17
Blessings of Hospitality
In the first reading, true to the culture of his time, Abraham offers hospitality to three strangers who pass his tent pitched near the tree of Mamre. Abraham ran forward to greet them and bowed profoundly before them. He immediately asks them to accept the hospitality of his tent. At first, Abraham sees his guests as mere human beings and welcomes them warmly; their superhuman character is only gradually revealed. He offers them water to wash their hot and dusty feet and suggests they take some rest under the shade of a tree. He goes out of his way to invite them to have some food and refresh themselves before continuing his journey. He tells Sarah to take almost three measures of flour in order to prepare rolls. He himself chooses a tender to be slaughtered and prepared for the guests. Obviously, the meals prepared for Abraham’s guests were more than sufficient for three visitors to eat at one meal. Finally, Abraham himself serves his visitors rather than by one of his own servants to serve them. After the three have enjoyed the generosity of Abraham, they issue a promise of a birth of a son within a year’s time. Thus, Abraham becomes the model of typical courtesy and hospitality to the stranger and at the same manifests the hospitality of the Ancient Near Eastern culture.
