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Entertaining Angels

Hebrews 13:1 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

Hospitality is a gift. It can also be a learned trait. Some people seem as if having strangers in their homes is normal and natural. Others have to fight against themselves in order to have friends over for a meal. 

The author of Hebrews says that some have entertained angels when they thought that they were helping a stranger. That's weird. This statement brings questions to mind. Do angels eat? Of course, silly, they eat angel food cake! 

Seriously, who in the Bible entertained angels by accident? Well, how about Abraham, Lot or Jacob? Granted, Jacob's treatment of the Angel of the Lord was questionable. But he did wrestle the night away, when in fact that angel could have dislocated Jacob's hip early in the match. 

Abraham, read Sarah, prepared a big meal and Lot had to offer his daughters to a mob of perverts rapists in order to protect his angelic guests. Though they ended up protecting the girls with their blinding super powers. The girls would later forge their own infamy. 

Samson's dad also kind of entertained an angel when he made an offering and the angel went up to heaven in the flame. Gideon too offered to feed the angel of the Lord and at the presentation of the food the angel touched the meat and disappeared in a blaze of glory. 

Yeah, yeah, in the Bible this kind of thing happened. But what does that have to do with me? The author's point is that we are to be hospitable. Not that we will ever see a real angel in the house, other than our wives that is. We are to show love by sharing a meal. Meals demonstrate intimate attention to another person. We share food, sustenance, nourishment together. It refreshes our soul and renews our desires to help and love others. If we feed an angel, well that would be cool. But don't hold your breath. Just have the angel food cake ready for the normal people. If you can find any. 

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