Do What Is Right Because It Is Right

Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you also are in the body. Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled; for God will judge the immoral and adulterous. Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never fail you nor forsake you.”

Hebrews 13:1-5

Why must we receive the stranger kindly? Why must we welcome him with open arms?

We know from Jesus’ teaching in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew that welcoming a stranger is a Godly thing to do.

We know from Deuteronomy that God commanded Israel to welcome strangers, as they had been strangers in Egypt.

We know, therefore, that we are called by God to be kind, gracious, and welcoming to strangers.

We know also that receiving strangers kindly was a virtue even before God handed down His Law to Moses and to Israel.

We recall from Genesis how Lot’s good treatment of two angels appearing to him in the city of Sodom ultimately saved him and his daughters from that city’s destruction. We are not told if Lot knew his guests were angels at first, although that certainly was made plain when they put him outside the city and told him to flee, as Sodom was under the judgement of the Lord.

Did Lot welcome the angels into his home because he thought they might be angels? The text of Genesis does not indicate this to be the case, although we might wonder why Lot would offer up his virgin daughters to the mob outside his home as a means of defending his guests if he thought they were just ordinary travelers.

What we are told is that Lot received into his house two visitors. What we are told is that Lot made them welcome, and sought to protect them from the evil designs of the people of Sodom, although his solution, that of surrendering his daughters, seems monstrous and evil.

Yet because they were angels, rather than being protected by Lot from the mob, they instead protected Lot from that same mob, and saved him from the doom that had been pronounced upon the city of Sodom.

But are we commanded to welcome strangers because they might be angels? Do we greet travelers with open arms in the hope that we will achieve some great reward? That seems unlikely. Though God recalls Israel’s time in Egypt when commanding the stranger be well tended, we surely cannot forget that Israel’s time in Egypt was a time of bondage and enslavement.

When Israel was a stranger in Egypt, Israel was not well tended. Indeed, one might argue that God’s commandment regarding strangers was a commandment to Israel to rise above and do better than had been done to them.

Reward and gain are not a part of the commandment to be welcoming to strangers, nor are they a part of any of God’s Commandments. There is no “if” and “then”. There is no “but”. There is not even “and”. There is simply the commandment. There is simply the calling.

Yet, as we see in Genesis and as the Apostle Paul reminds us in the opening verses to Chapter 13 of his Letter to the Hebrews, there are times when the kindness we show the stranger will be repaid many times over.

When we do what is right, we create opportunities for good things to happen. Not every stranger is an angel, nor is every city like Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet because Lot received two strangers into his house and made them welcome, he put himself in a place where he could receive kindness and mercy from God, even as he was among those who had scorned God and called down upon themselves God’s wrath rather than God’s mercy.

It takes no great act of imagining to understand that had Lot ignored the two angels when they appeared in Sodom, he would not have been in a place where he could receive God’s mercy. Instead, he would have been given over to God’s wrath along with the rest of Sodom and Gomorrah. The fire and brimstone that consumed those cities would also have consumed Lot and his family.

We do not know what might happen when we show kindness to a stranger. We do not know what might happen when we show love and compassion to a neighbor. We do not know what might happen when we take the time to visit those who are sick, or who are trapped in one form of prison or another.

We do know, however, what will happen when we turn our back on a stranger. We do know what will happen when we ignore and disregard our neighbor. We do know what will happen when we dismiss the sick, and the imprisoned.

Nothing.

When we turn away from our fellow human beings we turn away from any chance for any good outcome. We turn away from something happening, and ensure that nothing will happen.

When we close our hearts to the cries and cares of our neighbors, we close off any hope for anything positive. We close off the hope of something happening, leaving the certainty that nothing will happen.

When we deny the wants and needs of those who are suffering, we deny the possibility of relief. We deny the possibility of something happening, and thus accept that nothing will happen.

When we do not do the right thing, we trade the possiblity of something good happening for the certainty of nothing good happening.

Thus we are called to do that which is right because it is right. We are called to follow God’s Law because it is God’s Law.

Being thus called, we are gifted the chance to create opportunities for good things to occur. Being thus called, we are gifted the power to spread hope in all directions. Being thus called, we are gifted possibilities for something good to happen not just in our lives but in the lives of others as well.

Being thus called, we open ourselves for God to be with us, as He has promised He will always be.

So my prayer on this day, and on every day, is that I will find it within me to do the right thing because it is the right thing. My prayer on this day, and on every day, is that I will choose always to follow God’s Law because it is God’s Law. My prayer on this day, and on every day, is that I will open myself for God to be with me, as He has promised He will always be.

Likewise, I pray that you will always find it within yourself to do the right thing because it is the right thing. I pray that you will always choose to follow God’s Law because it is God’s Law. I pray that you will open yourself for God to be with you, as He has promised He will always be.

We receive the stranger kindly simply because that is the right thing to do. We welcome the stranger with open arms simply because that is the right thing to do.

We do these things, not so that God will reward us, but simply so that God may be with us, as He has promised He will always be.