“Guess Who’s Coming For Dinner!” (No Social Distancing Required)

Have you ever had that moment when company drops by just before time to cook dinner?  At my house, that time of day finds me standing in the freezer searching for the fastest meat to thaw and cook and some frozen veggie that I can steam in the microwave for 2 minutes.  The surprise of the doorbell and seeing visitors ready to drop in, takes me off my game and I find words falling out of my mouth before I have time to think.  Suddenly, I hear myself say to the company, “Why don’t you stay for dinner?  It won’t be any trouble and we would love the visit.”  Of course, they agree it would be wonderful!  OMG!  Now I am praying I have enough hamburger to feed us all.  I can thaw it, throw it on the grill, and while it’s cooking, thaw some buns, clean some lettuce, slice a tomato, maybe add a slice of cheese, find enough chips and drinks to go around and hope for the best.  Whew!!!  It’s hard to be a charming hostess when you are under that kind of pressure!  But, they are, after all, friends and they are most forgiving.  That’s what friends do!  Today, after “social distancing”, I would welcome a whole host of dinner guests without complaint!

I was reading Genesis 18 not too long ago.  It is the story of drop-in company at Abraham’s tent. Abraham and Sarah find themselves in exactly that, “surprise!  Here we are!” moment.  They are living just south of what is now Jerusalem on the planes of Mamre, prime grazing land.  Abraham is sitting in the door of his tent on a warm afternoon looking over the fields when a bazaar thing happens.  One minute all he could see were the cattle spread before him in the fields and the next moment, 3 men were standing in his front yard.  They just appeared out of nowhere!  “And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him”, just like that!  Talk about unexpected company, YIKES!  And to add to the surprise, they must have been glorious to behold.  In verse 1, we find that the LORD appeared unto him.  The word there is Jehovah, the self-existent one.  (Whoa!  Can you imagine the pressure in cooking for God???)  Out of respect, Abraham called him Adonai. He was, indeed, part of the Godhead. The other two guests were supernatural beings as well.  Angelic beings are what the ancient writers of the Targum call them and that’s good enough for me.  At any rate, Abraham ran to them and invited them to stay for dinner.  Can you imagine Sarah’s face when he said “Honey!  Guess who’s coming for dinner!”

Poor Sarah…  no freezer, no microwave, no instant anything!  She had to start from scratch to make bread, no Brown N Serve rolls in that house!  Then they had to kill the fatted calf, dress it and cook it.  And she had to get it all together in time for dinner, to serve to the three mysterious visitors.  Notice, she hid in the tent while they ate.  I imagine she looked spent (just making hamburgers for company does that to me).  Don’t forget she is about 89 years old at the time!  Maybe it was just the custom of the day, but the men noticed her absence and asked about her.

Now, when I cook dinner for guests, I usually get a nice compliment for my efforts and that’s enough. But Sarah’s guests went way beyond a simple thank you.  The Lord declared that her barrenness would end and that she would have a son within the year.  He said, “Is anything too hard for the LORD? …At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life and Sarah shall have a son.”  OMG! Now that is a big thank you!  A covenant promise was, finally, to be fulfilled after waiting 24 years. No wonder she laughed!  (At 89…I might have cried, honestly!)

I had a ton of questions about that visit!  Why did Adonai show up for a meal with the family? Why the meal?  Why didn’t He just fulfill that promise in the course of time and nature? After all, He had cut a covenant to insure the birth of a son.   I know, they were on the way to Sodom and Gomorrah but they didn’t have to stop at Abraham’s tent before going there.  Why did they stop?  Why did they agree to eat the meal?   I was off and running on another ferret adventure!!  Woop woop!  Here we go!

I started with the pay-off for dinner … Covenant promise kept, Sarah’s baby on the way.  Covenants… Oh my goodness! What a crazy bunch of ferret trails to follow!  I’m convinced that God created mankind with a “covenant gene”.  People will strike agreements over anything.  Some are like blood-brother covenants, some are worldly like buying a house or a car, or making a bet, some as simple as a handshake and then there are those that God instituted like marriage.  I followed a lot of trails before I hit the right one, the one that explained Abraham and the meal.

Blood covenants were everywhere in scripture.  God had to sacrifice innocent animals in order to cover Adam’s nakedness. Job sacrificed a pot-load of animals over his kids. (I get that!)  Abraham was in blood covenant with the Lord concerning the promise of a son for him and God’s reciprocal  promise of sending His own son into the world for all of us.  God used Moses to institute the Law which was consummated with the sacrifice of innocent animals to make a way for God to fellowship with mankind.  And, of course,  Jesus was our most precious blood sacrifice, making a way for us to become God’s children!  Thank you, Lord!!!

But, let’s take a breath! I get the concept of a blood covenant but my question still stands… what about the meal  Why a meal?  Then I saw it in an article… did you know that, particularly in the middle east, if you share a meal with someone, you are joined in a covenant with them?   It is as legal and binding as a blood covenant and and it can span over generations.  It is called the Friendship Covenant.   It is often instituted in concert with a blood covenant.  Here is a layman’s explanation… Basically “you are what you eat”.  So, if you eat the same food and drink from the same fruit of the vine, you become a part of one another, a unit or single body… two become one!   The Friendship Covenant is about complete trust, loyalty and faithfulness.  No matter what the issue, friends can confide in and depend on each other to the death.  They trust each other, and by right of covenant, can expect loyalty and faithfulness without question to the very end.  Who knew???

Flash back to Abraham!  The Lord knew that in destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham’s nephew, Lot, whom he raised as a son, would be lost as would his entire family and so He purposefully made a friendship covenant with Abraham so that He could confide in His friend.  After the meal was complete, He sent his angels ahead, but He stayed behind out of covenant obligation, to tell Abraham what He was about to do to Sodom and Gamorrah.   He said to Himself “… Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do…”  He knew Abraham would intercede and fight for Lot and his family and He would be bound to honor that friendship covenant and see that Lot and his family were spared.   “…God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow…”.  Cool, huh???  But that was Abraham’s story.  Another question… what does that have to do with us?

Fast forward…  Did you know that Jesus purposefully made a Friendship Covenant with us?  He did!  The Last Supper was just that, a Friendship Covenant meal.  After that meal with His disciples, Jesus said to them…”Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.  You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you.  Henceforth I call you not servants for the servant knows not what his lord does:  but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”   (John 15:13-15)  As His friends, what did Jesus call on us to do?  Love one another for sure,  but He also called us to go into all the world and make disciples.  “…as my Father sent me, I am now sending you.”  (John 20: 21)  He promised to empower us by the Baptism of the Holy Spirit so that we could accomplish all He asked of us.  As His friends, He was, now, trusting us to be faithful and loyal to the end in the mission that He laid before us.

Every time we take this meal of bread and wine, we are reaffirming that Friendship covenant!  So… no matter our issue, Jesus is faithful, trustworthy and loyal to be with us and help us to the very end.  Do you realize that the Holy Spirit is the voice we hear when Jesus is confiding in us?  “…when the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come… for he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you.”  (John 16:13-14) Because of this covenant, Jesus can confide in us His deepest thoughts.  That’s what friends do!  No matter the issue, He promised that He would never leave us or forsake us.  (Heb. 13:5-6) And likewise, He trusts us to never forsake Him!

Question… For our part, are we trustworthy, faithful and loyal to the very end?  Are we friends of Jesus?   He has entrusted us with the ministry that He started.  He has put his beloved lost sheep in our hands and He trusts us to find them, gather them and bring them into His kingdom and to care for them.  He trusts us to be His witnesses to the utter most parts of the world!  How are we doing with that? Whew!  It’s getting a little warm in here!   Who knew friendship could be so …  umm…  weighty?  Next time I share a covenant meal with Jesus, I will be thinking of covenants not only in terms of what Jesus did for me but I will be reminded that, as His friend in covenant,  I am called and depended on, as well and I must remain trustworthy and faithful to the end.

What is really awesome in all of this is that Jesus has never changed nor has He stopped dropping in, hoping to be invited to dinner with us.  John recorded a beautiful picture of Jesus standing at our door. “… I am standing at the door and knocking.  If any of you hear My voice and open the door, then I will come in to visit with you and to share a meal at your table and you will be with me.”  (Rev. 3:30 – The Voice) NO SOCIAL DISTANCING REQUIRED!  In these times, that is a precious promise!   How often do I throw open the door of my heart and invite Him in to fellowship with me and to share a meal?  (What I like is…. He already prepared the meal!)  So, I say… “Come on in, Lord, let’s have a good long intimate visit!”    Woop!  Woop! Ferret dance here!!!