Josh’s Thoughts

I was reading in Matthew today, and I came across this passage:

Mat 17:10-13 GNB
(10) Then the disciples asked Jesus, “Why do the teachers of the Law say that Elijah has to come first?”
(11) “Elijah is indeed coming first,” answered Jesus, “and he will get everything ready.
(12) But I tell you that Elijah has already come and people did not recognize him, but treated him just as they pleased. In the same way they will also mistreat the Son of Man.”
(13) Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.

When I read those verses I was reminded of this Scripture:

Heb 13:2 ESV
(2) Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

I don’t know if the author of Hebrews was thinking about the story in Matthew when he penned these words, but I think that the two Scriptures are very closely related. It fascinates me that Jesus said that people would not have treated John the Baptist the way that they did if they had known who he really was. Whether or not John the Baptist was literally Elijah sent back to Earth or not I do not know, but he was the fulfillment of the prophecy that said that Elijah would return to Earth before the Messiah came (Mal. 4:5-6).

The practicality of all of this is easy to understand when we compare it with Hebrews 13:2. It’s obvious that sometimes, for purposes unknown to us, God puts angels into our lives in human form. This seems almost unbelievable to us in our modern, scientific mind set, but the author of Hebrews took it very seriously. He instructed Christians to “show hospitality to strangers,” because sometimes those strangers were really angels.

That’s an interesting thought.

If it happened back then, I don’t see why it can’t happen today.

I wonder how different our reactions would be to the homeless person begging for a quarter, or the addict shivering on the street, if we thought of them as potential angels.

Crazy? Maybe. But I don’t see why some of them couldn’t be. I don’t know why God would do something like that, but maybe it’s more for us than it is for them. After all, isn’t it better to give than to receive?