{"author":null,"canonical_references":[],"database_sha256":"8cfbe7284c6936871d57c02dc6aa63ebbdfd4722422d539dd9f716e46e91112e","date_end":null,"date_start":null,"edition_year":null,"id":"sermonindex-ecf-5720","native_reference":{"book_number":10,"chapter_from":18,"chapter_to":18,"system":"MyBible module coordinates (mapping unverified)","verse_from":2,"verse_to":2},"public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"verse-keyed-module-record","review_required":["English edition and exact text","author/work attribution","dating","verse mapping and citation kind","reuse and attribution","split author quotations and deduplicate"],"review_status":"unreviewed","source_html":"<p><b>Ambrose of Milan</b>: Hospitality is good, it has its reward, first the gratitude of man, and then, what is greater, the reward of God. We are all guests in this abode; for a time we have a place to stay: we are emigrating soon. Let us beware that if we have been harsh or negligent in receiving guests, even the holy hostels may be denied to us after the course of this life. Hence in the Gospel the Savior says: Make friends for yourselves with unjust wealth, so that they may receive you into eternal dwellings. Then also in this body often arises the necessity of wandering. What therefore you have denied to others, you decide for yourself: and what you have granted to others, you will make yourself worthy to seem. If everyone were to follow this opinion of not accepting strangers, where would there be rest for wanderers? Therefore, leaving behind human dwellings, we will seek the retreats of wild animals, the lairs of beasts.<br/><i>— On Abraham</i></p><p><b>Bede</b>: And when he had lifted up his eyes, he saw three men standing near him; and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the door of the tent, and worshipped upon the ground, and said: Lord, if I have found grace in thy sight, do not pass by thy servant, etc. The fact that three men appeared to him is a mystery of the Holy Trinity; indeed, when he saw three, he worshipped one, and prayed to the Lord, because although there is a Trinity in persons, there is nevertheless one and co-adorable equality in divinity of the Lord, just as in Isaiah when the angelic hosts were singing the glory of the Holy Trinity, saying: Holy, Holy, Holy, they immediately add the unity of dominion and deity, saying: The Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is full of His glory. And it is fittingly said that Abraham lifted up his eyes to see the angels, because indeed it is necessary that one who wishes to see the citizens of heaven, who desires to know the glory and secrets of the Divine Majesty, should raise every gaze of his mind from lowly desires and with diligent intention open up to the light of the true Sun. It is fittingly added that when he saw the angels, he ran to meet them, worshipping, and asked them not to pass him by, because it is necessary that whenever we conceive any taste of internal sweetness in our soul, we should immediately strive with all our prayers and prompt steps of good works, lest the same sweetness should leave us too quickly; but what is tasted for a time should refresh our minds somewhat longer by the memory of supernal sweetness and suspend them in the contemplation of eternal things, abstracted from the delights and cares of this world. It may perhaps move some that in this reading both Abraham and in the following Lot, having seen the angels, received them as guests as if they were men, and refreshed them with human food as if they were mortals, while yet they spoke with them as with God, and received their words no otherwise than as heavenly oracles. \"But it is credible,\" as Saint Augustine says, \"that both Abraham in the three men and Lot in the two men recognized the Lord; to whom they spoke with singular number, even when they considered them to be men. For they received them in no other way than as mortal men and ministered to them with human refreshment as if they were in need; but surely there was something by which they so excelled, though as men, that in them the Lord was present as He is wont to be in prophets, so that those who offered them hospitality could not doubt; and therefore sometimes they called them in the plural, and at other times the Lord in the singular in them. Scripture testifies that they were angels, not only in this book of Genesis where these events are narrated, but also in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where, when hospitality was praised, it says: By this some, being unaware, entertained angels (Heb. XIII, 2).\" However, in this reception one can appropriately sense that it was divinely arranged so that the patriarchs, seeing angels, would receive them as men indeed but venerate them as God, so that through the distinction of such service and devotion it would be prefigured that in the future the Lord Himself, appearing in the flesh, would be satisfied with carnal foods and received in human hospitality. In which hospitality, however, He would more be devoted to preaching the gospel and healing the sick than to eating and drinking, as the gospel history often testifies. Finally, the interpreters of the sacred scriptures have understood this place as accomplishing what the Lord said to the Jews: Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day; and he saw it, and was glad (John VIII, 56). He saw indeed the day of the Lord, when seeing the three angels, he worshipped one, and addressed the Lord, because in the distinction of the three persons, he recognized the essence of one majesty.<br/><i>— Commentary on Genesis (Hexaemeron)</i></p><p><b>Caesarius of Arles</b>: Notice, brothers, and see how God appeared to Abraham and how he appeared to Lot. The three men came to Abraham and stood over him; two came to Lot and stayed in the street. Consider, brothers, whether these things did not happen through the dispensation of the Holy Spirit according to their merits. Indeed, Lot was far inferior to Abraham; if he had not been, he would not have merited to be separated from Abraham, nor would the dwelling of Sodom have pleased him. Now the three men came to Abraham at noon, while the other two came to Lot in the evening for this reason: Lot was unable to endure the power of the noonday sun, but Abraham could stand its full brightness.<br/><i>— SERMON 83.2</i></p><p><b>Caesarius of Arles</b>: \"Three men came to Abraham and stood over him.\" Observe how it is that they come upon him but not against him. He had subjected himself to God's will, and for this reason God is said to stand over him. \"They stood over him,\" not against him to repulse him but over him for protection.<br/><i>— SERMON 83.4</i></p><p><b>Ephrem the Syrian</b>: Although Abraham ran from the tent toward them as if toward strangers, he ran to receive those strangers with love. His love for strangers was thus proved by the haste with which he ran to meet those strangers. Therefore the Lord, who had just appeared to him at the door of the tent, now appeared to Abraham clearly in one of the three. Abraham then fell down and worshiped him, seeking from him in whom majesty dwells that he condescend to enter his house and bless his dwelling. \"If I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.\" God did not oppose him, for he said, \"Do as you have said.\" Then Abraham ran to Sarah [telling her] to make three measures of wheat, and then he ran to the herd to get a fatted calf.<br/><i>— COMMENTARY ON Genesis 15:1</i></p><p><b>Origen of Alexandria</b>: Let us first compare, if it seems good, this vision with the one that took place with Lot. \"Three men\" come to Abraham and stand \"over him\"; to Lot \"two\" come and sit \"in the street.\" See whether the matters are not carried out by the dispensation of the Holy Spirit according to merits. For Lot was far inferior to Abraham. For unless he had been inferior, he would not have been separated from Abraham, nor would he have said to him: \"If you go to the right, I will go to the left; if you go to the left, I will go to the right.\" And unless he had been inferior, the land and dwelling of Sodom would not have pleased him. Therefore three men come to Abraham at midday, and to Lot two come, and in the evening. For Lot could not contain the greatness of the midday light; but Abraham was capable of receiving the full radiance of the light. Let us now see how Abraham received those who came and how Lot did, and let us compare what the hospitality of each was. But first observe that with Abraham, together with the two angels, the Lord also was present, whereas to Lot only two angels proceed. And what do they say? \"The Lord has sent us to crush the city and to destroy it.\" That one, therefore, received those who would give it over to destruction; he did not receive the one who would save; but Abraham received both the one who saves and those who destroy.<br/><i>— HOMILIES ON Genesis 4.1</i></p><p><b>Origen of Alexandria</b>: But let us now for the present pursue what Abraham does with the three men who \"stood over him.\" See this very thing, what kind of thing it is, that they come \"over him,\" not against him. For he had subjected himself to the will of God, and therefore God is said to stand \"over him.\"<br/><i>— HOMILIES ON Genesis 4.2</i></p><p><b>Origen of Alexandria</b>: Now let us see how each one receives. \"Abraham saw,\" it says, \"and ran to meet them.\" Consider at once how tireless and eager Abraham is in his duties. He himself runs to meet them, and when he had met them: \"he hastens back,\" it says, \"to the tent and says to his wife: hasten to the tent.\" See in each detail how great is the eagerness of the one receiving. There is haste in everything, everything is urged on, nothing is done in leisure.<br/><i>— HOMILIES ON Genesis 4.1</i></p>","source_html_sha256":"f72eb19c63314674d266f4a07a00f3c39c32ed50fff50e7a307e2241b8cb7350","source_module":"ECF","source_row_id":5720,"source_url":"https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/ecf/","text_sha256":"f8c0c3eeaf7e16655aa9e6973019518dcb95a3f7d0902f502a568a95a7af5d3c","translator":null,"work":null}