In today’s passage from Genesis (Genesis 18), Abraham is spending the hottest part of the day sitting at the entrance of his tent. It seems that he is simply watching for someone to come by, and as soon three men do come by, Abraham reacts immediately. He runs up to them and offers them refreshment and food. He has a tender, choice steer slaughtered for them. This is an excessive level of hospitality. It’s not even clear from the text whether Abraham knew that this was the Lord. This is, however, a turning point for Abraham.

When Abram was called by God, he was called to be a blessing to all the nations. Yet, everywhere he went, he brought curse. Finally, in chapter 17 of Genesis, God reestablishes his covenant with Abram. He gives Abram and Sarai new names: Abraham and Sarah, for they will be the parents of a multitude of nations. The mark of this covenant, circumcision, was a reminder of Abram’s failure to trust God to give him a child through Sarai. Genesis 18 starts immediately after God and Abraham make this covenant, when Abraham and all the men of his household are recovering from the effects of making this covenant.

Now, with a very obvious reminder of his past failure to trust God and to be a blessing to the nations, it appears that Abraham is eager to change and be a blessing to the first people he sees. From this point forward, Abraham begins to take his mission more seriously. For example, after entertaining these guests, he intercedes for the sake of the righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah with God. He is not perfect, and he still fails, but he strives to be a blessing to those he visits.

Abraham’s story is important for many, many reasons. Abraham is an Old Testament patriarch, and many of us have an image of the patriarchs that they were near-perfect men who always followed God. But Abraham failed to fulfill God’s will over and over again. God asked him to do something very challenging, and Abraham failed many, many times. The one thing Abraham did not do was lose his faith in the Lord or turn to other gods. He was willing to recognize his failures and to change, even though sometimes it took two or three attempts by God to get it through Abraham’s thick skull. (How many times did he say that Sarah was his sister before he finally realized that was a bad plan?)

We, who have been baptized into the death of Christ, have been called to a mission even more challenging than that of Abraham. We are called to unite ourselves to Christ in both our joys and our sufferings, not because his sacrifice was insufficient, but because we must choose to join ourselves to his sacrifice. We are called to live in the new life of Christ, to unite ourselves to him, and to be–through him–lights to the nations, to make disciples of Christ through all the world. We are God’s instruments in this world. It is a task for every single person here to spread the Gospel, to invite and encourage those who have left to return to Church, to love our enemies and pray for those who hate us so that their hearts may be softened and they too, might one day join us. In this mission we have been given, we will fail many, many times, just like Abraham. But, like Abraham, we must never allow ourselves to put our faith in anything or anyone other than God.

Our Lord will soon be with us on the altar, Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity. Let us open our hearts to him, eagerly welcoming him, just as Abraham welcomed our Lord that day near the terebinth of Mamre. Let us ask him to give us the courage to be a light to the nations, to be a blessing to those we encounter, and to make disciples of Christ throughout all the world.