Stranger claims in Scripture - #4: Mamre to Sodom to the Cenacle

When I was puzzled by a detail in the list that Jesus repeated over and over in his description of the Last Judgment – specifically, five of the six items seemed to fit together, but the sixth felt like an interruption to me – I went back to the Old Testament to see whether I could find a cultural context for the sixth item. I found what was after, and I’m exploring it; but I want to reverse the process for a moment and look back and forth between Genesis and the Gospel.

It’s about numbers.

At Mamre, the pattern of hospitality included talking about business after dinner. The business was about Sodom, and its pending destruction. Abraham bargained with the Lord, starting with 50 and working his way down and down. “Will you really sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” asks Abraham. “Suppose there were fifty righteous people in the city; would you really sweep away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people within it?” (Gen 18:23-24) The Lord agrees not to destroy Sodom if there are 50 just men there. How about 45? OK. How about 40? 30? 20? 10? Abraham made six requests, and all six were granted: if there were 10, the city would be spared.

At Sodom the next day, the pattern of hospitality was a little jumbled, but not long after dinner, the two stranger/angels wanted to talk about business. The business was the imminent destruction of Sodom. There weren’t ten righteous people in the town. How many people would escape? The angels proposed six: Lot, wife, two daughters, and two sons-in-law. The in-laws balked: down to four. Four fled, but Lot’s wife ignored instructions and looked back: down to three. The city was destroyed; three were saved.

Centuries later, Jesus celebrated the Passover with 12 apostles. This Last Supper had elements of hospitality from the First Feast at Mamre, altered somewhat. Jesus did not bow to his apostles, he bent to the ground. He didn’t give them water for their feet; he washed their feet himself. They shared bread, transformed; they had a feast that still stretches our memory and imagination. Business afterwards. The business: pending destruction. Who would share the task of saving the world from the just punishment for – among other things – inhospitality to the Son of God? The number was whittled from 12 to three: Peter and James and John joined Jesus to pray at Gethsemane. Then the number was whittled down again: the three fell asleep, and Jesus was alone.

But that One was enough.