“Let mutual love continue. Do not
neglect to show hospitality to strangers for by doing that some have
entertained angels without knowing it.”
Six nights in a row the man had had the same dream. Six nights in a row
he had awakened, weeping. Tears of longing.
In the dream, he was lost, wandering the streets of a large city. It was
a winter night, dark and bitterly cold. But every door of every building was
locked.
No matter how hard he knocked or how loudly he shouted the doors
remained closed. Only silence on the other side.
He eventually came to a door behind which he could hear the muffled
sounds of a party, a great celebration. The door was slightly warm to the
touch, promising warmth and comfort on the other side. The faint bits of
laughter and music that made it through the door made his heart ache with
longing.
He knew his joy depended upon entering, but, like all the other doors in
the city, this door was locked. He knocked. He pounded. He shouted. He pleaded. There was
no answer.
At this point, six nights in a row, the man had awakened, weeping.
On the seventh night, he had the dream again. This time, as he stood at
the door, he cried out in desperation, “Dear God, tell me how to open the
door.”
To his amazement, he heard an answer, “The Stranger is my messenger. You
will find the secret in the stranger.”
Again, he awakened, weeping. But, now the tears were tears of expectancy.
As soon as he could get himself ready and skipping breakfast he went out on the sidewalk and asked
each person he met, “Are you the messenger?” All he got were blank stares and
puzzled looks.
It occurred to him that maybe the stranger would not know whether or not he or
she had the message. It was up to the man to pay attention.
That evening he went to a committee meeting. There were people there he
had known for a long time. More than one of the committee members was a source
of great irritation to the man. During the meeting he realized that though he had known some of those on
the committee for a long time, in a deeper sense he had never really gotten to
know them. They were still strangers. Maybe one of them was the stranger! He
began listening to each person with patient attention like a prospector panning
for gold.
So it was with each person he met, not just strangers, but friends and
family as well.
He became more and more open-hearted. He invited others into his heart
and made them welcome. The drunk on the street corner. The clerk at the store. The
salesperson at his door. He learned to listen to each stranger, seeking the messenger. Every
person he met, no matter how troublesome or offensive, was a potential bearer
of the message.
The man hosted a big party in which there was much laughter and music. Because
he was the host, everyone came. When each person came to his door – whether
they were rich or poor, respectable or disreputable, attractive or offensive –
he greeted each with a warm embrace and said, “Welcome friend.” He welcomed them regardless of gender, race, or ethnicity. If they had an accent, he just listened more attentively. He spent the
evening getting to know as many as he could, hoping to discover the messenger.
He went to the jail and visited the prisoners. He visited patients in
the hospital. He went to the nursing home and the insane asylum. Maybe among
the prisoners, the sick, or the mentally ill he would find the messenger with the secret to opening the door.
As he invited people into his heart, his home, and his life, things
changed. Not always the way he expected or wanted – sometimes the floors and
rugs got dirty when some people were careless. Once, his flower garden got a
bit trampled. Sometimes, as he welcomed people into his heart, all he got was
heartache. strangers did not always cross the borders of his life as he intended. But that was a risk worth taking for the sake of finding the message giving him access to the joy on the other side of the door.
His life was not always comfortable and predictable. But, his life was
transformed even as he transformed the lives of others.
Gradually, the man began to realize: each person he let into his heart
or home was the stranger-messenger with part of the answer. He had been expecting one particular stranger to have the message, but
every stranger, indeed every other person, was part of the message. Each person
the man met was a sacred gift, each one rare and precious, each one a messenger
from God – an angel.
Every encounter with another person became a potential Visitation, every
conversation was a potential Annunciation or Epiphany. With every encounter, he was panning
for gold – panning for God.
In showing hospitality he also got to know God who is by nature
hospitable, always reaching out to every stranger with open arms to say, “Welcome friend.”
He learned humility. Not humility
born of a groveling sense of worthlessness, but humility born of the
realization that each person he met was the very image of God, worthy of
respect, honor, and attention.
He learned love. And the love he learned was mutual love. As he learned
to receive the gift of others, he learned to offer the gift of himself. He, too, might be a messenger of warmth and joy to others.
This was the answer he needed to hear. In his dreams, as in his heart,
all the doors were open. He was able to join the celebration on the other side. He still sometimes woke up weeping – but now the tears
were tears of joy.
“Let mutual love continue.
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers for by doing that some have
entertained angels without knowing it.”
