By the Way: Entertaining Angels – A Sacred Opportunity

By Scott Raible on June 14, 2025.

We have been invited into a divine mystery – a sacred opportunity hidden in the ordinary. Hebrews 13:2 tells us, “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.” This verse lifts the veil just enough for us to glimpse the unseen. It reminds us that our daily acts of hospitality, kindness, and compassion might carry eternal weight. You never know who you’re welcoming – perhaps an angel in disguise. But even more profoundly, every act of love toward the overlooked is an act of love toward Christ Himself.

That’s where Matthew 25:40 comes in. Jesus paints a sobering and glorious picture of final judgment, saying, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these… you did for me.” The hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned – these are not just social concerns. These are sacred appointments. Jesus so identifies with the lowly that how we treat them becomes how we treat Him.

Now imagine the intersection of these two truths: when we welcome the forgotten, we may be hosting angels-but even more assuredly, we are serving Jesus Himself. Hospitality and compassion are not optional extras in the Christian life; they are core expressions of our love for Christ.

You don’t have to go far to find what might appear in our earthly eyes, “the least of these.” They are in your neighbourhood, your church, your workplace. They do not wear wings, but they bear the image of God. Your words, your meals, your presence – these can become holy acts of worship.

Let us be a people who do not overlook the stranger or the broken. Let us open our doors and our hearts. For in the face of the least, the lonely, and the lost, we may encounter angels. But even more wonderfully, we will encounter Jesus.

Scott Raible has served as an ordained minister in Medicine Hat for the past twenty years, and started Christian radio in Medicine Hat with Alive 99.5 and was an announcer and music director with 93.7 Praise FM. Scott can be reached at scottraible@gmail.com

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