Warning! This isn’t a nice story to read. We would most likely not dwell on the verses, seeking some devotion.
The summary is this:
- Lot, knowing what might happen to the strangers if they remained in the city, persuaded the visitors to stay in his home. It was his rescue mission.
- The men of the city hear of these visitors in Lot’s home and bang on the door, for they want to do what, in effect, is gang-rape.
- Incredulously, Lot offers his virgin daughters to the men in place of the male visitors. How could he do that?
- The visitors (angels) strike the mob with blindness and pull Lot inside to the safety of his home. It was their rescue mission.
“The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. 2 “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night, and then go on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.” 3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. 4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. 5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.” 6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him 7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing. 8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” 9 “Get out of our way,” they replied. “This fellow came here as a foreigner, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door. 10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.” (Genesis 19 v 1-11)
This is a story of two rescue missions that mirror the Christmas message:
1. Lot’s failed rescue:
He tries to save the strangers, but only through compromise. Sodom has warped his judgment, and his rescue idea nearly ruined his daughters’ lives. This act to rescue his visitors was obviously evil in itself, but at least it was trying to save them. He realises he cannot save anyone.
2. The angels’ successful rescue:
Just when Lot’s misguided heroism is about to destroy him, divine hands reach out. The angels pull him back inside to safety. They strike the mob with blindness. The rescuer becomes the rescued.
This is the Christmas message: We cannot save ourselves. We need divine intervention.
The problem of living in an evil, corrupt society is that we become stained ourselves—our righteousness watered down, our judgment compromised. We become implicated in the evil culture around us. Are we so stained? Is our judgment so compromised that we’ve actually become part of the culture we live in?
Like Lot, we might have good intentions, we want to protect the innocent, stand up against injustice and do what’s right. But like Lot, our methods are often warped by the darkness we’ve lived in too long.
Christmas offers this hope: Even when we’re morally compromised like Lot, even when we’re surrounded by darkness like Sodom, even when our own rescue efforts fail spectacularly—divine rescue still arrives.
God pulls us toward safety. Light breaks into our darkness. The rescue mission we couldn’t accomplish becomes the rescue mission God completes.
God entered our darkness to pull us to safety—this is the essence of Christmas. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:2). We can’t save ourselves; our righteousness is flawed. Let divine hands pull you to safety—the mission is to receive.
Missions Paul 