Murals (2008) by PHANTAST - Graffiti - Cultural Music & Art Association inc. - 98 Milne St. Benleigh
THE VISIT OF THE THREE STRANGERS (Genesis 18:1). ( By Andrei Rublev, 15th century, Russia)
Christian art and theology, especially Orthodox iconography, has strongly identified the story of the three strangers with the Trinity. The overriding pointer in the text to this trinitarian motif is that sometimes the narrative refers to God as singular, and at other times, within the same context, to the three strangers. The event offers reflexions on key values of the kingdom of God, as seen through a trinitarian perspective.
Upon realising the presence of three visitors, Abraham immediately extends the full hospitality of his household. He rouses himself and his household, personally chooses the dishes, and even waits on the three guests. They are no longer strangers, foreigners, but guests of his house, entitled to the best he has. Hospitality was one of the greatest of the virtutes, perhaps even the greatest. Abraham is aware that strangers can be of decisive importance to the one visited, bringing messages from another world. It is Sara who does not take seriously enough the propensity of outsiders to change her world. Their talk of her upcoming pregnancy is met by her with scepticism. Her laughter does nor revoke their blessing, however. The child is born within the next 12 months, causing Sarah herself to laugh. In a delightful play on her doubt and its passing, the child is called Isaac, a name which connotes laughter, smiles, and God's laughing.
Sitting in his tent at the hottest part of the day, Abraham was disturbed by the arrival of strangers. He immediately saw it as a blessing! The Orthodox tradition of icons relates his visitation both to the Trinity and to the Eucharist. Many of us are now familiar with the serene beauty of Rublev's vision of the event.
Here in this one encounter are woven together hospitality to the strenger, banquet, blessing, Eucharistic with communion, new life, and laughter. The strangers are the blessing and the bearers of blessing. Their visit transforms the host family, speaks to them of God, and opens onto the salvation of the world. In the birth of Isaac, Abraham and Sarah, the first in faith, bequeath to a second generation their covenant with the living God. It is an encounter of the present and coming kingdom of the treefold God, and an invitation to explore and extend it (Gerard Moore, The Holy Spirit of Social Justice).
2. ABRAHAM --> ISAAC --> JACOB
"Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit" (John 1:47) (The 1st Sunday in the Lent)
Jacob's name, (deceiver), derives from he who grasps the heel, a name given because he came out of the woumb holding onto the foot of his brother Esau. Even at birth, he struggled for supremacy; from the very beginning of his life, he fought to obtain the birthright of the firstborn. Rebekah, his mother interfered in the dispute between him and his brother. She conspired to help Jacob deceive his father Isaac (Genesis 27:1).
Deceiver and deceived. Having fled his home after deceiving his father to obtain a blessing meant for his brother, he was in turn deceived by his uncle. Laban tried to cheat him at every turn: over his wives, over his flocks, over his wages and payment.
Even after Jacob asquired a new name - ISRAEL - he still had a long way to go to scrub all trace of both deceiver and deceived from his identity.
Some 17 centuries later, Jesus could make a joke of it. On meeting Nathanael, He said: 'Here is a true man of Israel in whom there is no Jacob'. John, writing in Greek, translated it to 'Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit"
3. SUNDAY, 1ST OF MARCH, OUR CHURCH "ST. DIMITRIE" COLLECTED $180 FOR CENTRAL FUND OF MISSION. WE SENT THE MONEY TO BISHOP MIHAIL IN MELBOURNE, FOR FURTHER HELP OF OUR ROMANIAN PATRIARHATE IN ROMANIA.