Our Faces Will Burn With Shame

There’s an old saw about Christians being hypocrites. The saw is generally true, in the sense that we proclaim  a holy God who has called us to holy living but regularly fall short. That unbelievers say this so often about us is a problem, though. Part of the blame is ours, because like to pretend we’ve got it all under control, even though we don’t in the slightest.  I usually try to disarm any false appearances, because they are very difficult to live up to.

It is tough to walk your faith before your critics. They hold you to a higher standard than they do themselves, and any misstep along the way could influence their understanding of what it means to being a disciple of Jesus.

Genesis 19:1-17
“The two angels came to Sodom in the evening while Lot was sitting in the city's gateway. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face toward the ground. 2 He said, "Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant's house. Stay the night and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning." "No," they replied, "we'll spend the night in the town square."  3 But he urged them persistently, so they turned aside with him and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them, including bread baked without yeast, and they ate. 4 Before they could lie down to sleep, all the men - both young and old, from every part of the city of Sodom - surrounded the house.   5 They shouted to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so we can have sex with them!" 6 Lot went outside to them, shutting the door behind him. 7 He said, "No, my brothers! Don't act so wickedly!   8 Look, I have two daughters who have never had sexual relations with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do to them whatever you please. Only don't do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof." 9 "Out of our way!" they cried, and "This man came to live here as a foreigner, and now he dares to judge us! We'll do more harm to you than to them!" They kept pressing in on Lot until they were close enough to break down the door. 10 So the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house as they shut the door. 11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, from the youngest to the oldest, with blindness. The men outside wore themselves out trying to find the door. 12 Then the two visitors said to Lot, "Who else do you have here? Do you have any sons-in-law, sons, daughters, or other relatives in the city? Get them out of this place 13 because we are about to destroy it. The outcry against this place is so great before the Lord that he has sent us to destroy it." 14 Then Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law who were going to marry his daughters. He said, "Quick, get out of this place because the Lord is about to destroy the city!" But his sons-in-law thought he was ridiculing them.  15 At dawn the angels hurried Lot along, saying, "Get going! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or else you will be destroyed when the city is judged!"   16 When Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters because the Lord had compassion on them. They led them away and placed them outside the city. 17 When they had brought them outside, they said, "Run for your lives! Don't look behind you or stop anywhere in the valley! Escape to the mountains or you will be destroyed!"

In the debate with ourselves and with our culture over homosexuality, this passage is one of the most often used. The argument usually centers around God’s condemnation of Sodom and Gomorrah, the reason being that the men were homosexuals. This is not exactly the issue here. The problem with using this passage as a prooftext for homosexuality as sin is that those on the other side of the debate will then argue semantics. They will say that what God is condemning is rape or a gross violation of the hospitality expected between a host and guest. They are right, but the fact that the men of the town are also attempting homosexual rape of two men in the care of Lot and his family adds another layer sinfulness. They are so focused on this heinous act that they brush aside Lot’s offer of his two virgin daughters in exchange for his guests’ safety.

Which brings us to the other issue here. Lot may be Abraham’s nephew, but he is morally corrupt. He had chosen to live in a place where sinful rebellion had sunk to the very depths of evil. He had betrothed his daughters to Sodomite men, forming familial and political alliances with people who had no ethical and moral boundaries. As the epitome of Lot’s complete hypocrisy, he is willing to throw his daughters to these dogs outside his door, knowing that his guests are angels of the Lord. I don’t know if he could ever look his daughters in the eye again, let alone these angels of God. And yet, Lot is still rescued from total destruction.

God’s mercy and compassion even cover those buried in corruption. We may be hypocrites at times, but when God decides to spare us from annihilation, nothing can stand in His way, especially our own hollow souls. He reaches down and plucks us from the quicksand of our Sodomite situation and lifts our heads until our eyes meet His and our faces burn in shame.