What does it mean to truly serve others in a world that often prioritizes self-interest? Pastor Chris explore Genesis 24 and the story of Rebekah’s radical hospitality—offering water not just to a stranger, but to his ten camels, an act of selfless generosity.
References
“You are all looking forward to greeting Christ seated in heaven. Attend to him lying under the arches, attend to him hungry, attend to him shivering with cold, attend to him needy, attend to him a foreigner.”
— Augustine
"The common good is never a private good but always includes the outsider and the stranger."
— Walter Brueggemann
Genesis 24:12-19
Servant: O Eternal One, God of my master Abraham, please make me successful today and show Your loyal love to my master Abraham. 13 You see that I am standing here by the spring as the young women of the city are coming out to draw water. 14 Let the girl to whom I say, “Please dip your jar in the water that I may drink,” and who will reply, “Drink, and I will draw water for your camels”—let her be the one You have chosen to be a wife for Your servant Isaac. When You do this, I will know of Your loyal love for my master.
15 Before he could finish his prayer, it happened that Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel (Milcah’s and Nahor’s son—Nahor, you remember, was Abraham’s brother) approached the spring with her water jar on her shoulder. 16 She was a very beautiful girl and still a virgin. No man had ever touched her. He watched her go down to the spring, fill her jar, and come back up the hill. 17 The servant wasted no time; he ran down to meet her.
Servant: Please let me have a little water to drink from your jar.
Rebekah: 18 Drink, my lord.
She quickly lowered her jar onto her hand and tipped it for him to drink. 19 After she had finished giving him water, she offered to do more.
Rebekah: I’ll draw some water for your camels too. I’ll make sure they drink all they need.