Show Don't Tell: Genesis 19:1-11

Picture the ancient city of Sodom, its streets damp with the chill of dusk, the air thick with the scent of smoke from the evening fires. Lot, a man torn between the world outside and the faith he clings to, sits at the city gate, a silent witness to the wickedness that has taken root around him. When two strangers arrive, weary from their journey, his heart stirs with a protective instinct. “Stay at my house tonight,” he urges, sensing the darkness that looms over the city.

As night unfolds its cloak, the atmosphere shifts. Suddenly, the tranquility is shattered as a horde of men, young and old, gathers outside Lot’s door. The air crackles with tension, a palpable fear mingled with primal desire. Their voices rise in a cacophony, demanding what no man should offer another: “Bring them out! Let us have our way with them!” The pounding on the door becomes frantic, echoing Lot's turmoil within.

In his heart, Lot knows the danger these strangers face. He pulls them inside, slamming the door against the madness outside. But the angels, sent from the heavens, respond with a power that momentarily blinds the frenzied mob. Yet even in their darkness, their desperation drives them to claw and grope for the threshold, a haunting image of a city so entrenched in sin that it cannot recognize its own depravity—lost in a blindness that mirrors the very sin they pursue.

Imagine the desperation in that moment: men of all ages, lost in their frenzied pursuit, unable to see the destruction of their own souls. It’s a chilling reminder of how far humanity can stray, even when the light is just beyond their grasp. In the midst of this chaos, we are left to ponder our own blindness—what do we pursue that keeps us from the light?