Good Morning Friends,
If you were to count, you would find hundreds of passages in the Bible which mention the foreigner, the stranger, the alien, and those wandering about in exile. And you would find more than a few on plagues and illness that we sometimes associated with the judgement of God. Our scriptures today mention these topics but also gives some guidance about how we should treat people in these situations. All kind of amazing given that the text is 2000 years old. The reality today is that there are refugees all over the world and quarantined or infected contagious people with this disease and that everywhere and despite precautions people still get sick or fall to some crazy killer or armed conflicts. Some scripture and certainly some of the policies of our nation on isolation would lead us to a conclusion that we should be separated for a purpose. Other scripture guides action that is not isolation but active engagement. But judging the right action is difficult to accomplish without a sense of exclusivity and yet even though we know this is not right, it is what we often demonstrate in our lives. We are looking for deliverance from what enslaves us. But I wonder if we are going from the frying pan and into the fire. Here in the heat of change we pray we are not consumed, for we must face the reality of the laws of our country and the laws of God reconciled by both justice and love and trust. We have a lesson to learn. So, How Welcoming Are You To Others During Times Of Stress?
Scripture: Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruction. You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. You shall not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry; my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans. If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not deal with them as a creditor; you shall not exact interest from them. If you take your neighbor’s cloak in pawn, you shall restore it before the sun goes down;
Exodus 22:20-26 (NRSV)
because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.
1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10 (NRSV)
When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
Matthew 22:34-40 (NRSV)
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits—who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Psalm 103:1-5 (NRSV)
The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: When a person has on the skin of his body a swelling or an eruption or a spot, and it turns into a leprous disease on the skin of his body, he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priests. The priest shall examine the disease on the skin of his body, and if the hair in the diseased area has turned white and the disease appears to be deeper than the skin of his body, it is a leprous disease; after the priest has examined him he shall pronounce him ceremonially unclean. But if the spot is white in the skin of his body, and appears no deeper than the skin, and the hair in it has not turned white, the priest shall confine the diseased person for seven days. The priest shall examine him on the seventh day, and if he sees that the disease is checked and the disease has not spread in the skin, then the priest shall confine him seven days more. The priest shall examine him again on the seventh day, and if the disease has abated and the disease has not spread in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him clean; it is only an eruption; and he shall wash his clothes, and be clean. But if the eruption spreads in the skin after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he shall appear again before the priest. The priest shall make an examination, and if the eruption has spread in the skin, the priest shall pronounce him unclean; it is a leprous disease.
Leviticus 13:1-8 (NRSV)
And I will put this third into the fire, refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, “They are my people”; and they will say, “The Lord is our God.”
Zechariah 13:9 (NRSV)
Message: Dealing with aliens, and strangers and immigrants is not an easy question to resolve, whether inside the Bible or outside, whether in the modern world or the ancient world. On the one hand, there are many books and people in the Bible that have an exclusivity about them…with stories about sticking with one’s own kind and holding to a specific standard of behavior. Our national debate on this subject tells us just how divisive and violent this can be. Sometimes we need to hunker down and separate ourselves for a holy purpose. But the Jesus way was to open doors more so than to shut them. Such is the way of unconditional love. Still there are times when, if you do not narrow your focus, you will lose whatever makes you distinct. When it comes to our faith, the power of culture and wealth and technology can overwhelm us and we can end up like the society around us, with a Christian veneer laid on top of an empty shell. So here is the problem… on a secular level, if you want to do something exceptional, and become something special, then you are going to have to become exclusive. One must screen and select. One must pick the best team and practice until it is perfect. And if you do not, then, to be sure, you can still be one in the crowd, but you will never excel, never stand out from the crowd. We do not want to be a disastrous example of not being exclusive when we needed to be, of being so open that we become pointless, and the culture of the world becomes our culture. For friends, cultural subversion of the Biblical faith is a reality. But maybe it is not such an either-or proposition. There are two sides to the coin, but God owns both. When it comes up heads God wins. When the toss comes up tails you lose. God never loses. But we do not have a monopoly on Jesus’ presence and grace. He is with everyone, especially the poorest and most vulnerable. One would think the religious community would be the first on board with this approach, advocating for justice, but Jesus encountered opposition from the very people one would think would support him. He was opposed by the religious leadership of the Jews. He was opposed by the Herodians too. His critics were always trying to trap him. In today’s scripture reading from Matthew, they again tried to trap him with the question, “what is the greatest commandment?” Jesus, however, again defeated their attempts to discredit God by claiming that the greatest commandment was “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Then Jesus went further and gave them more than they asked for saying, “and the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus hereby narrowed all their rules and regulations down to two commandments, not the 613 rules that the Pharisees tried to follow. Friends, there is a link between obedience and love but following Jesus means welcoming the vulnerable at a distance but sometimes it also means being separated for a purpose too. Hopefully we find happiness in the simplicity of life and the will to extend the joy to others in an expanding circle of caring and love.
And So, there is a time and season for everything, but it is not always easy to know what season to focus on. Friends, it is still hurricane season, but it is also a political season with the potential for a tempest of change too. During them all we need to focus on our love of God and love of others as well as ourselves. God’s love can be a bit reckless but ours today needs to be thoughtful as well. The only cure for a fear that enslaves is love. Politics and religion can make very strange mates in this regard especially if it is a religion to which you are not a believer that is in charge. I like people of character in politics, but they need to be good at the work before them. Despite the stress we need to entertain a welcoming conversation with all we meet.
Pray we do not have regrets for having failed to love. Pray we understand the link between obedience of God’s will and love. Pray we welcome one another to experience the glory of God. Pray our love of God takes priority over everything else in a way that spills over into the lives of others. Pray we practice true love in communities of love. Pray our lives portray a picture of Jesus. Pray that we realize that we cannot accomplish this by following a list of rules. Pray that we understand that love does not give to get but instead happily sacrifices to serve. Pray we learn to love more tomorrow than we love today. Pray we are as welcoming to others that seek God.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 