Engaging the World Through Hospitality: The Stranger

When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. ~ Leviticus 19:33:34
He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” ~ Luke 14:12-14
(Jesus said) For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ ~ Matthew 25:42-45
The paradox of hospitality is that it wants to create emptiness - not a fearful emptiness, but a friendly emptiness where strangers can enter and discover themselves as created free: free to sing their own songs, speak their own languages, dance their own dances; free also to leave and follow their own vocations. ~ Henri Nouwen 

As I write this, there is news daily about what is happening to the refugees coming to our border from Central America.

 Most notable - and tragic - have been the reports of unimaginable treatment toward the least of these: the children. Children who as hungry, thirsty, sick, imprisoned, and without clothing or even hope.

 There is almost nothing to say here beyond what the Biblical quotes say themselves.

 Ingrained into the Hebrew scripture was the command to care for the stranger.

 God wanted to make sure the Hebrew people did not forget when they were strangers in a strange land.

 Refugees who had come to Egypt for help during a time of starvation, and had ultimately been turned instead into slaves.

 Jesus took this to the next level. The stranger wasn't simply someone you didn't know. The stranger was someone who needed you. And needed your companionship.

 Someone for whom life had been hard or unfair.

 Someone who was suffering.

 Someone for whom it seemed illogical or irrational to help.

 But then Jesus didn't call us to be logical or rational.

 Jesus called us to love our neighbor as ourself - and made sure that we were clear on just who that neighbor was.
Prayer: The hospitality you call me too is hard, Lord. But help me to love the stranger in my midst - and beyond - without limits. Amen




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