Matthew 25: 35 | I was a stranger and you welcomed me

“I WAS A STRANGER,

AND YOU WELCOMED ME…”

MATTHEW 25:35c

JULY 5, 2014

YOU’RE SITTING ON AN AIRPLANE; YOU ARE ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES TO GET TO YOUR SEAT FIRST; BUT THEN COMES THE DREADED ANTICIPATION AS YOU WATCH PEOPLE FILE DOWN THE AISLE TOWARD YOU, AND YOU WONDER AND WORRY– WHICH ONE OF THESE STRANGERS AM I GOING TO HAVE TO SIT NEXT TO FOR THE NEXT HOW-MANY-EVER-HOURS?!

NOT THE MOTHER WITH THE CRYING BABY!

THE GUY WITH THE MULLET AND THE MUSCLE SHIRT?!  REALLY?!

PLEASE, NOT THIS COUPLE – THE ONE YOU SAW EARLIER IN THE TERMINAL – SHE IN HER BURKA, HER FACE COVERED, AND THE HUSBAND IN HIS FORM FITTING BLACK SUIT! WHAT ARE THEY UP TO ANYWAY?

OR PERHAPS THIS SOUNDS FAMILIAR – YOU’RE WALKING ALONG CAROLINE STREET, NEAR THE PANHANDLING ZONE, AND DIFFERENT ONES OF THEM ARE TRYING TO CATCH YOUR EYE, HOPING FOR A HANDOUT.

IF YOU’RE SMART YOU’VE ALREADY CROSSED OVER TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET BEFORE YOU EVER GET NEAR THEM; IF NOT, YOU QUICKLY PUT YOUR PHONE UP TO YOUR EAR TALKING TO NO ONE, AND PASS BY IN A HURRY, BEING SURE TO AVERT YOUR EYES AS YOU GO.

OR THIS – STANDING IN LINE, A LONG LINE AT THE GROCERY STORE, ONE THAT’S GOING TO TAKE SEVERAL MINUTES TO GET THROUGH, AND SOMEONE TRIES TO STRIKE UP A CONVERSATION WITH YOU ABOUT THE RIPENESS OF YOUR TOMATOES, AND YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT “MY, THEY ARE A DEEP RED,” BEFORE QUICKLY GRABBING THE LATEST COPY OF THE NATIONAL INQUIRER TO SEE WHAT ALIEN CREATURE IS SAID TO HAVE LANDED SOMEWHERE IN MINSK.

STRANGERS…

BUT WHAT IF SOMETHING TOTALLY DIFFERENT HAPPENED?

WHAT IF THE GUY SITTING NEXT TO YOU ON THE PLANE IS AN OFF-DUTY U S AIR PILOT WHO SENSES YOU ARE SOMETHING OF A NERVOUS FLIER AND TAKES THE TIME TO TELL YOU EXACTLY WHAT’S GOING ON – MAKING YOU FEEL COMFORTABLE ENOUGH THAT WHEN SOMETHING GOES BUMP IN THE AIR, YOU INSTINCTIVELY GRAB HIS ARM FOR SUPPORT – AND HE GIVES YOU A CONFIDENT, CARING WINK OF THE EYE.

OR IT TURNS OUT THAT THE GUY SITTING NEXT TO YOU IS A WORLD RENOWNED RESEARCHER IN THE SPECIFIC GENETIC DEBILITATION YOUR OWN DAUGHTER SUFFERS WITH, AS HAPPENED TO MY BROTHER WHOSE DAUGHTER HAS FREDREICH’S ATAXIA.

WHAT IF THE HOMELESS MAN WHO DOES HAPPEN TO CATCH YOUR EYE, AND A MOMENT OF YOUR ATTENTION, TURNS OUT TO BE SOMEONE WHO WAS IN VIETNAM, FIGHTING ON THE VERY SAME HILL YOU AND YOUR COMPANY WERE TRYING TO TAKE FROM THE NVA FORCES ENTRENCHED THERE?

OR THE HOMELESS WOMAN WHO WANDERS INTO CHOIR PRACTICE TURNS OUT TO PLAY THE PIANO MAGNIFICENTLY?

OR THE WOMAN IN THE GROCERY STORE AS IT TURNS OUT IS NEWLY WIDOWED; HER HUSBAND USED TO GROW TOMATOES IN THEIR BACKYARD, AND HER QUERY ABOUT THE RIPENESS OF THE TOMATOES HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE FRUIT IN YOUR BUGGY, BUT WAS SIMPLY A PLEA FOR CONVERSATION?

STRANGERS…

THERE’S A STORY ABOUT NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS, THE AUTHOR OF ZORBA THE GREEK, AMONG OTHER WRITINGS, THAT HE WAS WALKING ALONG A DUSTY PATH IN HIS NATIVE CRETE, WHEN AN ELDERLY WOMAN PASSED BY CARRYING A BASKET OF FIGS.

SHE PICKED OUT TWO, AND PRESENTED THEM TO THE AUTHOR. “DO YOU KNOW ME?” HE ASKED HER.

SHE GLANCED AT HIM IN AMAZEMENT, “NO, MY BOY. DO I HAVE TO KNOW YOU TO GIVE YOU SOMETHING?   YOU ARE A HUMAN BEING, AREN’T YOU? SO AM I. ISN’T THAT ENOUGH?”

WHEN JESUS ADDED, “I WAS A STRANGER AND YOU WELCOMED ME,” TO HIS LIST OF ALL THE OTHER THINGS THE SHEEP OF HIS KINGDOM ARE SUPPOSED TO DO – “I WAS HUNGRY, THIRSTY, NAKED, SICK, AND IMPRISONED…”

HE WAS SIMPLY FOLLOWING SUIT WITH WHAT HAD ALWAYS BEEN THE THREE GROUPS OF PEOPLE THE HEBREW SCRIPTURES SAID WERE WORTHY OF SPECIAL KINDNESS, EXTRA THOUGHTFULNESS, AND INTENTIONAL CONSIDERATION:

STRANGERS, ORPHANS, AND WIDOWS. (SEE LV.19:10, DEUT. 10:18 AND 14:29.)

THE LEGAL MANDATES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT ARE UNIQUE AMONG THE OTHER KNOWN JUDICIAL SYSTEMS IN THE ANCIENT NEAR EAST IN THEIR CONSISTENT AND OUTSPOKEN ADVOCACY FOR THE WEAKEST, LEAST PROTECTED, AND MOST DISADVANTAGED MEMBERS OF SOCIETY.

STRANGERS WERE LISTED ALONG WITH ORPHANS AND WIDOWS BECAUSE THEY ARE EACH – ALONE IN THE WORLD – WITHOUT ANY KINSHIP CONNECTION (EVEN IF ONLY MOMENTARILY IN THE CASE OF STRANGERS) AND THEREFORE WITHOUT SUPPORT OR PROTECTION.

JESUS WAS FOREVER EATING WITH STRANGERS AND OUTCASTS.

THE APOSTLE PAUL, IN ROMANS 12:13 DEFINES THE MARK OF A TRUE CHRISTIAN TO BE THE ONE WHO EXTENDS HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS.

AND THE AUTHOR OF THE EPHESIANS TAKES IT EVEN FURTHER.

HE REMINDS THE EPHESIANS THAT THEY USED TO BE ALIENS AND STRANGERS; THEY HAD NO HOPE; BUT IN CHRIST JESUS THESE STRANGERS BECAME PART OF A COMMON HUMANITY WITH ALL BELIEVERS.

THEN THE AUTHOR BASICALLY SAYS TO THEM: SO DON’T EXCLUDE PEOPLE BECAUSE THEY AREN’T THE WAY YOU WANT THEM TO BE. DON’T LET YOU PRE-CONCEIVED NOTIONS BE THE GUIDING PRINCIPLE OF HOW YOU RELATE TO OTHERS.

REMEMBER, NOT TOO LONG AGO, YOU WERE THE STRANGERS.

WILLIAM BOOTH, THE FOUNDER OF THE SALVATION ARMY IN ENGLAND ONCE DESCRIBED CHRISTMAS IN LONDON DURING HIS TIME.

EVERY CHRISTMAS, LONDON CHURCHES SENT OUT REPRESENTATIVES INTO THE STREETS TO INVITE THE POOR TO CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS. HUGE CROWDS WOULD GATHER TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS ANNUAL OUTPOURING OF GENEROSITY.

THE ANGLICANS BEGAN BY ANNOUNCING: “ALL OF YOU WHO ARE ANGLICANS, COME WITH US.” THE ROMAN CATHOLICS FOLLOWED: “ALL WHO ARE CATHOLIC, COME WITH US.”

THEN THE METHODISTS, THE LUTHERANS, AND ALL THE OTHER DENOMINATIONS ANNOUNCED, ‘WHOEVER IS ONE OF US, COME WITH US.”

FINALLY, WHEN ALL OF THE CHURCH REPRESENTATIVES HAD MADE THEIR INVITATIONS AND LEFT, A LARGE CROWD OF PEOPLE REMAINED MILLING ABOUT.

AT THAT POINT WILLIAM BOOTH WOULD STEP OUT OF THE CROWD AND SHOUT OUT TO THE PEOPLE, “ALL OF YOU WHO BELONG TO NO ONE, COME WITH US.”

STRANGERS…

TIMES HAVE CHANGED… THE WORLD HAS CHANGED… PEOPLE HAVE CHANGED…

WE WOULD NO MORE PICK UP A STRANGER HITCHHIKING THEN WE WOULD POKE OURSELVES IN THE EYE WITH A SHARP STICK!

LET A STRANGER INTO YOUR HOME TO USE THE PHONE? OF COURSE NOT!

WE’VE TAUGHT OUR CHILDREN ABOUT STRANGER DANGER, AND RIGHTFULLY SO: IF ANYONE TRIES TO TALK TO YOU, IF ANYONE TRIES TO OFFER YOU ANYTHING, IF ANYONE ASKS YOU TO GO WITH THEM, OR GET IN THE CAR…

RUN AWAY AS FAST AS YOU CAN… SCREAM… SHOUT STRANGER DANGER, STRANGER DANGER, AND RUN TO SOMEONE YOU KNOW YOU CAN TRUST, A POLICEMAN, A RELATIVE, A TEACHER, OR A NEIGHBOR YOU KNOW!!

STRANGER DANGER – WE KNOW IT TO BE TRUE AS ADULTS AS WELL.

A STRANGER WALKS INTO A WEDNESDAY NIGHT BIBLE STUDY AND PRAYER MEETING IN A CHURCH IN CHARLESTON, SC AND THEY INVITE HIM INTO THEIR INNER CIRCLE OF PRAYER.

HE’S WITH THEM A FULL HOUR, LISTENING AS THEY SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS ON THE SCRIPTURE FOR THE EVENING; BOWING IN PRAYER WITH THEM AS THEY PRAY THEIR MEETING TO A CLOSE;

SO NICE WERE THEY, SO WELCOMING, HE ALMOST DECIDES, ALMOST, NOT TO SHOOT THEM DOWN IN COLD BLOOD FOR NOTHING MORE THAN THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN, AND THE ENTRENCHED HATRED AND RACISM HE HAS LEARNED TOO LONG AND TOO WELL.

PREJUDICE HAS A WAY OF KILLING THE PERPETRATOR AND THE PERPETRATED.

AND WE SAY – SEE – STRANGERS CAN’T BE TRUSTED;

AND DON’T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON ILLEGAL ALIENS;

AND PRETTY SOON WE ARE DOWN A DONALD TRUMP SHAPED RABBIT HOLE, AND ALL OF MEXICO HATES US!

“WHO CARES?” WE ASK, “NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF STRANGERS AND ILLEGALS AND LOTS OF WORSE NAMES WE COULD CALL THEM…

BUT JESUS CARES.

“I WAS A STRANGER AND YOU DID NOT WELCOME ME…”

“LORD, WHEN DID WE SEE YOU A STRANGER AND NOT WELCOME YOU…?”

“AS YOU HAVE NOT DONE IT UNTO THE LEAST OF THESE, SO YOU HAVE NOT DONE IT UNTO ME.”

AS I SHARED WITH YOU LAST SUNDAY, FROM THE CLOSING PROGRAM AT TRINITY PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH’S VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL, THE CHILDREN SANG:

“THE JESUS IN ME SEES THE JESUS IN YOU.”

WE CAN’T NOT CARE.

NOT CARING IS HOW THE DYLANN ROOFs OF THE WORLD ARE MADE. NOT CARING IS WHERE THE JAMES HOLMESs COME FROM. THE DYLAN KLEBOLDS AND ERIC HARRISs. THE JARED LOUGHNERS, ADAM LANZAs, AND THE NIDAL HASSANs.

THEY DIDN’T CARE ABOUT THE LIVES THEY TOOK OR THE WIDOWS OR ORPHANS THEY LEFT BEHIND IN THE WAKE OF THEIR MASS SHOOTINGS.

BUT IT GOES TO MORE THAN JUST THE MASS MURDERERS OF OUR DAY;

IT GOES TO THE HEART OF EVERYONE WE MEET WHO IS A STRANGER TO US.

JESUS WOULD HAVE US “LOVING NEIGHBORS AS OURSELVES,’ “LOVING OUR ENEMIES AND PRAYING FOR THOSE WHO PERSECUTE US,” AND WELCOMING THE STRANGER AS IF WE WERE WELCOMING JESUS HIMSELF.

THIS KIND OF LOVE IS DANGEROUS. THIS KIND OF LOVE IS MORE THAN JUST A SUPERFICIAL, “HI, HOW ARE YOU?”

THIS KIND OF LOVE INVOLVES COST, RISK, AND VULNERABILITY TO PROVIDE A SAFE PLACE FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE LONELY, REJECTED BY SOCIETY, BEAT UP BY OTHERS, OR BY THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF LIFE.

OBSERVING MOTHER TERESA’S WORK WITH INDIA’S “UNTOUCHABLES,” POET SYDNEY CARTER WAS MOVED TO REFLECT: “LET LOVE BE DANGEROUS.”

THOSE NINE BLACK CHRISTIANS ALLOWED A YOUNG WHITE RACIST TO JOIN THEIR INNER CIRCLE OF PRAYER AND BIBLE STUDY, AND THEY LOST THEIR LIVES FOR DOING SO.

JESUS WOULD HAVE DONE THE SAME. HE DID DO THE SAME. AND THE OUTCOME WAS THE SAME – HE WAS DEAD, BUT THE CHURCH LIVED ON.

JESUS WAS GONE, THE CHARLESTON NINE ARE GONE, BUT THE CHURCH LIVES ON.

THEY DIED PRAYING; JESUS DIED PRAYING.

THEY DIED LOVING. JESUS DIED LOVING.

IT’S DANGEROUS WORK – THIS LOVING AS GOD LOVES. THIS WELCOMING THE STRANGER.

TO PARAPHRASE C. S. LEWIS: “CAN YOU THINK OF A TYPE OF PERSON WHOM MIGHT MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE IF THEY SAT NEXT TO YOU?

MAY THAT PERSON COME INTO YOUR LIFE SOON! THAT’S WHERE TRUE DISCIPLESHIP IS TESTED.”

THEY WILL BE HUNGRY, AND THIRSTY, AND NAKED, AND SICK, AND IMPRISONED, AND STRANGERS. THEY WILL BE HOMELESS AND HAPLESS.

THEY WILL BE WIDOWS, AND ORPHANS, AND MOTHERS WITH CRYING BABIES. THEY WILL LOOK DIFFERENT, DRESS DIFFERENT, BE OF DIFFERENT FAITHS, AND HAVE DIFFERENT IDEAS ABOUT HOW THE WORLD WORKS OR DOESN’T.

JESUS CHALLENGES US TO OVERCOME OUR FEAR OF THE STRANGER, TO OVERCOME STRANGER DANGER, AND GIVE ATTENTION TO THE LONELY, THE EXCLUDED, AND THE UNFAMILIAR.

IT COULD COST US OUR LIFE.

IT DOES COST US OUR LIVING AS WE KNOW IT, AS WE LIKE IT, AND AS WE ARE COMFORTABLE IN IT.

CHARLESTON, AURORA, COLUMBINE, TUCSON, SANDY HOOK, FT. HOOD, IT’S ALWAYS THE SAME QUESTIONS: WHERE WAS GOD? HOW COULD GOD LET THIS HAPPEN? WHY DIDN’T GOD STOP THIS? WHEN WILL GOD DO SOMETHING?

BUT THEY ARE ALWAYS THE WRONG QUESTIONS.

WHERE ARE WE? HOW CAN WE CONTINUE TO LET THESE THINGS HAPPEN? WHY DON’T WE STOP THEM FROM HAPPENING? WHEN WILL WE DO SOMETHING?

“I WAS A STRANGER AND YOU WELCOMED ME…” IT’S A START.

“THE JESUS IN ME SEES THE JESUS IN YOU…”

MAYBE THE CHILDREN SINGING THOSE WORDS WILL GET ALL OF US THERE ONE DAY.