Caring For The Stranger
When I went off to the Music department of Johns Hopkins University, to be very honest, I had no cultural awareness of life outside of my Texas upbringing. And Music School did nothing to change my perspective EVEN THOUGH it was a very international school with students and professors from probably 40 or 50 countries. I had dorm mates from Vietnam, China, Korea and other Asian countries, but I never really noticed any big differences. I thought they all were the same since they all spoke English with a similar accent. And Spanish-speakers? I thought they all were very similar! I just didn’t notice the differences between Spanish-speakers from different countries. I merely thought that all Spanish-speakers were the same, all Asians were the same, all Africans were the same, all Middle-Easterners were the same, etc.
To me, they LOOKED similar, and they SOUNDED similar. Basically, I stuck with my language group, and I didn’t really think much about those people. I really didn’t think about their lives; I was too busy with my own!
I think most all of us start life very similarly. We don’t see the differences unless those differences cause problems.
But thanks be to God! He loves us so much that He doesn’t leave us where we are! He pushes us outside of our comfort zones. But God is faithful and loving, and He faithfully, lovingly sends us where we need to go. We’re NOT helping Him, He’s helping us! And He is transforming us to be like Him, and love others. In my case, God sent me to live and work and, eventually, to minister overseas for twenty-four years! That’s where I learned about the cultural and language differences between my Asian brothers and sisters. That’s where I learned about the differences between my Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters. I still have a lot to learn.
“Love your neighbor” does not only refer to our neighbors-who-look-like-us. It also refers to our neighbors who don’t look like us! During 2013, Dr. Jerry Porter preached often about “God’s Love for the Immigrant.” He said that although the specific word “immigrant” doesn’t occur in Scripture, the concept of a “resident alien” or “immigrant” does show up throughout Scripture in both the Old and New Testaments. Dr. Porter directly tied it to the word “stranger.” This word shows up in many passages. In the Old Testament in Deuteronomy 24:17-21, it says:
“You shall not pervert the justice due a stranger or an orphan, nor seize a widow’s garment as a pledge. But you are to remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore, I am commanding you to do this thing: When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you are not to go back to get it; it shall belong to the stranger, the orphan, and to the widow, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat the olives off your olive tree, you are not to search through the branches again; that shall be left for the stranger, the orphan, and for the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you are not to go over it again; that shall be left for the stranger, the orphan, and the widow.”
*Similar passages are found in Leviticus 19, Leviticus 23 and Deuteronomy 26.
By “stranger,” God is referring to one who is not from Israel, not a member of any tribe of Israel, but who is a foreigner who is living in Israel, among the people of Israel. He or she is a foreigner who is “strange,” because they do not look like or sound like or act like a person from Israel.
The stranger is considered HELPLESS, just like a widow who has lost her husband or like an orphan who has lost their parents! The stranger has lost his/her COUNTRY and HERITAGE, has no ancestral lands at all, because they left their country; he/she is not part of any tribe of Israel, so there is no hope of purchasing any land.
It’s very interesting to me that the foreigner is considered just as helpless as a widow or an orphan! Have we ever thought of the plight of the immigrant like that? I’ve heard people say to me, “But this is all THEIR fault! They decided to come HERE!” These people stress the question “WHY are they HERE?” (We could ask, why are WE here? – or better yet, WHEN did WE get HERE?!)
I wonder why God felt it necessary to categorize the foreigner in with the widow and orphan!
The most famous passage in all of Scripture concerning the treatment of strangers is found in Matthew 25:31-40,
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left.
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’
Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’
And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’ “
*The rest of the passage echoes this, but from a negative side. The goats who were condemned were those who did NOT do anything for “the least of these.”
In every one of these situations, the King identifies with the persons who were needy. (“I was hungry.” “I was thirsty.”) Jesus lists very specifically SIX difficulties:
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Those who are hungry
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Those who are thirsty
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Those who are strangers
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Those who do not have clothes
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Those who are sick
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Those who are incarcerated
It is amazing that the third one on the list given by Jesus is “I was a stranger, and you invited Me in.” (v.35)
And Jesus clearly identified himself with the needy ones: Jesus said, “I was a stranger, and you invited Me in.”
It is also very interesting in these verses, that Jesus didn’t mention anything about HOW the needy people came to be in their predicament. He only praised and honored His sheep for their compassionate action on behalf of the needy.
I wonder why Jesus felt it necessary to mention the foreigner and the need to INVITE him/her INTO THE HOUSE!
Maybe it was because we often leave the immigrant outside the house! Maybe we don’t notice that they are having a tough time adapting to the culture, learning the language, and trying to fit in. Maybe we are just keeping to ourselves. Maybe we are expecting them to make the huge cultural adjustments quickly and hope that they will act and sound and look just like us. At that point, would we invite them in? How long would that take? Do we do that with all the other needy people?
The real question is whether we are welcoming them, as if they were Jesus Himself. Isn’t that the point of Jesus’ teaching? Jesus emphasized that there were strangers (foreigners, immigrants), and they were needy, just like the people who were hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, or incarcerated.
I could share some of the countless hours of interviews that I have made this past year with Nazarene Hispanic pastors who are immigrants here in the United States. There are thousands of Latino immigrants who have arrived and settled here in the past 10 years. They are fully employed. They have settled here with their families. But they haven’t learned English yet. They’re having a pretty hard time being accepted. They are struggling – one can imagine some of the difficulties they have with a new language, a new culture, and a new life. But not only are they having a hard time adjusting, they’re also not being accepted and helped by their Church family – and that is more troubling than the difficulties that they’re having with the culture! Their Christian brothers and sisters should have been the first to invite them in.
It is pretty clear from the Biblical passages in Deuteronomy and Matthew, that we are to help the needy. That is what God wants us to do. “For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” Isaiah 56:7
Dr. Timothy McKeithen, NBC Faculty and Director of Hispanic Pastoral Ministry Degree Program
Published: 04/19/2021
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