Who is a stranger? Who sees you as a foreigner? Why are differences so difficult to deal with?
As a society we struggle more than we ever have with how to relate to strangers and foreigners. Such issues are more diverse than we image and can be concerns with who is crossing land borders, living in a neighborhood different than ours, speaking a different language, having different social or religious customs, or entering our zones of comfort.
Why have words such as stranger, foreigner, or alien often evoke such fear?
The book of Ecclesiastes begins with the appropriate reminder that there is nothing new under the sun, and isn’t that the same today? Israel, the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are referred to in scripture as a chosen people who had a special relationship with God. And yet, over time they forgot that relationship called them to be God’s light in the world so that the world would know the love of God.
When they forgot, as we often do as well, prophet after prophet recited the laws which Moses had given, which included the summary that they were to be especially loving and caring to the orphans, widows, and foreigners in their midst. Those groups were symptomatic of the loneliest of the lonely. People who were unprotected, separated, and often without any safety net, protection, or basic needs of life. If that was a concern throughout scripture, how has it become such a flash point and source of stress today?
Our concerns are nothing new. My great grandparents entered this land unable to speak the language and knowing no one. I can’t imagine how brave they must have been and about how lonely they must have often felt. Remember what happened to Japanese Americans in World War 2, where many were incarcerated, even though they had been citizens for several generations. Fear of being branded as sympathizers of the German war machine is why Lutherans quit using German in worship during World War 1. My great grandfather changed his name from Guenther to George, for that same reason.
All cultures struggle with strangers. Anyone who looks different, sounds different, dresses, or acts differently can be seen as a stranger. Anything unfamiliar, different, or new to our expected daily experience can seem strange, making us nervous or uncomfortable. In such situations, we see others as foreign and a threat to our way of life. All sorts of differences can seem alien to our way of thinking or doing, and those differences are magnified when anyone looks different than me.
There is no one of any race or color who does not have similar fears, prejudices, or apprehension when strangers surprise or confront one’s level of comfort. Most interesting is we can see others as strangers without even realizing they might have the same fears and lack of comfort about you and me.
Once upon a time, there was a prophet named Isaiah. He spoke to his congregation of people who loved God. They all looked and dressed alike. They had common ancestors and common rituals and beliefs. One day his sermon proclaimed God’s inspired message that it was time to open the doors to all – even in the temple! Can you imagine how that went over, what a change that meant, and how their comfort levels had to have been challenged? He said God is not just for one but for all! He told Israel they, better than anyone, should know how important it is to welcome the foreigner because as they had lived for 400 years as aliens in Egypt.
We all know, through Jesus, that God’s intent is that all embrace his love. We believe Jesus’ mission is to bring an entire world into a relationship with God, and that his sacrificial death was the key in conquering the ultimate power of this world so that we might live forever with the God who loves us so much.
Scripture consistently reveals God’s loving walk among the aliens and strangers we have made ourselves, that we might recognize God and his love. Finally, in the living example of servant love, Jesus gave clarity to the worlds of Isaiah. The cross and empty tomb broke down the barriers, roadblocks, and walls that we might be made one with God and live as one in love for each other.
In Matthew there is an account of Jesus encountering a Canaanite woman whose daughter was possessed by a demon. She was an outsider! A gentile! A woman. With an unclean daughter. How much more of an alien or stranger could she have been? And there were good reasons for keeping a distance from someone so different. But she came to Jesus and begged for just a piece of crust from a loaf of bread. She was moved out of love for her daughter who was more than a handful. She didn’t want anything for herself! “Please!” she cried. “Please!” And Jesus’ answer seems strange.
He gave the stock answer that any legalist would give, and any brother or sister of the faith would expect. He said that Messiah had come only to the lost sheep of Israel. We don’t expect such words from Jesus, but he was giving voice to what the crowd wanted him to say. This was the answer they had been taught! They had forgotten that God loved them despite their weaknesses and Jesus needed to remind them how far off track they had wandered.
The woman said, “I know, but surely there must be more than enough love … more than the insiders truly need; all I am looking for is a crumb! Even a dog gets crumbs!” Her response was one of FAITH! She got it. She knew who Jesus was and what his promise was all about and knew that he was stronger than Satan!
Jesus says that the kingdom he brought to earth was for ALL! His love, his healing power, his promise of heaven, is for ALL! He filled Isaiah’s promise FULL! It was like having Isaiah come back from the dead and repeating his sermon? (Or maybe for Israel to finally understand what Isaiah had meant all along?!)
That was deliberate, undeserved, and unexpected LOVE! That is the definition of GRACE as revealed to us through the sacrificial, foot washing, love of Jesus! This IS THE GOSPEL. THE Good News! And it is as good as it gets! This is the change that brings us back to paradise and sends us out to bring all to the wedding feast of the Lamb! This is the Change that God has sought from us from day one!
One of our members told me that her father always shopped in the store of a Lebanese immigrant and she didn’t know why. When she finally asked, her father told her a story. He told her that one of their neighbor’s children had rickets (a condition we aren’t even aware of today!) Her legs were bowed and her bones very weak. Every time that family carried groceries home from the Lebanese store owner, they found fresh oranges they hadn’t paid for. It was a gift from a stranger, an alien no less, to help the diet of an ailing child. The woman who told me that story said her father decided to always by food from that Lebanese grocer, because he was so moved by the love of that foreign neighbor.
Have we been asking the wrong question? Maybe the challenge is to not to ask what shall we do with foreigners, but what has God done for me? For who is more foreign to the perfect love of God than me? Who is more alien than I? And because I am not a perfect image of God, Christ surrendered even his life for me, so that I would no longer be alien to God and his love?
John said, if I remember correctly, that God so loved the world (the entire world) that he sent his one and only Son so that his children in every corner of the globe would have the gift of love and life.
As we see the world through the lens of grace, it not only changes how I see others but strengthens my call to be one with all, just as God loves even me. Like five loaves and two fish, maybe there is always enough for all! Who might benefit even from the crumbs of your table. And who might be reaching out to feed the emptiness in your life?