Hospitality = love for the stranger.
The stranger in the Bible is a test for our charity. It serves as a mirror that shames us and makes us envious. The stranger is also a key person for knowing a multicolored God.
Filoxenia: love for the stranger. That is in God’s eyes hospitality.
During political and financial crises are often foreigners and migrants who suffer.
In the churches, the alien is quickly identified as the black sheep of the corruption and economic problems. But in any case not by Pope Francis.
But in any case not by Pope Francis.
Thus disappears from seeing what God has thought with the arrival of the stranger in our midst.
The role of the alien in the Bible threefold:
1. A test for our charity,
2. A mirror that shames us and makes jealous and
3. a key person for knowing a multicolored God.
1. Test for our charity.
In the Old Testament, foreigners are regularly addressed in the laws and regulations of Israel. These laws remind the Israelites of their history as aliens in Egypt.
The evil that was done is more comfortable to repeat than good. It can be repeated as a kind of revenge.
The test of charity can lead to an economic boon. Alternatively, we show our love for refugees and migrants in practice.
God’s care for the foreigner is also a recurring theme in the Old Testament.
He is self-namely those who love and care proves to the stranger (Psalm 146: 9 and Deuteronomy 10:18).
So he asks his people:
- to make conscious parts of the harvest for the poor among the strangers (Leviticus 23:22 )
- fair legal treatment also of the foreigner (Deuteronomy 1: 16-17) and
- The equal right to a day of rest (Exodus 20:10) is important. He does not force anyone to work while able to harness the Israelites.
The inheritance of being mentioned by name in Israel is significant. This significance is rooted in the division of the land (Ezekiel 47: 21-23).
The test of mercy with regard to the weak.
God takes a significant step. He connects his blessing to what I would call the test of mercy. This pertains to how we treat the weak.
If the Israelite’s are called upon, they are to agree to celebrate a big party in the three years of the tithes they collect. They must distribute 10 per cent of the Gross National Product. This distribution is among the gifts to the Levites, and among the widows, orphans, and strangers.
That the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work that makes your hand.
The Economic boon result of the test, or we bring our love for refugees and migrants in practice.
The New Testament shows God back in the same line as in the Old Testament: caring for the least.
God reveals himself as a God who cares for the least. This includes the whore, the publican, and the stranger, like the Samaritan.
In fact, more than once, God identifies Himself in Jesus the lesser among us.
At his birth, there is already no place in the inn. He must seek asylum in Egypt. Later, he has no place to lay his head. He relies on a grassroots woman for gifts of living (Luke 8: 3).
The one who calls us to be hospitable is inviting us to welcome guests. These guests include tax collectors and Samaritans (left to anything Luke 14: 12-13).
Filoxenia.
In Paul’s letters is the Greek word for hospitality Filoxenia, which is significant at a time of me and our people first.
Filos means namely loved, and Xenos stranger, and so is hospitality in the biblical sense love for the stranger.
That is why Paul could say that some had thus housed angels (Hebrews 13: 2 ) Little did they know who brought it to the house.
That love is immediately a test of leadership because in one Timothy 3: 2, Titus 1: 8 and 1 Peter 4: 9 says that hospitality is a prerequisite for a good leader.
So how loving are you as an elder and pastor for scary foreigners on the square at your church?
That defines genuine hospitality, not that cup of coffee for the indigenous neighbour.
Finally, Jesus himself sets the bar very high. It is the ultimate test for our charity. It examines our attitude toward the least.
In his identification with that, we read in Matthew 25 that he proved our hospitality. He did this in the person of a stranger, and you took me in.
Who stood the test of practical love for the stranger, may even look forward to eternal blessing.
Mirror shames us and envious.
One of the most characteristic features of the way God uses people, its inverse process.
He uses not the ones who stand in front, but the last in line. Not the strong, but the weak.
He let Joseph grow up in the desert. Moses grew up in a palace. Yet, He used Joseph in a mansion and Moses in a desert.
He confounds the wise and notables in the world by those whom you least expect.
In the time of Jesus, it was not much different from now. Foreigners, whether they were Romans and Samaritans had no reputation.
Jesus Samaritan designation was hurled as an insult to his head in John 8 verse 48.
Do we sometimes say falsely that you are a Samaritan, and that you are possessed?
Conversely, Jesus uses the Samaritan and another stranger as mirrors for the Jews. This confounds the self-styled wise from an unexpected angle.
Lucas 17:10
A Samaritan is the only one of ten former lepers returned to thank Jesus for his healing.
This seems to be to the astonishment of Jesus (nobody Wild return else to honour God than this stranger). Yet, for those who understood his heart, it was more of a rhetorical question. The Jewish bystanders and disciples somehow overlooked this fact.
But from someone whose hearts, people knew it was more of a rhetorical question. It was directed to the Jewish bystanders. The disciples saw this fact somewhat overlooked.
Lucas 10
Jesus shows the illustration of a Good Samaritan to the religious establishment to see what true charity is.
The central point here is no mercy but who here is merciful (and who does not).
In this time translated: Jesus preaching of the Good Moroccan in a church in the Bruges.
We are only awakened as the person who least expects it, do what we should have done.
Lucas 4:25-28
Why the people of Nazareth to be so angry with Jesus that they want to push him into an abyss?
Did He speak of the union with his Father in heaven?
First, they called his words mercy rich, but then Jesus touches a sensitive spot, that of the Jewish religious pride.
It shows that even in the Old Testament, God was able to pass his people. He helped foreigners, like Elijah and the widow of Zarephath. He also cured Naman the Syrian, instead of Jews.
A mirror that unmasks our pride is perhaps the most confrontational, for he who humbles himself raises.
Matthew 8
Imagine that your pastor in World War II an SS officer in the service calls forward and represents a symbol of faith, more than can be found in the Netherlands.
How would you feel?
This is what Jesus experiences. A Roman centurion, a foreign occupier, shows more faith than he has encountered throughout Israel.
Then he says that foreigners will still go ahead once the Jews in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Instead of anger may also lead to a sense of shame and healthy jealousy.
Matthew 15
At least, such great faith had the Canaanite woman (Syro-Phoenician = current Lebanon) for her daughter.
Muslims want this part sometimes to cite to show how corrupt the Bible is.
Which good book shows does Jesus compare a woman with a dog?
Jesus realized the faith of this woman. He would demonstrate the firm belief of a heathen. This was to show his disciples.
The shame of these Jewish nationalists.
This outside mirror for Jesus loved the Jews, was ultimately intended to make them jealous.
Just as Paul wanted to reach Jews everywhere to call his ministry among the Gentiles (Romans 11:14 ).
I recognise it when I hear witnesses Iraqi Christians in our church that has an unyielding influence.
I often think about native Belgians. They left the church of their grandmother and believe that the Christian faith is done away. However, more often, I listen to the stories of refugees who have come to know Christ.
Many Christians from outside the West have something to teach us about the richness of faith, the spirit, and joy.
Maybe it is not apparent to Jews jealous with the faith of Gentiles.
Or native Belgians with the conversion of a refugee.
But is not that precisely the opposite direction who is often God?
Indispensable for knowing a multicolored God.
Our western culture has a strange tendency to talk to two extremes when it comes to differing.
On the one hand, no country in the world known compartmentalisation like us.
Or do you think of the apartheid, but that is also again the only Dutch word used worldwide.
Do we love to ask where is that from? Or where you come from?
We have so many words to describe as immigrants; we do not know what we should use.
On the other hand, we are fond of levelling of differences.
Do not be too strange, no, do normal, that’s crazy enough.
Male and female, high and low-ranking, children and adults, everyone, is equal.
Differences are equality must adapt, especially in the way, so foreigners.
The Bible has a very different view of the differences between people.
If we thought behind suits, which immediately gives a broader view of God himself!
In James, the church addressed exhorting my brothers and sisters. Do you believe in Jesus Christ, our glorious Lord? You should no longer distinguish ( James 2: 1 ).
And then a rich and poor visitor service is exemplified because they get a good and bad place assigned respectively.
Therefore, do not discriminate and judge if not by erroneous considerations? This is asked in verse 4.
In our churches too often distinguish based on impure motives.
Those with less intelligence, less education, and less money can be quite less interesting for the church.
But even those who do not speak Dutch well, strange habits owns or has a different faith.
The alien may be sidelined in the interplay of a municipality.
In Christ nullified many reasons for discrimination. When Paul in Colossians 3:11 says: Then there is no question of Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all in all. It was a radically different view of differences for Jews who pursued ethnic purity.
There was Galatians 3:28 then again at that emphasises the equality of man and woman.
It could happen that you attended the supper. You might be a Jewish master sitting next to a female slave of pagan origin.
That was incredibly revolutionary at that time!
What Paul had thought?
Paul never meant that the loss of compartmentalisation in the church of distinction would lead to levelling of differences. The judgment did not intend this effect.
Men and women are equal but remain different.
He gives practical advice in 1 Timothy 6. A subordinate, whether a slave or a worker, should remember to respect his master. This respect is important because they are brothers. Instead, he must serve him with even more commitment. This is because he is the one who uses its services. This relationship should be connected with faith and love.
They sit together at dinner (no difference) does not mean that they are equals in the workplace (or disagreement).
The disappearance of distinction in Christ must, in fact, lead to greater respect for differences!
If we apply that to the stranger in our midst, we make no distinction in the Church. This includes those who are different (immigrants). We also make no distinction between those who are native.
Or, as Ephesians 2 that says the wall is broken down between Jew and Gentile, and thus also between nations.
You are no longer strangers or guests. You are fellow citizens with the saints. You are part of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19).
The differences do not have to be erased.
We are not converted to uniformity.
These differences can be celebrated.
The word pagan or non-Jew is often the Greek word Ethn uses that we know of ethnic groups, or nations.
These nations are by Christ, the head, gathered in his body.
The goal is thus to demonstrate a unit reflects God’s variegation.
Thus, now the wisdom of God known in all its shades by the church (Ephesians 3:10).
Never a single nation or nations or languages could interpret the glory of God’s greatness.
There are all ethnicities and languages needed.
No wonder Jesus returns until his gospel in the world is known.
Imagine that there is no language or ethnic group.
God’s glory, but also his love, will never be fully understood if we do not have every believer there.
Paul explains in Efezian 3 that all nations are fellow heirs. They are members of the same body and share in the promises. He works towards a final sentence before bursting into praise. You will, with all the saints, understand the length and width. You can comprehend the height and depth to know the love of Christ (verses 18 and 19).
With all the saints is what more than a few nominations together.
That means with saints from all the nations on earth.
Without those who are still foreign to us, God and his love will never be known in all versatility.
We have a prospect of being united one day. This unity will be without confusion and misunderstanding. It will include all languages and nations around the throne of God.
Longing we all so intense on that day we would see Him face to face.
We realize that together here we can experience a taste. For example, in my network, people are already members from 115 countries.
Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners. Ye are fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. The foundation is built upon the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus himself is the cornerstone.
In whom all the building is fitly framed together. It is a temple holy to the Lord. Built-in whom ye also become a habitation of God through the Spirit.
I, Paul, am in captivity for the sake of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles. You have heard of the stewardship of God’s grace given to me for you. By revelation, the mystery was published to me as I have shared it.
In the writing above, I briefly outlined them to please you. If you read it, you may understand my knowledge of the mystery of Christ. This mystery was not made known to the sons of men in other ages. Now, it has been revealed by the Spirit to the saints, his apostles, and prophets [this mystery]. The Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I became a servant to the grace gift of God. It was given to me according to the working of his power.. ”
Ephesians 2: 19-3: 7
” When the Son of Man comes in His glory, all the angels will be with him. Then he shall sit upon the throne of His glory.
All the nations will be gathered before Him. He will separate them one from another, as the shepherd-sheep separates from the goats. He shall set the sheep on his right. He shall set the goats on his left.
Then the King will say to those on his right hand. He will speak,
Come, ye blessed of my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry, and you gave me food.
I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink
I was a stranger, and you welcomed me,
naked and you gave me clothed, sick, and ye visited me:
I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him. They will say,
Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? When did we see you thirsty and give you something to drink? You drink when did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe you?
When did we see you sick or in prison, and came unto thee?
And the King shall answer and say:
Verily I say unto you since ye have done it unto one of these my least brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Then he will say to those on his left, speaking:
Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was hungry, and you gave me no food, I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink:
I was a stranger, and you welcomed me not welcome,
naked and ye clothed me,
sick and in prison and you visited me not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying:
Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty
Or a stranger or naked or sick, or in prison? We have not served
Then shall he answers them, saying,
Verily I say unto you since ye did it not to one of these least,
ye did it not to me.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment,
but the righteous into eternal life. ”
Matt.25: 31- 46
Every religion has, at least, two forms:
1. The teaching by teachers, the sacred writings of the Wise and
2. The way we understand this and put into practice what the people are told.
Believers of the Bible hold the biblical vision as paramount. They have gained insight through experience with erroneous interpretations of concepts. As such, they have learned to deal with it.
Especially in turbulent and confusing times, misunderstandings and misinterpretations seem to dominate. They can hinder the appropriate application of biblical teaching to us.
So it is now customary to think that all the ” aliens ” [especially Muslims and Economic migrants who visit our country] will possibly do crimes against us, we consider it a dangerous thing that they stop in our neighbourhood and take it for granted that we accordingly have the right to keep them in our community or environment, we operate them do as much as we can as cheap labour and annoy us when they are assigned the same rights as any other citizen.
The hatred inducing views of some political leaders.
Political leaders take extreme positions. They close borders and take decisive actions. This can lead to extreme situations. As a result, populations may experience violence committed against them. They are treated with jeers and harassment. It beats in the chest by itself as a “nationalist” or “patriot” to appoint.
Let’s see what people from abroad – whether a political refugee – for precious spiritual heritage with them.
Attention !: Many readers will now perhaps feel uneasy. They might not understand and see my words differently: ”What do you want? Do you let them take our land? You let us not rob and our Faith [by Muslims] to killing? “
First, there are so few believers, and those who are left, will not allow themselves to convert to another faith.
The most the population is already disbelieved so can no longer decrease.
So no one needs to roll with that argument.
On the contrary, more and more biblical Christians to keep up good relations with Muslims.
Most Christians have been threatened in their existence in one way or another.
Many are afraid to show only that they have some connection with the church.
But remember that even the simple preservation of
the three mighty conquerors:
- NATO,
- The European Union [showing its real face – only the monetary gain – which brings us to the financial crisis] and
- Multinationals use us and pick their noses for workers and docile consumers.
We live in a culture where even European countries are likely to be closed out.
Look at what one of Greece has imposed (on the sale of patrimony and politics imposed by technocrats and banking institutions.
This triple foreign interference does not get the attention it deserves. No one condemns their behaviour. The situation is not winding up, let alone that one is against weathered!
The actual oppressors and plunderers of freedom
We must stop showing unhealthy indignation towards refugees. Our affluent West should focus on confronting the real oppressors. They engage in the obscene worship of savings and large banks.
The evidence shows that the police and the judiciary should protect us from bandits and murderers. However, defense has a price. It is, like other issues, in need of real solutions.
We are indeed besieged by many foreign gangs. The Mexican and Italian mafia is probably still the biggest. However, we also have just as many and powerful groups, the profiteers. They take incredible income through corruption within the European institutions. Every foreigner is not necessarily a villain.
Large companies and banks do not go unpunished by their fraud and tax havens.
Let us not remember a whole series of foreign girls are exploited in prostitution.
In fact, we are no longer human, but victim [addicted] to a fallen world.
Now let us as Christians, children, and grandchildren of Christians do speak to us.
Our God became the man. He was not a hero or a truculent party leader, [which was idolised by European citizens and other northern Aryans]. Instead, he was a simple, powerful God-man. He became the victim of world rulers and conquered death. By doing so, he saved humanity and showed us how to live.
That what the world incessantly “suckers lists” who sacrifice themselves without expecting anything in return.
I’m not saying that ” nothing is contrasted.
The more you radiate the love of God and love your neighbour, the more the Christian sacrifices. The closer you approach the Kingdom of Heaven.
But this does not seem possible in a carefree paradise, so you turn godlessness and “successful” back to life.
In Christ, we have become a full member of the household of God
And I believe there is a possibility to become financially independent without compromising or act themselves unethically.
We do not have to accept the marginal, foreign worldly oriented affair during our earthly life. We do not belong to this world.
” Now, you are no longer strangers. You are no longer foreigners. Instead, you are fellow citizens with the saints. You are members of the household of God.” Ephesians 2: 19
The Apostle Paul refers to “no more” to the Ephesians. He speaks to the then non-members and those who consider the current full limbs of the family of God.
He teaches that the Church is the real people of God, based on the Messiah our Lord.
The Church rescues the human community. Its members are heirs of God’s promises under the Old Covenant. This covenant is now fulfilled in Christ.
The Church offers salvation
Paul’s statement indicates that the Church offers salvation. The Gospel was sent by the Prophets [God the Holy Spirit]. This salvation was promised to the people of both Israel and us in our time.
So Israel inheritance in the Church remained.
Anyone, Jew or Gentile, is a partaker of God’s promise in Christ Jesus through the Good News. Jesus Christ confesses the Lord in the Body.
“[this mystery], that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members and fellows of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” Eph.3: 6 The ministry of our Lord ended certain expectations about our possessions. His apostles also ended expectations about those of ancient Israel.
In that sense, we experience failures, setbacks, or downs in our online activities. However, we continue to see everyone happy.
It opened membership in Christ’s Church, not only to Israel but to all people on earth.
Those Jews, including the Twelve Apostles, Paul, and the Seventy, followed Christ as Messiah. The Lord Jesus offered them the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit. He also bestowed the grace of God to accept the Father.
As Jews who became joint heirs with Christ, they resisted any attempt to remove the strictures [coercion] of faith in Christ. The Old Covenant aimed to limit the ritualism.
At the same now, they confirmed the Church boldly as the heir of God’s promises – as the true Israel of the Old Covenant
Today, we are acknowledging our identity. For centuries, Christians declared that we, Israelites [the Israeli Authority], are part of this heritage.
This is not just an act using mental gymnastics.
In fact, we are ” fellow citizens with the saints” of the old Ephesians 2: 19, and including Abraham, Isaac, Israel [Jacob],
Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, Elijah and all the prophets.
We are the real chosen people of God.
What does this mean?
Paul reveals here that the Church one is a creation of the Holy Trinity:
a new nation based on the
- Lord Jesus, which must comply
- to the will of God our Father,
- by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Christian Church thus offers salvation to “all nations.
We get a full membership in Christ,
become part of “one holy temple in the Lord. One dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” Ephesians 2: 21-22
God, as Paul proclaims, is as a man born in a city [Bethlehem]. His human parents were foreigners and had no room to stay there. He was born in a stable. He wants to embrace more strangers and foreigners.
He was a worldly-minded king. He fled as a hunted immigrant. He followed his worldly father and mother to Egypt. They aimed to slain the settings of the eternal enemy of humanity [the devil]. This would be to keep trying him.
And his human adoptive father found work as a foreign worker.
Do not ask how they experienced it themselves?
Even the growth of our God into the world around us depends on
– the Alien, which from country to country roads to find salvation, which was denied him
– the stranger, who “no place to lay his head down ” and
– who is slain by his countrymen as if it were a stranger
was even at the mercy of strangers [the Romans].
Jesus was the God-man, the great Stranger, who by “us” never seems to be understood and by some, always [but especially now] is mocked in society as a ” poor in spirit ” a “loser.”
Joseph of Arimathea
On Good Friday, we sing a touching hymn. In this hymn, Saint Joseph of Arimathea was a secret disciple of Christ. He manifested fearful after the crucifixion. He approached Pilate and made a request. He said:
“Δώσε μου αυτόν τον ξένο. Συμπατριώτες του τον μισούν και τον έχουν σκοτωθεί ως ξένος “,
which means ” Give me this stranger. His countrymen hate him and have slain him like a stranger. ”
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