Welcoming the Stranger
This precept is one of the backbones of Jewish Law.
Translated variously as sojourner, alien, stranger:
Deut 10:18-19,’ You shall love the stranger’.
The books of the Law (Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)
remind the people of Israel again and again and again,
Remember, you were once refugees. But in the days of our Lord those who were ‘strange’,
in creed, race and lifestyle, were not welcome. Our Lord went to the gallows for befriending them,
loving and forgiving them, himself deserted a stranger to his friends. St Peter said, ‘I do not know him’.
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers,
for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.
Hebrews 13:2
After a MULOA workshop in Uganda, members travelled
to refugee camps to visit family members from whom they had been separated,
in some cases for years. The sojourners were visited in Christ’s name and blessed.
The visitors followed Christ’s teaching – when you visited them in my name you visited Me.
This worldwide tragedy is distant for many of us.