Our treatment of strangers should be based on their God-given human dignity, not on what we deem worthy
The Scripture readings for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time are intended to help us examine our practices of hospitality and the ways that we are affirmed and challenged. The promises and the challenges in the readings are assuring, alluring and terrifying.
We are assured that we welcome Jesus Christ when we acknowledge His presence in the most lowly among us. This might be a good time to acknowledge all the ways in which we have taken that assurance and put it into practice. Many of us extend our generosity toward those who can’t take care of all of their personal needs through their own resources at this time. Our generosity, whether personally or through various organizations, gives evidence that we have heard the challenge of Jesus and acted on it in our lives. In this assurance, I hope that we’re encouraged to continue those practices or to begin them if we haven’t already.
In all the other areas of our lives, we are drawn by the promise that we will get back 100% more than what we put into something. If that were a financial investment or some plan for the future that involves our time and energy, we would jump at the chance to be given that sort of return on our investment. But do we trust banks and real estate companies and stock markets more than we do the promise of God? Why do we find ourselves so willing and anxious to invest in promised future returns when the promise of God is not just about the future, but about the present as well? Why do we tend to only go to God in emergencies?
The challenging or frightening part of the Scriptures that we read and meditate on this weekend is that Jesus doesn’t cut corners on the kind of hospitality and welcome that we should offer others. He tells us that if there is a stranger among us, we should welcome him or her. Too often, we try to push aside some of the details of this challenge, but those are so important to listen to. Our treatment of strangers should be based on the human dignity given to them by God, not on what we see as their worth. Inconvenience or uncertainty are not reasons to walk away from strangers. Look at the example that Jesus gave to us and continues to challenge us into even today.
With so many invitations into judgment and separation, we should be a light in the midst of that darkness. We ought to be the one to actually show with our lives the evidence that Jesus asks of us. Do we make ourselves available to the stranger among us, or do we fashion our lives so that we seldom encounter anyone who is different than we are?
If we can’t love the part of ourselves that doesn’t match up to Christian perfection, it will be difficult for us to love the stranger. If we don’t plan encounters with strangers in our lives, then they probably won’t happen. How might we, in the coming days, make sure that we encounter the stranger in our midst and offer them the hospitality that is so clearly measured out for us in the Scriptures this weekend?
