Our Neighbors- the Outsiders
Did you ever switch schools when you were young? Remember the first day on the playground, when you didn’t know who to play with or what to do? That is one of the worst feelings in the world: seeing everyone else play, and feeling like an outsider.
In Matthew, Jesus says the two greatest commandments are to “love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and to “love your neighbor as yourself.” And who is our neighbor?
Jesus’ story about the Good Samaritan says everyone who is in need. In great need these days are those who feel like outsiders in any way.
God knows the outsiders need special care and attention. In Deuteronomy, it says that God “executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing.”
In most societies, foreigners are the people with the least power, who feel most on the outside of the culture. The next verse is a command to those who love God: “Love the foreigner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” God says to love the outsiders, because we were once outsiders ourselves.
We have all felt alone, and so it is our job, as members of God’s family, to make everyone feel loved, wanted, and cared for. In Jesus’ name, let’s make the outsiders insiders.
“God says to love the outsiders, because we were once outsiders ourselves.”
Deuteronomy 10:19
“So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt.”