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The second great commandment of Lord Jesus is to love your neighbor as you love yourself. He doesn’t mention loving strangers, though it should be noted that Jesus’ loving your neighbor is derived from Leviticus 19:18 of the Old Testament. There is also Leviticus 19:34 in the Old Testament which says to love the stranger who sojourns among you since you were strangers in the land of Egypt. What does Jesus say about strangers?
Jesus in Matthew 25: 34-35...37-38...40 says, “...the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For...I WAS A STRANGER AND YOU WELCOMED ME... Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord...when did we see you a stranger and welcome you...And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”
We see the attitude of certain countries toward strangers nowadays. Many of them want to repel strangers without cause to do so. They regard people not individually, but they lump all strangers together, including those who are God-fearing and could be neighbors to them. Who is a neighbor but a person who can help you, as Jesus alluded to in his Parable of the Good Samaritan?
Now Jesus also says in Luke 10:19, “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. And 1 Timothy 5:8 says, “...if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
So, we have no obligation to help strangers who may harm us. But that leaves the strangers who would not harm us, and I tell you that these are the strangers that Lord Jesus in Matthew 25 refers to, when he says to welcome them.
How do we guard against strangers who would harm us, without rejecting those who won’t? Jesus gives us some inking of his thinking when in Matthew 7: 15 he says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THEM LBY THEIR FRUITS. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?”
So how do we regard strangers? We first regard them individually because we are all judged by God individually. God does not send good people to hell for sins that others committed. In regarding a stranger, we must first presume that the stranger is not the ravenous wolf that Jesus describes, or a similar person that leans to evil.
By the same token, since we have an obligation to our households to provide for those in it, we must be mindful of evil ones lurking in the midst of strangers who could be our neighbors. So, we are allowed to separate the strangers who could be our neighbors, from those who tend to evil, based on what they have done. A conscious effort should be made in not rejecting strangers who wouldn’t harm us, since, as God would welcome into His House those who welcome strangers, He will reject those who don’t. Jesus in Matthew 25: 42...43-44-46 says “[The King] will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I WAS...A STRANGER AND YOU DID NOT WELCOME ME... Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you...a stranger...?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
In a sense, we walk a tightrope. On the one hand, we should welcome strangers, but on the other hand we are obligated to keep strangers away from us who would harm us. And we should be mindful of the consequences if we reject the good ones. But we know that by welcoming strangers who would be neighbors to us, that is, they could help us as opposed to harming us, we stand a better chance of inheriting the Kingdom prepared by God.
Jesus in Matthew 25: 34-35...37-38...40 says, “...the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For...I WAS A STRANGER AND YOU WELCOMED ME... Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord...when did we see you a stranger and welcome you...And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”
We see the attitude of certain countries toward strangers nowadays. Many of them want to repel strangers without cause to do so. They regard people not individually, but they lump all strangers together, including those who are God-fearing and could be neighbors to them. Who is a neighbor but a person who can help you, as Jesus alluded to in his Parable of the Good Samaritan?
Now Jesus also says in Luke 10:19, “Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. And 1 Timothy 5:8 says, “...if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
So, we have no obligation to help strangers who may harm us. But that leaves the strangers who would not harm us, and I tell you that these are the strangers that Lord Jesus in Matthew 25 refers to, when he says to welcome them.
How do we guard against strangers who would harm us, without rejecting those who won’t? Jesus gives us some inking of his thinking when in Matthew 7: 15 he says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THEM LBY THEIR FRUITS. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?”
So how do we regard strangers? We first regard them individually because we are all judged by God individually. God does not send good people to hell for sins that others committed. In regarding a stranger, we must first presume that the stranger is not the ravenous wolf that Jesus describes, or a similar person that leans to evil.
By the same token, since we have an obligation to our households to provide for those in it, we must be mindful of evil ones lurking in the midst of strangers who could be our neighbors. So, we are allowed to separate the strangers who could be our neighbors, from those who tend to evil, based on what they have done. A conscious effort should be made in not rejecting strangers who wouldn’t harm us, since, as God would welcome into His House those who welcome strangers, He will reject those who don’t. Jesus in Matthew 25: 42...43-44-46 says “[The King] will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I WAS...A STRANGER AND YOU DID NOT WELCOME ME... Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you...a stranger...?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
In a sense, we walk a tightrope. On the one hand, we should welcome strangers, but on the other hand we are obligated to keep strangers away from us who would harm us. And we should be mindful of the consequences if we reject the good ones. But we know that by welcoming strangers who would be neighbors to us, that is, they could help us as opposed to harming us, we stand a better chance of inheriting the Kingdom prepared by God.