January 23
Xeno-what?
When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. ––Leviticus 19:33-34
xe·no·pho·bia ˌze-nə-ˈfō-bē-ə
: fear and hatred of strangers or foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign
I was in a conversation with a friend the other day about a nation that the US has a less-than-friendly relationship with. He made a comment something like, “I’m not xenophobic, but I don’t think we should allow any immigrants from that nation into our country.” As I drove away from our meeting, I just couldn’t shake the conversation. I had a pretty good idea what xenophobia was, but looked it up on Mirriam Webster’s just to make sure. (See definition above.)
Xenophobia is neither biblical nor godly. Consider these instructions:
Moses says to the people, [God] … shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. ––Deuteronomy 10:18-19
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for hating strangers when he told them,
Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. … whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.” ––Matthew 25:41-43, 45
Theologians are divided on whether Jesus was talking about literal “foreigners” (those from different nations), or whether he was actually referring to anyone—outside visitors, guests—who were unknown to the Jews.
Does it matter? In other words, isn’t God pretty clear that He has created everyone in His image, and His desire is that no one should perish, but that everyone would come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9)? Isn’t His Word clear that we are to treat everyone as if that person were Jesus in disguise (that’s literally what Jesus implies in Matthew 25)?
I’m not saying we should turn a blind eye to nations or people that mean us harm or ill will. But we play a dangerous—and unbiblical—game when we single out entire people groups or nationalities and render them “less than.” I guarantee you, that’s not how God sees them. After all, Paul tells us that “from one man He made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us” (Acts 17:26-27).
Man of God, it’s a slippery slope when we begin picking and choosing who we deem worthy of our care and concern. Should we embrace criminals or people who are in our country with ill intent? Of course not. In the vast majority of cases, however, people who come to our country are looking for the exact same things you and I are: a place to live in freedom and pursue a decent life.
We are clearly called to care for the strangers in our midst. When we begin thinking “less than” of any particular people group or nationality, that thinking runs counter to God’s instructions for us. As God’s men, we need to be the ones to confront xenophobia in our midst. Don’t buy into any rhetoric or belief that sees any of God’s creatures as inferior, undesirable, or unlovable.
Lord, help me be sensitive to the things that are important to You, and treat every person just as You would want me to treat them—and how I would want to be treated.