Immigrant Story

Just a couple of weeks ago I finished my summer course Christian Leadership and Administration. One of the books I read for the class was written by a pastor who talked about the pastor as a church leader. Naturally, coming from a pastor, talking about pastors, the author threw in a chapter about preparing and preaching sermons. Since I just completed two classes on preaching over two semesters, I believed I had learned everything to know about preaching, so I skimmed over the chapter instead of reading it in depth. Through my skimming, I did notice one piece of advice he gave that I liked, I have adapted, and I will use right now. He said that any time a pastor preaches a sermon out of the ordinary, the pastor should give a disclaimer, just in case if any visitors were present, they would not get the wrong idea about the church or the pastor. So let me put my disclaimer in here. I do not preach politics from the pulpit. I do not like pastors that do preach politics from the pulpit. I do not attend churches that preach politics from the pulpit. I seek only to speak biblical, theological and spiritual truths from the Word of God. Due to current events in the world of politics, however, I can see this message coming across as a political statement. I want to make clear this in no way is a political statement. In fact, when the current event came out, I considered totally scrapping this sermon and starting anew. After thinking about it, I chose not to, however, because maybe the current event will make this sermon more relevant and more applicable.

If you are unaware of what current event I’m referring to, let me fill you in. One of the televisions at work is set to CNN. CNN has informed me that the 2016 Presidential race is well under way…even though it’s only 2015. On the Republican side, one of the first men to announce his candidacy is Donald Trump, a man famous for building skyscrapers and firing celebrities on his reality show. Trump decided to kick off his presidential bid by announcing his plan for immigration reform. In his speech, he said this about Mexican immigrants (and once again, I will add a disclaimer that many television networks say: the views of Mr. Trump do not reflect my views)-

“The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems... It’s true, and these are the best and the finest. When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”

 

Naturally, comments like that will result in fall out. Upon hearing the comments, the U.S. territory Puerto Rico dropped out of the Donald Trump’s Miss Universe beauty pageant. Soon after, many Latin American countries followed suit. At the same time, since Donald Trump has announced his presidential run, his rating rises every day. Some polls even have ranked Donald Trump has the number one choice for Republicans in the presidential race. Some political analysts give Donald Trump’s comments credit for shooting him up in the political race. How does someone make such comments, and yet still remain so popular?

But as the preacher in Ecclesiastes said, there is nothing new under the sun. This current event reminded me of a personal experience I had in fall 2009, as I began my third year at Lancaster Bible College. The past summer I decided to change my major from Bible Ministry to Bible Education. While all my Bible credits transferred without any problem, because I had to start brand new in the education department, I found myself, a junior, sitting in many education classes with first-semester freshman. One such class was The Teaching Profession, the fancy name that LBC gave its Intro to Teaching class. A few weeks into the class, we came across the chapter in our textbook called “Race and Ethnicity in the Classroom.” While the textbook was a few years old, my professor did an excellent job keeping the statistics up to date. She reported that by the 2020s decade, even by the year 2020 itself, that the races and ethnic groups that have been defined as the “minorities” in the U.S. will become the majority, quantity-wise, in the classroom. It’s also possible that by 2020, 50% of students will speak English as a secondary language, and 10% will not even know English at all. My professor asked the classroom for any reaction; any thoughts or feels this news provoked. My reaction was surprise, not at what the teacher taught, but how my classmate reacted. Their reaction was shock, fear, anger, horror, terror. It was as if some great evil had fell upon this country and something needing to be done about it. Now, granted, these students were freshmen in their first semester of college. They had not received their Bible or theology courses yet. But from hearing their testimonies the opening week of class, I knew most of the students were your “typical church kids.” They have attended church since one week old, attended Sunday School and Vacation Bible School since 3 years old, and both regularly attended and been actively involved in both Jr. High and Sr. High youth group. Not once did a pastor, youth pastor, youth group leader, Sunday School teacher or Bible School teacher present what the Bible said. For the Lord talks about it at least five times explicitly in the Bible. Luckily for them, the professor had me doing devotions next class. Since devotions had to do with what we were learning in class, I had the perfect opportunity to share what God had say about race, ethnicity and immigrants. Today, I would like to share them with you. Back then, I only got a few minutes, so all I could do was simple present a couple verses and tie them together. Now, I want to expand on these verse. From a literal, plain reading of the verses, it will be clear where God stands on this. But when we look back on the original context, the historical context and the cultural context, the meaning behind these verses become even stronger.

Let’s take our first look at the first appearance in Exodus 22:21. While you’re turning there, since I know many of you use different Bible translations, let me explain the one word that will appear different depending on your translation. The Hebrew manuscripts have the word ger. The New American Standard Bible (NASB), the King James Version (KJV), the New King James Version (NKJV) and the Revised Standard Version (RSV) all choose to translate the word as “stranger.” This translation is a little out of date, and it makes sense, if you think about it logically. Later on, the verses call the Israelites ger in the land of Egypt. After residing in Egypt over 400 years, it’s hard to call any person a stranger. Heck, the Israelites might have even known the land better than the Egpytians knew it! So the Israelites are far from strangers. The 1984 edition of the New International Version (NIV, 1984 ed.) calls them aliens. But thanks to the rising popularity of science fiction, which you can thank the space race in the late 20^th century for that, the modern-day reader could confuse the Israelites for Martians or extraterrestrials. Talk about the confusing theology that would produce! So the 2011 edition changed the word from “aliens” to “foreigners,” which most other Bible translations also choose. I personally think this is arguing semantics. They could say the word “alien” makes people think that the Isarelites or Martians or extraterrestrials, but I could say that the word “foreigner” makes people think the Israelites were in a 70’s rock band. (And then when I read the Israelites were on a journey, I could think the Israelites were in an 80’s rock band.) The best translation is probably what the English Standard Version (ESV) chooses, the word “sojourner.” But you will hear me use stranger, sojourner, alien and foreigner all interchangeably. Just promise when you hear “alien,” you won’t think of Martians or extraterrestrials, and when I say “foreigner” you won’t think of any 70’s rock band (although, for your entertainment, I will later make a bunch of Foreigner references. See you if can catch them all.)

The Lord first mentions how to treat foreigners in Exodus. Actually, God mentions twice. In Exodus 22:21, the Lord commands, “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” God commands it again in Exodus 23:9, “You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.” You’ll notice many similarities in these verses. So why would the Lord repeat the command, so close to one another? The literary context, on its spot within the text, might explain. Since Exodus 22:21 is so close to the Ten Commandments, Exodus 22:21 might be seen as an expansion of the Ten Commandments. If the Ten Commandments can be summed up as, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” and “Love your neighbor as yourself,” then Exodus 22 explain in detail how to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and might and how to love your neighbor as yourself. Then Exodus 22:21 reminds us that the sojourner is our neighbor, and we need to love the sojourner as our neighbor. In Exodus 23:1-9, God teaches Israel how to execute justice in the court systems. Exodus 23:9 teaches Israel that justice must extend to the foreigners living among them, even though they are not Israelites.

But take a close long at the big, glaring similarity, Every time the Lord says, “for you were sojourners in the land in the Egypt.” The Lord calls the Israelites back to remember their history.

Do you remember Israel’s history? I bet many of you do because you grew up in church. So for you, I will quickly fast forward with an abridged version of Israel’s history, only highlighting the important details that led up to God giving Israel this commandment. But if you haven’t, please do, for it’s a wonderful story of God blessing his people Israel as they struggle to comprehend God’s holiness for their lives. The story of how Israel got to God giving them commandments on Mount Sinai begins in the book of Genesis, with a man name Joseph. At the age of 17, Joseph starting having weird dreams that told him that his brothers would bow down to him. As you older siblings can imagine, these dreams did not go over well with Joseph’s brothers. They wanted to kill him, but Reuben, the firstborn, did not want that bloodshed on his hands, so they sell into slavery in Egypt. Long story short, Joseph lands in jail. There, he uses his experience with dreams to help interpret the dreams of those in jail with him. News of experience in dreams reaches Pharaoh, who is having some pretty crazy dreams himself. He brings Joseph to him and says to him, “I’ve been having some pretty weird dreams. I’ve seen 7 skinny cows eat 7 fat cows, and I’ve seen 7 sick heads of grain eat 7 healthy heads of grain. And it’s starting to freak me out, since cows don’t eat each other and heads of grain don’t eat each other. What does it mean?” Joseph explains to Pharaoh, “Oh, this is easy! 7 fat cows and 7 healthy heads of grain mean 7 years of plentiful harvest. 7 skinny cows and 7 sickly heads of grain mean 7 years of famine. When the skinny cows eat the fat cows, and the sickly heads of grain eat the healthy heads of grain, it means the famine years will be so bad, it will be like the plentiful years did not even happen! If I were you know, I would save and store up all your extra in the plentiful years so you will be alright during the famine years. Pharaoh replies, “You sound like you know what you’re doing, so I’ll put you second in change of all Egypt so you will have all the power to do what you need to do to save Egypt.” Sure enough, Joseph’s planning saves Egypt from starving to death. But from the story in Genesis, we learn that the famine affected all the Middle East, including Joseph’s family back in Canaan. Joseph’s brothers, hearing how Egypt is surviving, decide to go to Egypt to see if they can get any food. Once again abriding the story, Joseph eventually reveals to his brothers his identity, and he says to them, “No more of this going back and forth for food. You come live with me in Egypt, and I will take care of you.” While the book of Genesis ends with the death of Jacob and Joseph, it ends on a fairly happen. Jacob’s descendants are living in peace and happiness in Egypt, enjoying plentiful blessings.

Then comes the book of Exodus. In the first chapter of Exodus, verse 8, the tides begin to turn. Verses 8 to 10 read, “Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, ‘Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.’” How could this new king not about the man who single-handedly, with God’s help, save a whole nation? It’s not that he does not have knowledge about what Joseph did, but he does not recognize Joseph for what he did, and here’s why. Now what I about to say does not appear in the Bible, per se, but Old Testament scholars have teamed up with historians who specialize in Ancient Egyptian history and archaeologists who specialize in ancient Egyptian archaeology. Together, they have matched up their timelines, and they believe what is happening here is not just a change in kings, but also a change in dynasty. They believe that previous king was half-Egyptian, half-semetic, or half of him was Middle Eastern. So when Joseph, another semite, asks for permission to move his family into Egypt, he has no problem letting another semite like him into the country, for he’s partially blood related. But then a new king, from a new dynasty comes into power. He’s pure-bred, 100% full Egyptian. After a tumultuous change of power between the two families in the Egyptian kingdom, the new king does not like semites, nor does he like any foreigner for that matter. So when calls together his people, the other pure-bred, 100% full Egyptians, I can imagine him saying to his people, “Look, this is a great nation. But do you know what’s ruining this country? Immigrants. Egypt is for Egyptians, not for any foreigner to steal from our success. We’re better than them, so let them work to give to us, instead of us working to give to them.” I think that’s why the new Pharaoh enslaves them instead of kicking them out. Pharaoh sees they are a blessed people, Pharaoh wants that blessing, but Pharaoh knows losing the people of Israel means losing the blessing. So he enslaves them. Even through their enslavement, Israel continues to receive blessing after blessing from God, making the people of Israel even greater, and making the new Pharaoh even more nervous. So he then proceeds to kill the baby boys.

But God hears the Israelites crying out in their oppression, and He has compassion on them. So God sends Moses to tell Pharaoh, “Let my people go!” Pharaoh says no, so God sends 10 plagues to change Pharaoh’s mind. After the first 9 plagues, Pharaoh remained as cold as ice. Sometimes he was even hot blooded. But after the 10^th plague, on that blue morning,blue day, Pharaoh finally got the message at let the people go. But Pharaoh wasn’t happy about that. He became cold as ice yet again. So Pharaoh sent the whole Egyptian army to retrieve the Israelites and bring them back. The army was so big, when the Israelites saw them, they must have thought they had double vision! Moses thought fast and prayed, “Lord, this is urgent!” and God answered their prayers. If Israel wanted to know what love is, they found out what love is from God on that day, when God showed compassion on them yet again and rescued them from the Egyptians yet again. It must have felt like the first time, when the Lord first took them out of Egypt. (Did you catch them all? J )

So God brings them to Mount Sinai, and the first thing the Lord reminds them at Mount Sinai is what just happened. It is as if the Lord is saying to his people, “Remember what was it was like to be an alien in a foreign land? Remember how they worked you from sunrise to sunset, every day of the week? Remember how they work you harshly and brutally until you were sick and dying? Remember how you wished that someone showed you compassion, and if on the rare occasion someone did, how happy and relieved you were? I want you to remember those feelings. Then remember that’s the heart, too. You wish you were treated with love and compassion, so treat the foreigners among you with love and compassion.” The Israelites would need to practice their compassion to foreigners right away. Exodus 12 informs that not only did the Israelites leave, but also a mixed multitude of Egyptians and other foreigners. I can imagine the foreigners from other nations coming to Moses, saying, “We prayed to our gods to save us, and they never did. Your God came and saved you, so we want to follow your god, for he saves his people.” The Israelites would need to remember give the same rights and respect as any Israelite. The Israelites would need to especially practice this for the Egyptian among the multitude that went with them. Once again, I imagine Egyptians coming to Moses, saying to him, “We clearly saw our gods defeated by your god with the 10 plagues. Our gods are weak, but your God is strong. We want to worship him.” The Israelites might be tempted to seek revenge. They might want enslave the Egyptians, for the Egyptians enslaved them. They might want to kill their Egyptian baby boys, for the Egyptians killed the Israelite boys. The Lord ends the desire for revenge right here. The Egyptians living among them get treated with the same right and respect as any Israelites. They are to be treated with love and compassion, not revenge. If any Israelite wants to object to God’s command, God will keep calling them to remember their history.

On the same Mount Sinai, the Lord present to the Moses and the Israelites the laws found in the book of Leviticus. In Leviticus, God commands Israel once again, “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” Once again, God reminds Israel of their history, strengthening the command through the historical context, but God also strengths through the literary context and the cultural context. The book of Leviticus is all about holiness. The word “holy” (or some form of it) is the most repeated word in book, probably due to God repeatedly commanding Israel, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” I’ve already given you your Hebrew word for the day, so I’m not going to give you another one, but the root of the Hebrew word is derived from the root meaning “set apart.” What makes God so holy, so righteous, so good is that he thinks, speaks and acts differently than the other gods of the other nations. Therefore, it makes logical sense that if the Israelites are to be holy like God is holy, and if Yahweh is holy because he thinks, speaks and acts differently than the other gods, then the worshippers of Yahweh must also think, speak and act differently than the worshippers of the other gods. One of those ways they can act differently than the other nations is to treat the alien within their land differently.

To fully appreciate how this commandment does that, you have to understand how most nations of the ancient Middle East treated its foreigners. An alien in a foreign land was given no rights, nor was a native given any obligation to treat an alien with respect. On the contrary, it was common for the sojourner to be exploited and extorted. If a sojourner dared to attempt to go to court over such injustice, rarely would a judge hear the case. If he did, the judge would most often favor the native over the foreigner. More often, the native would bring the foreigner to court, and the foreigner would fight a uphill battle, only to lose. If anyone showed any charity to a sojourner, it was out of the kindness of his or her heart. The Holy God, Yahweh, wanted his people, Israel, to be holy by living contrary to this culture. Notice how Leviticus 19:34 contains a form of that famous 2^nd greatest command, “Love them as yourself.” The Israelites would have known that command and would have made the connection that the foreigner living in their land is still their neighbor. Therefore, God commands them to love the foreigner. In a world that exploited and extorted the foreigner, the Lord commands his people to love and to show compassion to the foreigner. In a world that showed favoritism to the native over the sojourner in the courts, the Lord wants Israel to reflect God’s justice by bring equality and fairness in the court. By doing so, Israel will love the foreigner like God loves the foreigner, and therefore, Israel will be holy like God is holy.

And might I quickly add a tidbit of application for the 21^st century American. If you are anything like me, you might start to get nervous when people start talking about holiness. You worry it might lead to legalism, and people will start judging other people for not following do’s and do not’s to the letter. But note here how God links up holiness and love. If Israel wants to pursue holiness, they have to learn to love everyone, including the sojourner. So the pursuit of holiness involves the pursuit of love. If in your pursuit of holiness, you are not loving, then you’re not pursuing holiness.

The Lord repeats the command again in Deuteronomy. If you know the original audience, then it becomes clear why God has to repeat the command. The name of the book, Deuteronomy, literally means “second law.” The Lord has to give the Law a second time because this is the second generation of Israelites after the Israelites who came out of Egypt. The new generation of Israelites might be tempted to say, “Lord, I understand why our parents had to be kind to the sojourner. I get that. But I was never a slave. Therefore, you can’t use that defense against me.” The Lord would disagree. The Lord once again says, “You shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there.” God even uses in the Hebrew the plural version of you. Our brothers and sister in Christ down south would read it “y’all shall remember that y’all were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed y’all from there.” It is a part of Israel’s history for all generations, so all generations must obey this command. But I want to look at Deuteronomy for another reason. The Lord expands on how to love the sojourner among them. Take a look at Deuteronomy 24:14-15,17-22-

“¹⁴ “You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns. ¹⁵ You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets (for he is poor and counts on it), lest he cry against you to the Lord, and you be guilty of sin. ¹⁷ “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, ¹⁸ but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this. ¹⁹ “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. ²⁰ When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. ²¹ When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. ²² You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.
 

Notice how God keeps pairing the sojourner with the widows and the fatherless (orphans in the NIV). God puts them in the category of the poor and helpless. This is a helpful reminder for us Americans, who are the 1% wealthiest in the world. When we move from one country to another, it’s because we love the geography or the culture of the new nation over the old nation. That was rarely the case back then. Back then people moved from country to country because of some great disaster or tragedy back in their home country. It could be famine, war or political unrest. The disaster would destroy their homeland, leaving them nothing. They are left with no other choice than to start brand new in a country and a new homeland. And they didn’t have U-Haul back then. If they could afford a cart, they fill the cart to maximum capacity, and that’s all they took. If they could only afford one horse, donkey or camel, they loaded its back to maximum capacity, and that’s all they took. But if they could not afford either a cart or an animal, all they took with them is what they could load on their back. They had to start in their new land with little to nothing. They came to the new land poor and helpless. God wants his people to recognize this. Therefore, showing the sojourner love is to show the foreigner grace. The Israelites can show the sojourner by providing the foreigner the leftovers of his harvest.

Now when Pastor Rob Bell reads this passage, he imagines the Israelites saying, “That’s not fair! I planted the crops, I watered the crops, I took care of the crops, therefore, I should get the fullest of the harvest!” Therefore, Rob Bell concludes that grace is unfair (in a positive connotation). I’m not sure I would call it unfair. Maybe undeserving, but not unfair. Rather, I would say that grace returns the unfair to the fair. God questions the Israelite who thinks this is unfair, “Do you think it’s fair that the widow lost her husband and now has no income? Do you think it’s fair that the orphans have no parents, who can’t provide the basic necessities from food and water to love and support? Do you think it’s fair that the sojourner had to leave his home and most of his possessions to travel to a new a strange land?” That Israelite has to quietly answer “No.” God calls Israel to show grace to share the pain. The Israelite can say, “Here, I will give to you, taking loss, so I can feel the pain of loss like you are feeling.” The Israelite can relate, and then will truly show love.

So we looked at 4 different verses, from 3 different books, in 3 different contexts. Just through a literal, plain reading of the text, it’s clear what God wants us to do. He wouldn’t have repeated it so much if he didn’t want us to take it too seriously. Then we looked at the 3 contexts, and we saw how the 3 contexts further strengthened the meaning of the verse. So how do we as Americans apply in the 21^st century?

First, to fully and truly reach out to someone, we must reach out to them in their culture. I’ve traveled abroad twice. Once I spent 1 ½ weeks on a missions trip in Honduras after 8^th grade. A second time, I 3 ½ weeks in a semester abroad in Israel, learning the history, geography and culture of Israel. Both times, in Honduras and Israel, they would always speak English! Sometimes, both Israel and Honduras would even bring out American food for our meals. In Honduras, no one forced me to speak Spanish, eat the local food, and wear clothes like everyone else in the country. In Israel, no one forced me to speak Hebrew, eat like an Israeli or dress like a Middle Eastern man. They showed me love and compassion by reaching out to me in my culture and showing hospitality. Therefore, when I know someone from a different culture enters my world, I try to show them love and compassion through hospitality. The warehouse I work in is like the future classroom of 2020. I am in the minority by being white and speaking English. One guy I worked with spoke Spanish primarily, and he spoke a broken English secondarily. I would struggle to do my job because I struggled to understand him! Then I remembered my experiences in Honduras and Israel, so I decided to reach out to him. I dusted off my notes from my 3 years of high school Spanish and re-learned my Spanish. My Spanish is as broken as his English. But between my broken English and his broken Spanish, we begin to understand each other better. We even connected better, to the point I could ask him, “Como estas tu famila?” (“How is your family?”) If you want to reach out the foreigner living near you, reach out to their world and culture.
 

Second, think of your identity in Christ. We often explain our relation as the church to God in metaphors. The more popular ones are bride of Christ, the body of Christ, and the family of God. One of our identities we don’t often talk about is that we our citizens of the kingdom of God. That as national implications. I would even go as far as say that our citizenship in the kingdom of God supersedes any other national identity, whether we are citizens, or dual citizens or are the alien living in the foreign land. Therefore, a Christian living in the United States of America is an alien in a foreign land. Sometimes it’s easy to feel like an alien in a foreign land when Congress makes a law, the President passes a law or the Supreme Court upholds a law that is contrary to the Bible. But sometimes Congress makes a law, the President passes a law or the Supreme Court upholds a law that agrees with Biblical teaching. That I see as God’s grace. So we know what it’s like to be an alien in a foreign land. We know how hard it can sometimes be, and we know the feelings of pure joy and relief when we get grace. That feeling should be our motivator, and it should motivate us to show love, compassion and grace to a sojourner adjusting to the local culture.

And just another quick side thought. I’m slow to say this because I’m still developing it. Another current event happening is that relations between the U.S.A. and Cuba are finally beginning to warm up. The first sign of such healing happening is that Cuba has allowed the U.S. embassy to reopen. The cool thing about an embassy is that no matter how big or small the plot of land is, even it’s just one acre, that land is considered land of the embassy’s nation, not the land of the nation where it resides. So the U.S. embassy in Cuba is considered U.S. territory, not Cuba territory, and U.S. laws, not Cuba laws, apply. As Christians, we believe church is the people, not the building, yet we struggle with what to do with the building. What if we decided that the building was like the embassy of the kingdom of God in the U.S.A.? What if we decided to live out the kingdom of God in the church instead of living out the American culture within these walls? When a non-Christian, someone not native to the kingdom of God, enters here, do we show them love and compassion, or do we judge them for not living our lifestyle? The verses I presented to you should motivate you to do the former!

But maybe I haven’t won you over on that identity as a citizen of the kingdom of God, living as an alien in a foreign land. Maybe you still believe that when the foreigner comes to live in a new culture, he has to adjust to the culture. Then may I present to you a third application. I know sometimes Christians don’t always consistently decided on which Old Testament Laws to follow literally and to follow figuratively. So when it comes reading Old Testament Law, the first question I ask is, “What does this law say about God, and how can I reflect it?” With all these verses, I see God as compassionate. He wants Israel to be compassionate towards sojourners because he compassionate to sojourners. God always sides with the weak, so if we really want to be on God’s side, we must side with the weak, such as the foreigner. Therefore, we as Christians, living in the United States in the 21^st century, need to show compassion. This one, I believe, Christians in America need to work on the most. Once again, let me put in here one last disclaimer. I heard both political parties’ immigration policy. I understand where both sides come from. I believe both sides have pros and cons. But too often have I seen both sides lack compassion! No matter what policy you side with, you must never ever lose compassion! They are people, they have rights as human beings made in the image of God, and therefore you must love them and you must have compassion! So if you want to the follow this law in the best way, show the sojourner compassion.

As I close, my prayer is for you that no matter where you stand politically, you will show love and compassion to everyone, including the sojourner. I pray your love and compassion will lead to display hospitality and a willingness to reach out to another’s culture. When you can get your heart, your mind, and your hands to do, so will truly reflect God in both his love and his holiness. Remember, God showed you compassions when you were estranged from him, so you too must show compassion to the strangers among you.