Who were the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, the unwelcomed, and the prisoner that Jesus challenges us to serve, to take sides with, to love? Yes, the stranger.
Who were the widows, the orphans, and the foreigners that, over and over, the Law and the Prophets enjoin us to care for, to hold dear, to treat as sisters and brothers? Yes, the stranger.
God comes as a stranger. God did when God shared the promise of Isaac's birth. God did when God judged the arrogance and inhospitality of Sodom and Gomorrah. God did when God wrestled with Jacob at Jabbok.
God does as the Risen One: waiting for us to meet up in Galilee; reminding us that we will never be alone; calling the rich among us to sell everything we have, to give the proceeds to the poor, and to follow...
God always comes as a stranger. This is why we welcome the dispossessed, the displaced, the disenfranchised. This is why we open our homes, our churches, our spaces to Lumads, to People Living with HIV and AIDS, to refugees, to Palestinians, to those whose only hope is God.
This is why we always, always offer sanctuary.
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