THE STRANGER

Who are the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, the unwelcomed, and the prisoners that Jesus challenges us to serve, to take sides with, and to love? The stranger. 

Who are the widows, the orphans, the indigenous peoples, and the refugees that-- over and over--the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms enjoin us to care for, to hold dear, and to treat as sisters and brothers? The stranger.

Who are the daily wage earners, the laborers who survive from paycheck to paycheck, the homeless, the jobless, and the most vulnerable in a world ravaged by death-dealing structures and systems we are supposed to prioritize? Yes, the stranger. 

If we read our Bibles and pray every day, then we will grow in the realization that--most often than not--God comes as a stranger. God did when God encountered Hagar in the wilderness. 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 came as a stranger when God was born in a manger instead of a palace; in Galilee instead of Jerusalem; among the odorized and the otherized; and grew up in a mud hut instead of a white house. 

In Sunday's Gospel from Luke 24, two disciples on the road to Emmaus encounter the Risen One as a complete stranger. They spend most of the day with the stranger and when they invited him to spend the night with them, verse 30 reads, "When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them". The "breaking of the bread" opened their eyes and they recognized the Lord. 

God 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.

God comes as a stranger. 

This is why we always, always offer sanctuary. And during these trying times, sanctuary can mean that extra room in our house, the available spaces in our church offices and buildings, the vacant rooms in our dormitories, and, yes, that extra bed. Safe spaces. A simple meal. Even a piece of bread. 

*Art, Luke 24: 1-53, Resurrection (from The Cartoonist Bible).