By Pastor Donna Clark Fuller, Rock Port and Watson United Methodist Churches

“And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’” Matthew 25:40

Jesus is telling his disciples how they should treat others. If they are hungry, give them food. If they are thirsty give them something to drink. Welcome the strangers. If they need clothing give them clothes. If they are sick, take care of them. If they are in prison visit them. God, of course, will never be in this kind of need. God has no need of food, drink, or clothes. God is never sick and there is no prison that can hold God. Yet we humans are often in need of these and many more things in life. God wants us to be willing to care for each other, to see each other as people deserving of care, deserving of respect, deserving of life. To see the value in each person, to see them as members of the family of Jesus is to see fully and completely what God has created in each of us and to care for each other is to express the love God has for all the family.

We do a pretty good job of giving those in need food, drink and clothing. We may be willing to care for those who are sick, at least those we know. We seldom visit those in prison. And how about welcoming the strangers? Do we do this act that Jesus calls us to do? Or is it too often easier and more comfortable to spend time with those who are like us. Do we even know who is a stranger in our community? Do we know those who have recently moved here? How many have been here some time but yet are not known to us? Maybe they are kept strangers from us because of differences like age or economic situation. Maybe our paths simply do not cross. Or maybe we just don’t make the effort. 

Even though God does not have the needs that we humans have, yet there is one way in which God may be like us at times. God may be a stranger to us. There are people who do not know God at all, who do not welcome God into their lives. Then for all of us, there are times when we shut out God, when we want to rely on our own abilities, our own decisions. Sometimes the pain of a situation may be our focus and keep us from hearing God’s voice. Does it cause God pain when we do not welcome God into our lives? Anyone who has been a stranger someplace knows the pain of being alone, of being ignored, and of knowing what could happen in a relationship if only the effort were made to get to know someone, to move from being a stranger to being a friend. But God calls us to be more than friends, to be family. God knows what can happen. God knows what can grow from the act of welcome.

So welcome the stranger. And welcome God.