“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.” – Leviticus 19:34
From the beginning, God was working with humanity to create a community of love, justice, and mercy. Repeatedly, the stories of both testaments teach us to show respect for others and treat one another with kindness. God use Moses to deliver the people from slavery in Egypt to new life in the promise land. While on the long journey to the new land, God gives the people the law. This law was not simply a list of dos and don’ts. The law that Moses offers the people is their new freedom and the structure by which God’s love would be lived out amongst God’s people.
One such scripture appears in the book of Leviticus. The book of Leviticus picks up the story from the Exodus. It follows the Hebrew people as they establish a new nation, defined by the law of God. Leviticus offers God’s instruction on how God’s people should worship God and how they should treat one another. Leviticus makes it clear that God’s people should love and care for their neighbors, after all, God first cared for them.
In the book of Leviticus, one commandment makes it clear that the definition of neighbor is much bigger than we often allow. “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.” A neighbor is not just someone who lives next door, in our neighborhood, or our town. A neighbor is anyone, regardless of where they are from. God reminds us to care for the stranger among us, because, when we were strangers and outcasts, God cared for us.
The love of God is compassionate, accepting, and kind. Our actions should reflect the love of God. God wants us to love our friends next door, the stranger, the foreigner, the outcast. God’s actions towards us are defined by love. Like Moses and the people of Israel, let us be reminded that we are to love, just as God first loved us.
– Rev. Keith King, Pastor of Worship
