Jesus: “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not GATHER with me scatters.” Matt. 12:30. “Gather” is the Greek word sunago, which is a root word for synagogue & also synagagete, translated “welcome” in Matt. 25:35: “I was a stranger and you WELCOMED me.”
Alan Cross? @AlanLCrossMore
2/ Matthew 25:43 speaks to idea of if we’re not gathering with Jesus, we’re opposing/rejecting Him and scattering. “I was a stranger and you did not welcome [invite/gather] me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.'”
3/ “Stranger” in Matt. 25:35 is the word xenos, which means foreigner/alien. Fear of the foreigner is xenophobia. Hospitality is Philoxenia, which means “love of the foreigner” and is translated “hospitality.” When we are hospitable to foreigners, we welcome/gather Jesus to us.
4/ We see “love of the stranger/foreigner” - hospitality/welcome/gathering throughout Scripture as a character trait and a mark of those who follow/love Jesus. To fear/reject/neglect the stranger/foreigner is to reject/oppose Christ. If we don’t “gather” with Jesus, we scatter.
5/ This is why we are strongly warned in places like Zechariah 7:8-14 and Jeremiah 7:5-7 that we are to “not oppress” the foreigner. Definitions of to “not oppress” include to not deceive, accuse, slander, and not crush. We aren’t to falsely accuse or slander the foreigner!
6/ One way to oppress foreigners is to “bear false witness” against them. Incl. slander & false accusations. “Accuse” comes from Greek word “kategoras,” where we get “categorize.” This is also why racial/ethnic prejudice is wrong. We bear false witness when we categorize people.
7/ Exodus 20:16, 9th Commandment says, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” Bearing false witness means you say things that are not true. It doesn’t imply intent to lie. It does mean words matter and we should not accuse, slander, and oppress w/ our speech.
8/ How we treat & talk about immigrants/refugees as Christians is a major spiritual issue. We scatter and oppress people by falsely accusing and slandering them - and by uncritically supporting those who do this simply b/c they are for US or protect US. In doing, we oppose Jesus. |
