This week we began ministry here in Greece. We are working with refugees from all over Europe. I am working at a church that is open for refugees to come to and get a shower, some new clothes, and a snack. In addition, we sit with them, teach them some English, and play games. Basically it’s our job to love on these people, to be the love of Jesus where there usually isn’t much; to make them forget about the troubles that they face each and every day, even if only for a few minutes.
It’s been two days and I’ve met people from Turkey, Syria, and Afghanistan. I’ve seen these people, who don’t have anything, smiling and laughing, singing and dancing.
People whose homes have been taken. People who have had to flee from their countries. People who have had to leave their families. People who don’t know where their next meal will come from. People living in camps where abuse and rape happens daily.
I think about these people and then I think about me. I think about my life in America, I even think about my life on the race. I think about Bolivia when I thought I had it so rough because my bed was made out of straw and I was getting bit up by bugs. I think about Honduras when I cried because of cockroaches in my room. I think about the things that I complain about daily – being too hot, being hungry, being tired. I think about all my “First-World Problems” as we call them on the race – having to do laundry by hand, not having air conditioning, among other things.
I think about these things and I am embarrassed, because nothing I have gone through will ever even almost compare to what these people endure every day.
And tonight it hit me.
What are we (as Americans and more importantly Christians) doing about it?
Not much, if anything.
We (myself included) are a selfish people. We are so concerned with our own safety that we overlook the thousands of people without a place to sleep tonight. We overlook the people that are starving.
We overlook these “refugees.”
Why? Because of fear.
We think that because these people have a different belief system than us that they are terrorists, murderers, rapists, and thieves. And maybe some of them are, but who are we to judge? That’s not our job. Jesus sent us here to love. And not just to love the people that are kind, not just to love the people that are like us, but to love the needy, the poor, the hurting. Those are the ones that need it the most, yet we give it to them the least.
Tonight I read an article that said this:
“But Jesus’s command to welcome the stranger doesn’t come with footnotes or fine print. The Good Samaritan didn’t check the ½ dead man’s passport before he helped him, nor did he ask him if he was safe. Jesus never said, “when I was hungry, you gave me food, when I was a stranger, you made sure I wasn’t dangerous before you let me in…The Bible is neither silent nor unclear on how we are to welcome the outcast, the marginalized, and the stranger. It’s part of who we are. It’s the texture of Christianity…We don’t get to pick out the ethical commands of Christ that suit our fancy. We bow the knee to our King and ask, “what would you have me do, Lord?”
Would Jesus say, “No?”
Would He say, “You have a kitchen full of food. You have a closet full of clothes. You have a house with extra beds. But no, don’t help them”?
Is that what Jesus would say?
Jesus would say, “Turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24).
Jesus would say, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have” (Hebrews 13:16).
Jesus would say, “Give generously to others in need” (Ephesians 4:27-28).
Jesus would say, “Share your food with the hungry” (Isaiah 58:7).
Jesus doesn’t say “fear,” but instead He says “there is no fear in love” (1 John 4:18).
He says “LOVE.”
This doesn’t just apply to the refugees here in Europe, it applies to people right there at home. To the man on the street corner, to the single mom, to the kids at school wearing the same clothes all week.
Jesus doesn’t ask you to do a lot, JUST LOVE.
Is our own “risk” greater than the “reward” that people would receive by knowing the love of Jesus Christ?
