jesus won’t walk 100 yards for YOU!!!
This is the message being preached to the small gypsy community I visited today. This is the message the Romanian church down the street screams with their actions and words. The village we went to today consists mostly of Romanians, except for one street of Gypsies who are looked down upon, ignored, and avoided. They are supposed to keep to themselves, and are not to interact or come into the Romanian part of the village.
The people who profess to be Christ followers from this village, seem to fit into the second group mentioned in Matthew 25.
“Then he will say unto those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave me no food; I was thirsty and you gave me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take me in, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer him saying, ‘Lord when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.'”
Matthew 25:41-46
They are HUNGRY (physically and spiritually) yet go unfed…They are thirsty (spiritually) yet go unquenched…
They are naked and go unclothed…
They are the least of these and NO ONE comes…
People from across the world have come to visit these Gypsies, but the “jesus” in the “church” down the street will have nothing to do with this community that live 100 yards down the road.
When the children followed us to our car, some Romanians told them to go back to their homes and get away. Honestly, the Romanians and gypsies don’t look that much different from each other. YET, the hate the Romanians have towards the gypsies could be comparable to how the blacks probably felt in America years ago.
It is sad that the Romanians in this area claim to be Christ followers, but when it comes to his word they pick and choose what they want to follow and obey. They obviously have marked out the verse that commands us to love our neighbor as ourselves. I bet the people that attend the church down the road will be real surprised who makes it to Heaven and who doesn’t on judgment day, because I know God loves these gypsies with all His heart. And eternal life is available to them just as much it is available to the Romanians. I know my JESUS would and does walk 100 yards to meet these gypsies where they are at.
**All pictures taken by Kelsi Dawe
