Sunday Read: The Refugee at Your Gate

Picture the scene: 722 BC, and Assyrian armies are sweeping across the Middle East like a tsunami of violence. Entire populations are being displaced, families torn apart, children orphaned. Refugees flood into Judah—foreigners who don't speak the language, don't worship the same way, and compete for jobs and resources. Some Israelites wanted to close their borders. Others saw these displaced people as a burden on their economy and culture. But God's word to his people was clear: "When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 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" (Leviticus 19:33-34).

Today, over 100 million people worldwide have been forcibly displaced from their homes. They flee war, persecution, famine, and violence, carrying their children and whatever possessions fit in a backpack. Many Christians respond with fear: What if terrorists hide among them? What about our economy? Our culture? Our safety? These are the same questions God's people asked 3,000 years ago. But Jesus, himself a refugee who fled to Egypt as a child, identified completely with the displaced: "I was a stranger and you welcomed me" (Matthew 25:35). In his parable of the sheep and goats, how we treat refugees becomes the measure of our faith.

The early church was largely composed of displaced people—Jews scattered by persecution, slaves torn from their homelands, the poor and marginalized seeking hope. Paul wrote to "aliens and exiles" (1 Peter 2:11), reminding them that every Christian is ultimately a foreigner in this world. The church's first major controversy wasn't about theology—it was about inclusion. Should Gentiles (foreigners) be welcomed without becoming culturally Jewish first? The Jerusalem Council's answer was revolutionary: Yes, God shows no partiality (Acts 10:34).

Abraham, the father of faith, was called to leave his homeland and become a sojourner. The Israelites spent 400 years as immigrants in Egypt. Jesus was born during a census that displaced families across the empire. The story of God's people is the story of movement, displacement, and radical hospitality. Hebrews 13:2 reminds us: "Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it."

How do you respond when you see news reports of refugee crises? Do you see potential threats or human beings made in God's image? What would it look like for your church to embody the radical welcome that God has shown you—a spiritual refugee who found refuge in Christ's kingdom?