Caring II

. . . Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets! They devour widows’ houses . . . 

 - From Mark 12

American society in 2018 may have replaced John 3:16 with another Scripture, as the most familiar in our land. Well, maybe no one single scripture . . . but a general theme from both testaments, that we are to welcome strangers (or travelers, or migrants, or aliens - legal or otherwise - into our land). Now, there are a couple of problems with how people are quoting this.

First - the purpose is to shame people that know Scripture better than they do. "What would real Christians do?" And then they quote some Old Testament passage about being kind to aliens. But the context is never in terms of US federal policy. It's talking about welcoming them into your own home and caring for them as you would a family member. We are to treat strangers this way. But not just strangers from foreign countries! Any stranger! The point is to practice godly love, which begins with not ridiculing nor shaming others! (Don't the same people bewail the practice of shaming others?)

Another problem is that these verses about welcoming aliens are rarely alone in a Scripture passage! They are usually combined with an admonishment to care for widows and orphans, and to keep yourself morally pure. Now, we'll get to the morally pure things eventually. But let's just focus on this thing about widows and orphans. And more specifically today - the part about widows. 

It's quite one thing to talk about illegal aliens. It's quite another for a person to draw attention to it, while ignoring the lonely and needy seniors on his or her own street. And I would bet good money that most social justice warriors demonstrating about US immigration policy, haven't spoken to their own grandmothers in weeks. 

If there are elderly people in your life, that you are not caring for . . . then please don't come to me with slogans and anger about the refuge caravan. 

God means for our love to be practical; to serve those around us, whether or not we want to. And there are plenty of elderly people in your life and mine . . . that need a phone call, a drop-in, a Christmas card; to be taken to a movie and to dinner. 

If you want to be a person that cares . . . that really cares, and doesn't just talk about it, how about starting with people that we too easily ignore: our elders!?

In today's passage, the Lord talks about the Scribes that "devour widows houses." This happened in my own life recently. A cadre of realtors, builders, and the trustee of a neighbor's will, began impacting the land around a certain woman's home . . . within weeks of the death of her husband. The woman is an octagenarian. She has health concerns. The changing landscape around her became an area of great stress to her. The cadre never bothered to check with her. Would she like to purchase any of the property? What are her concerns about noise, eye-sores, boundary issues?

Any time you can help an elderly person have an easier life is an opportunity to practice real care, godly care. 

I don't want to hear how much you care, if you don't care for widows.