[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Last Sunday I preached on the gracious gift of our heavenly citizenship and ultimately how that informs our residency on earth. We looked at the parable of The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) wherein a lawyer basically asks Jesus what to do in order to gain citizenship of heaven. Jesus affirmed that to “love God” and to “love your neighbour as yourself” is a good start. So in an attempt to justify his tribal exclusivity, the lawyer asks Jesus “who is my neighbour?” This parable was Jesus’ long answer to that short question.
I feel that the gracious gift of our heavenly citizenship, and this parable in particular, are helpful in shaping City Gates Church’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis. Thousands of homeless Syrians will be arriving in Canada over the next couple of months, and I don’t think Jesus is giving us the option to merely witness their resettlement from a distance. If there’s a group of people on planet earth with a resource and motivation to embrace refugees, it’s not only kind Canadians, but every Christian with the gospel at their core. I can’t cover all that I said on Sunday (catch up here), or summarize the brilliant articles I’ve read the past few weeks (here are a few), but let me just share two lessons with you from this amazing parable:
The Samaritan closed the gap
Both the Priest and the Levite in this story created distance between themselves and the injured man – when they saw him, they literally moved to the opposite side of the road. We often do the same when we don’t want to get involved. We’d rather face oncoming traffic and keep moving, than pull over and stop in order to help. Because if we’re not near, we don’t have to get our hands dirty. Sometimes our financial contributions to organizations close to the cause are a cop-out from “serving” disguised as “sowing”. Don’t hear what I’m not saying – giving is great (we give and support such organizations ourselves), but it must not be a substitute for the sacrificial serving that may also be within our means. Yes, the Samaritan did leave money behind for the innkeeper to continue the help, but only after he first closed the gap, crossed the street, and served the man himself. God in His sovereignty is bringing some Syrians to us here in Canada, closing that gap. Lets not remain distant in heart and miss an opportunity to extend our helping hands.
So what gave the Samaritan the courage to close the gap? Compassion.
He had compassion
Passion is from the latin “passio” which means “suffering”, and the latin preposition “cum” means “together with”. So having compassion is literally saying “I will suffer with you”. It’s “incarnational” in nature. It’s identifying with others to the extent that we feel what they feel. And it’s a catalyst for being moved into action. This is one way of making sense of the command “love your neighbour as yourself” – which basically says: Put yourself in their shoes, and you’ll not only understand their need, but you’d also want to meet it.
So what kills compassion? One of the objections to welcoming Syrian refugees here in Canada, is fear. Here’s an excellent excerpt from Trevin Wax’s Washington Post article on how compassion flees in the face of fear:
Almost a thousand years ago, the Christian theologian Thomas Aquinas, whose interactions with Muslim thinkers led to some of his greatest works, wrote, “Fear is such a powerful emotion for humans that when we allow it to take us over, it drives compassion right out of our hearts.” Aquinas is right. Fear and compassion cannot coexist. The former inevitably drives out the latter.
So, in the midst of a worldwide battle against the evil of Islamic terrorism, we must make sure that we do not allow fear to overwhelm our hearts, crowd out our compassion, or fundamentally change our character. For compassion to win, courage must conquer the fear in our hearts.”
Conclusion
At the end of the parable, Jesus turned the lawyer’s question on it’s head. He answers it with an even better question: “Which of the 3 were a neighbour to the man?” It’s actually about being a neighbour. Jesus changes the use of the word from noun to verb. Ask not “who is my neighbour?” but rather “who am I a neighbour to?” And the list of answers should not exclude anybody. After all, Christians are called to love even our enemies…[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner type=”full_width”][vc_column_inner el_class=”” width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”1892″ border_color=”grey” img_link_large=”” img_link_target=”_blank” img_size=”large” link=”http://citygates.ca/refugee”][vc_column_text]
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City Gates Church, we have an opportunity to live out the gospel in front of a watching world. Please join us in assisting refugees with settling in our region:
citygates.ca/refugee
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Here are a few other great articles / videos on this subject:
Costly but Christlike: Caring for the refugee:
http://brettmccracken.com/2015/11/16/costly-but-christlike-caring-for-the-refugee/
http://brettmccracken.com/2015/11/20/report-from-the-frontlines-of-refugee-relief/
Should we really close the border to refugees? Here’s why fear drives out compassion
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/11/15/should-we-really-close-the-border-to-refugees-heres-why-fear-drives-out-compassion/
10 reasons why Christians need to welcome Muslim refugees with open arms:
http://www.craiggreenfield.com/blog/2015/9/8/muslims
Video of refugee rescue work:[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_video link=”https://youtu.be/RBjZ7kpTLrs”][/vc_column][/vc_row]
