Dreamers (A Plea to my Christian Brothers & Sisters)

At the end of the Exodus, the twelve tribes of Israel moved into their "Promised Land". Yet that new land was filled with strife and struggles.  The books of Joshua and Judges describe the pagan nations that routinely fought wars with Israel and tried to conquer it.

One of these evil pagan nations was Moab.

In the middle of the history of Israel, in the time of the Judges, a pagan woman, a Moabite refugee, enters the small Judean town of Bethlehem. In Bethlehem she is welcomed and protected. And in the sovereign plan of God, she has a son, (a "Redeemer") and her great-grandchild is David, a future king. In her lineage is the Messiah, the Son of David.

The line of Jesus goes back to this Moabite refugee that Bethlehem welcomed.

The book of Ruth is intended to represent God's sovereign plans, the ways that He works out, over a long period of time, his redemptive work. The short book of Ruth is a beautiful work. Read through it slowly!  Read it as a romance, if you will, between Ruth and Boaz ... and between God and the widow and orphan.

Do not miss an undercurrent theme in the book of Ruth -- indeed, throughout the Old Testament -- the emphatic instructions that the people of Israel were to welcome the alien and the stranger. God worked through the "alien and stranger" and in the Old Testament there are two, three dozen explicit instructions to welcome, protect and shield the alien!

And so, to my Christian friends, a plea –

   IF you have looked at the heartbeat of a fetus and -- knowing that it had a beating heart and felt pain -- if in love for the vulnerable fetus, you have taken a stand for the unborn,
   IF you are aware of those sweet children who are born with an extra copy of chromosome 21 and if you have then acted in love for those with Downs Syndrome (some of you even have started calling it Ups Syndrome!)

THEN, as your brother in Christ, seeking to speak in the Holy Spirit, I plea with you, I beg, that you consider the plight of the "undocumented aliens" and those "dreamers" around you who love this country, their home!

They are in your block.  They live near you and go to your church.

My wife and I are currenlty involved in a Christian ministry that includes at least three students who have publicly identified themselves as DACA recipients.  These friends are anxious and frightened. Last year they studied hard, hoping to graduate and start a career. Now they are afraid that in six months they will be deported to a country they do not know.

Please, walk down the block, cry with them and pray with them! And then (as you would for the unborn and those with Downs) take a stand for the Immigrant. Reach out to your congressional representative and ask that our country find a way to legally welcome these people who love the USA and who are doing so much for our beautiful country!

And IF you are sympathetic with the unborn and IF you are sympathetic with those with Downs but can still turn your back on the Dreamers – if you as a Christian, but can ignore two dozen Old Testament passages on the immigrant  – if you can find words like "Obama" or "America" or "Muslim extremist" to ignore that scared neighbor down the block – then your conscience has been seared.  I pray, in Jesus name, that you RESET your conscience – that you put Jesus above your job and your country – and I beg that you weep with the dreamers and then act to protect them.  If Jesus is your Lord and Savior, if your Master is concerned about the unborn and the child with Downs, then please prayerfully, slowly, read through the last half of Matthew 25, read the book of Ruth, read through the more than two dozen Old Testament commands, and see your dreamer neighbor as God does!

Republican, Democrat or Independent, this issue is above American politics. It is an issue for Christians, residents of a different country (Hebrews 11:13-16.)  Please, act as a citizen of that eternal kingdom!

Matthew 25: 1-30, Waiting for the Bridegroom & Master

Jesus continues teaching on the coming of the final age and the kingdom of heaven.

Matt 25:1-13, Five wise, five foolish virgins
"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

"At midnight the cry rang out: `Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!' Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.

"The foolish ones said to the wise, `Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.'

"`No,' they replied, `there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.'

"But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the  bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. Later the others also came. `Sir! Sir!' they said. `Open the door for us!' But he replied, `I tell you the truth, I don't know you.'

"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

This is a warning, not especially about timing, but about preparation and the unexpected.  Notice what it says about the culture of the time, waiting for a party traveling at night.

Matt 25:14-18, Distributing talents, 5, 2 and 1
"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a  hole in the ground and hid his master's money.

A simplistic story has been set up -- 8 talents are distributed unevenly among three servants.  They respond in different ways.

In verse 15, the NIV footnotes says, "A talent was worth more than a thousand dollars."

Matt 25:19-30, Settling the accounts
"After a long time the master of those servants returned and  settled accounts with them. The man who had received the five talents brought the other  five. `Master,' he said, `you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'

"His master replied, `Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

"The man with the two talents also came. `Master,' he said, `you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.'

"His master replied, `Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'

"Then the man who had received the one talent came. `Master,' he said, `I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'

"His master replied, `You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

 "`Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

This is a strange and rather scary parable.  It includes a message about being serious about the gospel, working hard in the role given you, with the abilities and skills learned or inherited.  But I still find it strange.