Exodus 22:21-24

You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you afflict him at all, and if he does cry out to Me, I will surely hear his cry; and My anger will be kindled, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless.

As Israel began her journey to the Promised Land, the Lord provided her with His law.  It was to be their code for living as the people of God.  They were to live differently than the nations around them—in how they worshipped, ate, celebrated, and did business.  They were to treat people differently, with a gracious generosity and regard that historians tell us was by in large lacking in the surrounding cultures.  By being such a people, Israel would serve as a living witness to the gracious tenderhearted kindness of God.  This quality was to be particularly shown to those who were removed from the safety of family, or who had no home, or were simply away from their home.  A stranger was not to be treated wrongly or oppressed—simply because the Lord’s people themselves were once strangers in the land of Egypt, and had experienced horrible oppression at the hands of that land’s residents.  They were not to afflict any widow—a woman who, having left the safety of her own family for marriage, had lost her husband and now lived without social connected and protection.  They were also to see to it that they did not afflict the orphan.  An orphan is a child whose parents have either died, or (for whatever reason) no longer function as parents.  Israel was to show kindness, generosity, and concern for all of such people—all in a reverent regard for the deep, intense, personal concern that the Lord had for such marginalized souls.  Though forgotten by the surrounding cultures, no one of these were to be forgotten, mistreated, or disregarded by God’s people.  And just so they were clear on the importance of the issue—God reminded them that He Himself, personally, would take up their cause should they experience any mistreated from the people of God!

Today, we Christians are surrounded by those who have lost or left homes, are alone and unprotected, or are simply vulnerable and abandoned.  Our streets and fields are full of strangers:  some who are US citizens and some who are not.  Our neighborhoods are filled with widows: women who have suffered mistreatment and abandonment by lovers and boyfriends who refused to grow up to be husbands.  And our burgeoning foster-care system argues that we are surrounded by increasing numbers of children whose parents have abandoned their responsibility to nurture, protect, and raise their own babies.  Many of these are viewed with suspicion, and often find indifference and even outright hostility from the citizens of the richest, most powerful nation on the earth.  But regarding their treatment from the church of Jesus Christ, this must not be so.  We must be, and become, a people of increasing kindness and sacrificial generosity to those around us who are without home, family, and parents.  They are not bound to the dusty pages of our Bibles, wandering the paths of ancient cultures—they are here, today, among us, the people of God.  Let’s examine our excuses for failure in this area in light of the blazing, relevant truth that God cares very, very much about how we as His people treat those who live their lives on the edges of our culture.  Have we any right turn our backs?