But “foreigners” have been a target (and a scapegoat) since at leastthe time of Jesus for everything that is wrong with the world.How terrible is that? I hope we can take a moment to recognize howawful the plight of “foreigners”, however they are defined at the time,has been for thousands of years.Then, once we’ve realized how hard it’s been for them, we…

…people aren’t sent into eternal conscious torment because they ran out of all the good things they had been enjoying on earth. Jesus is not teaching about the afterlife. But he is teaching about responding to those in need.

…being healthy or having a full belly are not the goals that Jesus is trying to achieve, any more than having the largest group of people following him is something he is after. Jesus wants something bigger. Something more impactful.

It’s almost as though Jesus isn’t interested in propping people up, either today or in his own day. He’s not concerned with their position on the social ladder or increasing their followers or level of influence. In fact, Jesus’ advice sounds like it was meant for a different people altogether than those he was talking to—different from us today too.

How many of us show up to church or to pray with our head bent down, looking at a small area on the floor, and waiting for God to show up in that space? Is this what our church services have become? Is this what our interactions with each other have been reduced to? The five-foot circle of familiarity?

We want hippy Jesus in tie-dye and bell-bottoms and a headband and round John-Lennon glasses.…but that’s not who we get today.Who is this Jesus? The Jesus of fire and division? Can’t we just skip this part?

If what makes us furious like nothing else is something that is immoral, or unholy—not of God—then that rage might not be a flaw in us—it might be a reflection in us of the divine; God also gets angry. And God is holy.