We cannot see the injustice of condoning the inequalities of privilege. Back around BC 700, a prophet in Israel named Isaiah had a message for those individuals who expanded their borders and closed them to others. “Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.”
With great personal regret I don’t have a glib answer to the migrant problem. But I do know, with great sadness, that the identical situation has occurred all the way back through history. I do, with great sadness, know that the identical situation is occurring today in many other places across the globe.
Nevertheless, come with me this morning back to AD 30. Let’s think about the parable of Jesus Christ in bold above. This parable is spoken only to Jesus’ closest followers. They’re the privileged ones. Matthew wrote this. He was an eye-witness. “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.”
This amazing parable is about Jesus. The heavenly realm is all about the man – the Son of God – who finds treasure hidden in a field. That treasure is people – human beings across the globe. That treasure is in a field. The field is this self-seeking world where self-seekers are happy to see others die as long as they themselves are – and remain - AOK.
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