Strangers

Jesus Christ, in his description of the last judgment, said that he would sort out the sheep and goats looking at a series of services to other people. Did you feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome strangers, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and visit those in prison? If yes, enter the kingdom. If no, depart into eternal fire.

Whoa.

Okay, let's try to do these things carefully. But what does "welcome" mean," and what's a "stranger"? Clearly, getting that right matters!

The answer to those questions must be in the ancient culture in which Jesus lived and thought and taught. It must be in the scriptures that he read and used. So we should be able to read those scriptures -- that is, what Christians call the Old Testament -- and figure it out.

And indeed, the teaching is transparent, crystal clear, abundant, and shockingly forceful. It's everywhere the Old Testament -- in the Torah (the Law, the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible), in the Prophets, in the history books, in the Wisdom books. Jesus commanded that we welcome strangers because he was a devout Jew. Of course, Christians believe that Jesus is the Word of God, one with the Creator, and that he was there before Abraham -- so he shaped Jewish thought, not the other way around. But in the short run, focusing on just the past 4,000 years, what Jesus taught emerged right out of the Old Testament.

Understanding that body of thought matters!

Hence this book.