September 2, 2025 • 34 mins
What happens when we truly see one another? Not as objects, categories, or problems to solve, but as living souls bearing the divine image? In this thought-provoking exploration of Leviticus 19, we discover the ancient command to "guard the ger" — to protect and honor the foreigner, the stranger, the other among us.
While this passage is often wielded in modern political debates about immigration, its deeper message transcends policy disputes. The command appears at least 36 times throughout Hebrew scriptures, suggesting a foundational ethical principle: see the humanity in those who differ from you, because you know what it feels like to be the outsider.
Following a profound experience at a silent retreat in British Columbia, where participants were asked to look deeply into strangers' eyes without introduction or context, we explore philosopher Emmanuel Levinas's ethics of the face. When we truly look at another person—beyond their height, clothing, accent, or skin color—something remarkable happens. We move beyond seeing them as an object and begin to recognize them as a mystery, a soul, a divine creation worthy of dignity and care.
This perspective transforms how we approach difference in every context. Whether it's people who prefer different worship styles, have different political views, or come from different cultural backgrounds, the command remains: remember your own experience of being the outsider, and extend the same grace you would want to receive.
Most profound of all is Jesus's teaching that when we welcome the stranger, we welcome him. The divine appears in the face of "the other," inviting us to practice a radical hospitality that sees beyond surface differences to the common humanity we share.
Look around you today. Who is "the other" in your life? And what might happen if you truly saw them?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
as we start school and whatever else is going on, I
pray that you'd give us eyes tosee and ears to hear, give us
open hearts and open minds, andbless our time this week as we
go back to school, back to work,whatever else it is that we're
doing.
And God, as Ben said, would youhelp us to see those things
that unite us rather than thosethings that divide us and keep
(00:23):
us different.
May you help us see thecommonalities with the person
across from us in every way andbless us this morning in Jesus'
name.
Amen.
Good morning everyone.
How are we doing?
Okay, so we are wrapping up.
We got one more week after thisone, but our you Pick sermon
(00:43):
series where, this summer, we'vehad several people write in a
question they had or a Bibleverse they wanted us to talk
about, and we just talked aboutit and kind of responded.
And the question for this weekwas about this passage Can you
put the passage back up, sam, isthat possible?
From Leviticus that talks aboutthe alien and the foreigner.
The alien was a foreigner,someone from not within the
(01:04):
country but from outside thecountry, a non-Israelite.
This, of course, was written inLeviticus.
I'll unpack it in a minute andhow does this impact our life
today?
Maybe you know this, maybeyou've been on Facebook or seen
this, because you sort of swimin certain circles where they
talk about politics a lot whoknows?
Where they talk about politicsa lot, who knows?
But this verse is oftentimesused to address modern day
(01:28):
politics and immigration policyand foreign policy and these
kinds of things.
So I think the question in thequestion was like is it fair to
use this passage in such a way,or how does it influence or
impact us how we live today asChristians and American
Christians, or TanzanianChristians, tanzanian American
Christians and these kinds ofthings?
How do we address our modernsort of way of being with this
verse?
And can we, should we?
(01:48):
How can we do it?
Does that make sense?
Okay, you can go back to mytitle slide, so I'm going to
give you my answer first andthen I'm going to unpack what I
think we need to do with thisverse.
But the sermon is called Guardthe Gare.
That was pretty clever, guardthe Gare.
I'll unpack that in a minute,but here's what I would say.
This verse, like many of theseancient scriptures, was written
(02:11):
thousands of years ago.
This Old Testament, leviticallaw was written about 2,500
years ago and, as controversialas might be for some of us, it
was not written to addressmodern American politics.
It was not written to addressour immigration policy or how we
should handle borders or theforeigner.
(02:33):
In terms of 20, what year is it?
2025.
And all the things happening inthis time and place, right here
, right now.
It just wasn't.
It was written 2,500 years ago,more or less, to a people
called the Israelites and howthey were to address the
foreigner, the alien, in theirtime and in their place.
Does that make sense?
(02:53):
Now, here's the thing, though,like a lot of, I would argue,
most of the Hebrew scriptures,we can take stuff out of this.
We can read it and ask forourselves modern, 21st century
questions based on this text.
It's 2,500 years old, but tosuggest that this is what God
has commanded Israel, therefore,now American politics or
(03:15):
policymakers ought to do X, y orZ, it's just really.
It's a misusing of the Bibleverse.
It's not really how it shouldbe read.
However, I do think it's stillhelpful and I want to tell you
why.
Is that be all right?
So guard the gear.
I was in Canada this past weekfor about a week I was up in
Victoria, british Columbia.
Anybody ever been to Victoria,british Columbia?
Oh, nobody, okay, well, yeah, Ididn't know.
(03:37):
It's like a tropical area upthere.
We went into the woods.
I was in the woods for aboutseven days and in the woods they
have deer and they have allkinds of other animals like
evergreens you would see here inMinnesota or in Colorado the
motherland but also they havetree frogs and palm trees and
ferns.
It's like this is the weirdestgeography and landscape I've
ever seen, and so it was amixture of that.
(03:59):
This was up in Brentwood Bay,so I was there for a week.
This is my friend I met.
Yeah, he's a weathered oldfisherman from up in that area.
He's seen a lot that young man,old man, and I was up there in
the woods for about this wasbefore I got into the woods for
about seven days, and I go onthese excursions about once a
(04:19):
year.
I got in the woods for aboutseven days or so.
It's a time of silence andsolitude.
There's some guiding going on,there's other people that are
total strangers that are showingup there and we do all kinds of
things.
It's not a Christian retreatper se.
It's mostly like.
It's an experience in natureand we're doing in this one in
particular, we're doing somestudying like psychology and
Jungian dream analysis, ifthat's interesting to anybody,
(04:45):
and those kinds of things wasvery, very cool.
And here I was eating breakfaston the Brentwood Bay, right
there.
So I took a picture, you know,just so you could see where I
was, and it was an incredibleexperience.
And then there, yeah, there'sthe tree frog.
I'm like, I'm in the woods andthere's, like this beautiful
tropical tree frog, and it was along seven days.
So towards the end of my timethere, you know, I had to have
my coffee in the morning, thereI am.
But things got crazy afterabout seven days.
(05:06):
It didn't, you know, it waslike it got wild up there.
That's how it ended up.
So seven days in the woodsalone, man, it got crazy, but it
was cool.
Here's one of the things we did.
So we had there was 15 otherpeople, and one of the things I
love most about these trips thatI love doing is actually
(05:26):
something that we don't do.
When we show up and I've doneit with the same organization a
couple years in a row one of thethings you don't do is you
don't immediately sit down onthat first night and go around
the circle and do an icebreakerhow many of you love icebreakers
out there?
Okay, we didn't do that.
And the first year I was likewhy aren't we doing any
icebreakers?
I don't know who these peopleare.
Why don't they tell me theirname and what they do for a job
(05:48):
and where they're from?
And I expected like, well, I'mRyan, I'm a pastor from Elk
River, that kind of thing.
But the more I've done of these,the more I really appreciate us
not doing that, because nowyou're forced to get to know
somebody based on all kinds ofother things other than their
name, their job and wherethey're from, because oftentimes
when you introduce yourself,you might sort of present this
(06:09):
front.
We all do this, not even alwayson purpose, but there's this
front and it becomes this filterthrough which now you will
interact with me.
So I'm Ryan, I'm a pastor fromElk River.
Now you immediately think youknow who I am or what I'm all
about and you'll interact withme based on that information
alum.
And so it becomes like this,almost like a, like a shadow or
a false self, and then we sortof interact based on that.
(06:30):
But on this trip we didn't dothat.
You just start getting to knoweach other in all kinds of wild
and crazy ways and I do allthese things to make you
interact, but it's not like thaticebreaker kind of a thing.
For example, one of the thingsthey did was they said okay,
we're going to mill around inthis group and we're out,
everything's outside, you'recamping and you know and like,
okay, as you're walking around,you're going to just sort of
make eye contact with somebodywhen you see them, get close
(06:52):
with them.
So you're like just wanderingaround and you look up and you
see somebody and you're likeokay, so you go and you stand
with them.
And then the guide goes okay,sure, and they're like and don't
look away.
I was like okay, and they startguiding us like this, looking
into their eyes, activity, andthey're like and look into their
, and I'm like that's getting alittle weird and a little
(07:13):
awkward.
So we're gonna practice it now.
So turn to your neighbor, lookinto their eye.
I'm just kidding.
But here's what happened when Ifirst met my person.
I was like okay, brown hair,and they're kind of shorter than
I am and they have a bluejacket on.
But then there's this momentwhere you get past the
(07:34):
awkwardness and also you sort ofsettle into this weird mystical
experience with the other,where you're just looking into
their eyes I didn't even knowthis person, they didn't know me
and it was super awkward, trustme, it was awkward.
I've tried to get my wifethrough this with me.
I'm like let's just stare andshe's like no, I'm not doing
that right, but it's weird.
Something happens and you lookinto their eyes and they look
(07:54):
into your eyes and I didn't evenknow this person again, and you
sink into this another level oflike seeing this person.
It's wild, and I think that'swhat Leviticus 19 is getting at,
rather than how modernAmericans ought to handle
immigration policy.
(08:14):
Here's what I want to say.
Leviticus 19, now Leviticus, incase you didn't know, is the
third book in the Bible Genesis,exodus, leviticus, numbers,
deuteronomy.
The first five books is calledthe Torah, the Pentateuch, or
the books of Moses, and they'relike these.
Torah means teaching orinstruction, and the first five
books sort of tell the historyof the world, the cosmology
(08:36):
according to Jewish people, andit gives them instruction for
how to live as God's people.
And Leviticus sort of comesonto the scene just after the
Israelites have been rescuedfrom Egypt.
So, remember, they end up inEgypt.
They're slaves for about 400years and Leviticus comes onto
the scene right after they'rereleased from slavery in Egypt
for 400 years.
(08:57):
They're learning to live asfree people and they show up
Leviticus does as this manualfor worship.
Okay, so, once you're out ofslavery, here's how you're going
to live as free people.
Here's how you treat each other.
Here's how you relate to God.
Here's a manual for worship.
Here's some rituals you'regoing to engage with.
You're going to do this withthis goat and this blood and
never boil a cow in its mother'smilk.
(09:18):
It's never a good idea thosekinds of things.
And so Leviticus is this manualfor them as they're becoming
free people to learn how to livein the world with each other,
with God and with theirneighbors.
Now, leviticus 19, sort of rightin the middle there of
Leviticus, is like a minimicrocosm of the whole book and
the whole teaching orinstruction called the Torah.
(09:38):
So Leviticus 19, there's awhole bunch of laws or commands
or short teachings that offerinstruction on how to live in
the world with God and with eachother.
In fact, it mimics and mirrorsthe 10 commandments, which of
course came much earlier.
So here's some examples.
Here's the whole.
If you read Leviticus 19 lateron, here's a whole bunch of the
laws in Leviticus 19.
Respect your mother and father.
(09:59):
You might remember that orrecognize that from the 10
commandments, how about this one?
Observe the Sabbath, also oneof the commandments.
Don't turn to idols.
Leviticus 19 says Don't steal,don't lie, don't pervert justice
.
These are all ideas that arefound in Leviticus 19.
And love your neighbor asyourself.
(10:19):
Hmm, where have we heard thatone before?
Well, many hundreds of yearslater, jesus, who is a young
Jewish man at this time, showsup and he quotes Leviticus 19.
He's asked sum up all of thelaw, all of the Torah, all the
teachings, all the instructionof the people of Israel, all the
(10:40):
commands.
Sum them up.
And Jesus is like okay, fine,love the Lord, your God, with
all your heart, soul, mind andstrength, which comes from the
Shema, another Deuteronomypassage.
And Jesus says and love yourneighbor as yourself.
He's quoting Leviticus 19.
I love it.
So of course he would.
He's a young Jewish rabbi.
He would of course know thislaw and he would quote it.
(11:02):
And this is him summing it allup in one go.
Now Leviticus 19,.
You see, immediately there'sthis connection between the
people of Israel and theirsocial behavior and their
religious life.
So God's like hey, I want yoursocial behavior, how you live in
the world, to mimic and mirrorand reflect and be in congruence
(11:23):
with how you worship God.
In other words, how you worshipGod, how you pray, the songs
you sing, the things that yousay when you're in your prayer
closet, when you're readingscripture, when you're at church
on Sunday mornings this is ajoking, it's anachronistic but
how you live in your religion, Iwant that to also be reflecting
how you live in the world.
So you could say this way howyou behave in church and the
(11:46):
things you say ought to also behow you behave and match the
things you say when you're outin the world, in the streets or
at work or at school.
Does that make sense?
What God wanted was congruence,that we wouldn't live all kinds
of split lives that aredifferent, but there'd be
congruence that your behaviorover here on a Sunday morning
with your friends at church andall your holy language and fair
(12:09):
enough, would also match how youlive and move and behave and
treat other people in the world.
There should be congruence.
Now the law help with this,because sometimes you're in your
prayer closet and you're like,you're feeling super holy and
spiritual, like, oh, lord, godis good, amen.
Oh, what was the song?
Oh, how great thou art, howgreat thou art, yes, lord.
And then you leave there andsome idiot cut you off in
(12:30):
traffic.
You're like, oh, I can'tbelieve.
You know right, maybe you'vebeen there.
So God is like okay, here'ssome laws for how to not be an
idiot when you're in public, andI want it to match how you are
in the private.
And so he gives them these laws, because sometimes you need
instruction to sort of shapeyour behavior.
Sometimes your belief comes outof behavior, sometimes behavior
(12:52):
comes out of belief.
It kind of goes, it's like thisbeautiful dance.
So God gives them laws to helpthem live lives that are
congruent.
Because this is interesting too, by the way.
The early Christians so this is,of course, after the, you know,
when Jesus shows up they werecalled followers of the way
based on how they behaved in theworld.
They weren't called believersright away.
(13:13):
In fact, believers, if you wereto call someone a believer back
, then, it meant that theybelieved it to be true so deeply
that it affected their behavior.
There are many culturalChristians in the world today.
People are cultural Christiansthat their behavior, though,
looks nothing like Christ, andso God wanted to establish a
people who didn't livedisintegrated lives.
(13:33):
He wanted lives of integration.
So then he says okay, at theend of 19,.
Here's the law we're talkingabout today, the command.
When a foreigner then residesin your midst and in your land,
don't mistreat them.
By the way, you can sum up allof the 10 commandments and all
of Leviticus 19 by saying this Ilove this by just saying two
things hey, here's the laws.
Be cool and don't be a jerk,right?
(13:57):
So if you're ever like, hey,should I do this?
Well, pastor Ryan said be cooland don't be a jerk.
Oh, I'm not going to do thatthing because I'll be a jerk,
it's all of us.
Just, be cool and don't be ajerk.
So when there's folks that areforeigners living in your land,
don't mistreat them.
Treat them as though they'renative born.
In other words, treat them asthough they're one of your own.
(14:22):
Treat the other as though theywere one of your own.
Love them as yourself, becauseyou were once foreigners in
Egypt.
By the way, there was thisthread in Israel's history of
hospitality, wherever there wasa stranger, a foreigner, an
outsider to come in, god alwayssaid hey, take care of them,
pour them a glass of wine or aglass of not wine, whatever Be
hospitable.
And then in the early Christianchurch it was the same way.
(14:44):
They valued hospitality when astranger comes in, be kind to
them, be good to them, offerthem gifts and these kinds of
things.
Now the word for stranger isthe word ger.
Everyone say ger, or the sermonis called guard the ger.
Guard the ger, clever, right.
Ger means stranger or outsider,or alien or foreigner.
These are all words used in theHebrew scriptures.
(15:05):
You could also say it like thisit's the other, yeah, the other
.
Who's the other in your life?
Now here's the thing.
This passage was mirrored orrepeated many times in the
Hebrew scriptures.
A couple of examples, by theway.
What he's saying is guard theger, so don't mistreat the
(15:26):
foreigner, take care of them,yeah, so, by the way, what he's
saying is guard the gare, sodon't mistreat the foreigner,
take care of them, look out forthem, treat them as one of your
own.
Guard the gare.
Here's some examples.
So, in Exodus, don't mistreat oroppress the foreigner, for you
were once foreigners from Egypt.
That's earlier in Exodus,exodus 23,.
Don't oppress a foreigner.
You yourselves know how itfeels to be a foreigner because
you were once foreigners inEgypt.
So also later on in Deuteronomy, he defends the cause of the
(15:47):
fatherless and the widow andloves the foreigner residing
among you, giving them food andclothing.
God loves the gear, so youshould take care of them.
How about this one inDeuteronomy 24?
Don't deprive the foreigner orthe fatherless of justice or
take the cloak of the widow as apledge.
Remember when you were slavesin Egypt, the Lord, your God,
redeemed you from there.
This is why I've commanded youto do this.
(16:09):
When you're harvesting in yourfield and you overlook a sheaf,
like so, when you're outharvesting the fields and you
leave some food on the fringeson accident, don't go back and
get it.
Leave it for the foreigner, thefatherless and the widow.
So the Lord, your God, maybless you and all work your
hands.
In other words, if you're out,like harvesting your fields, and
you don't get all the way tothe corners, the edges, leave it
(16:31):
and let the foreigner come in,who can't usually afford their
own food, and let them pick itup and have it for free.
Guard the gear.
Also, ezekiel, you are to allotthe land as an inheritance for
yourselves and for theforeigners residing among you
and who have children.
You're to consider them asnative-born Israelites.
Along with you, there will beallot an inheritance among the
(16:52):
tribes of Israel.
So this land you're doling out,give some land to the
foreigners.
They'll be treated just likeyou, as a citizen of Israel.
Okay, declares the sovereignLord as one of your citizens.
Love them as you love yourself.
Treat them as you would wantothers to treat you.
Be cool and don't be a jerk.
Are you with me?
Here's the deal.
(17:14):
Jewish scholars and commentatorsknow how strong of a command
this is because it is mentionedat least 36 times in the Hebrew
scriptures.
At least 36 times in the Hebrewscriptures.
Others argue 46 times that Godcommands Israel to take care of,
to guard the gear.
Don't mistreat them.
Treat them as though you lovethem, like they're one of your
(17:35):
own, like they're your own sonor daughter or brother or sister
or mother or father.
Welcome them in, give them land, give them food.
Treat them kindly, love them asyou would love yourself.
It's an unorthodox number oftimes they repeat this passage
over and over 36 or 46 times.
It's repeated a bunch.
(17:55):
The gare was to receive the samedignity as the native Israelite
.
And here's why Because you, youwere also once a gare.
Have you forgotten Israel?
You were also a foreigner, youwere an outsider.
You were once marginalized,rejected, despised, kicked to
(18:19):
the curb, ignored.
That's who you once were.
Have you already forgotten?
You were in Egypt.
You know what it's like to feelrejected, kept out, left out,
ignored, unseen.
You know what it's like, sodon't do it to them.
The Talmud, this oral traditionin a Jewish story, the Talmud,
(18:41):
suggests many times that theIsraelites know what it's like
to experience pain as anoutsider, because their history
is full of that and they were inEgypt.
So God says don't inflict thison others, because you know what
it's like and, by the way,you've got to know this.
These outsiders, the gers,they're human beings, so treat
(19:09):
them like they're one of yourown.
You ever been to like a a aconcert at a school, or like a
baseball game, right, and?
And you know when that, likewhen there's a kid pitching or
batting, or a kid performing,like on the violin or singing a
solo, you know immediately wherethat kid's family is in the
crowd Because you can hear mom,tommy, yeah, let's go.
(19:32):
Or dad, let's go, tommy, yougot this, let's go.
I'm the ball, tommy Right,because that parent or that
uncle or that cousin who came tovisit, like that's their kid
and I'm going to cheer loud forhim or her, they're going to
know that I'm here and God'slike, yeah, yeah, do that for
(19:53):
everybody.
Could you imagine if we, asparents, did this, if we cheered
that intensely for our kid butfor all the kids?
What if we did that for all thekids?
Yeah, guard the gare, becauseyou were once a ger and the ger
is, after all, a human being.
Look, I know they're strangers,I know that.
(20:13):
I know they're outsiders, Iknow they're foreigners, they
speak a different language, butthey're also a human being, just
like you.
Now, we have a hard time withthis because some people are
just strange and different.
I get it.
It's hard to understandforeigners or strangers or
outsiders.
There are folks I just don'tget.
You know, for example, disneyadults.
(20:38):
This is about nobody inparticular.
This is a generalization.
That's revenge, for last weekBen Took a shot at my Broncos
last week.
I don't get Disney adults, doyour thing, but I don't get.
All right, how about this one?
People who put ketchup on theirsteak.
(21:01):
What are you doing?
Oh my gosh, no, you don'tdeserve a steak.
You guys, you don't deserve asteak.
What are you doing?
Oh my gosh, no, you don'tdeserve a steak.
You guys, you don't deserve asteak.
Just throw in the garbage.
I don't understand yououtsiders, you foreigners,
people who like candy corn.
Come on, this is garbage.
This is so.
It tastes like a warm sock.
(21:24):
I mean come on, oh my gosh.
All right, a couple more.
We're going to have some funthis morning.
Those who use Facebook for theirown personal diary Nobody
looking around or their ownmedical documentation Like here
I am.
I lost my third toe and here'sa picture for everybody to see
the bone poking out of the blood.
(21:45):
I don't want to see that.
Put your foot away, you nastyold foot.
Get off of that.
At the dentist's office gettingmy teeth cleaned, nobody wants
to see that.
Get that off of there.
All right, yeah, who's the otherin your life?
How about those 830ers?
Yeah, who's the other in yourlife?
How about those 830 years?
(22:08):
Oh, they love the organ.
What is the deal with the organ?
Oh my God, I don't know how to,but that sounds like I'm gonna.
What's with all the chantingtoo?
All the chanting and all the?
I can't believe.
Do those folks even like me?
I don't even know if all thatcan.
Those 830 years are so stoic.
And those 10 o'clockers don'tget me started.
Oh my gosh, they like the drums, oh drums.
(22:28):
You know who plays drums Heavymetal musicians.
They're so rebellious withtheir coffee mugs and their hats
on sometimes I can't believe it.
It's so loud, it's so loud.
Yeah, it's the other.
Who's the other?
How about the person who has adifferent color skin than you do
?
How about folks with brown skin?
(22:51):
Oh, they all look the same,don't they?
I don't care, I don't care.
By the way, I grew up, had lotsof African-American friends and
they always said the same thingto me God, ryan, you white
people, you all look the same.
I can't tell you all apart.
Went to high school with abunch of Koreans and we became
good friends and they're likeRyan, you white folks, I can't
(23:11):
tell you apart.
It's all the same.
Yeah, yeah, how about folkswith white skin?
Maybe that's the other for you.
Maybe it's folks with orangeskin, been in the tanning bed a
little too long, whatever right.
Maybe it's introverts like Ijust don't get those introverts
(23:32):
are so quiet I can't.
Maybe it's extroverts.
Maybe it's verbal processors ohmy gosh.
Yeah, maybe it is immigrantswho come to this country who are
different than not we are.
They have different culturalsort of rhythms and habits and
they speak a different language.
Maybe Maybe it's refugees thatare different.
They look and sound different,they raise their kids
(23:55):
differently.
Maybe they're the other.
Maybe it's folks experiencinghomelessness.
You're like I don't know what'sgoing on there, why don't they
just get a job?
Maybe it's the addict, justfigure it out.
And they're like I don't knowwhat's going on there, why don't
they just get a job?
Maybe it's the addict, justfigure it out.
And they're foreign, they'restrange, they're different.
Maybe it's someone from Iowa Idon't know, I'm just had to
bring us back out of thatserious dip there or from
(24:17):
Colorado Fine, from Colorado,guard the gear.
Can you see how this is morethan just about American
politics and how we handle theborders?
It's almost a too myopic of aview to then sort of take this
ancient scripture that was very,very meaningful, essential, to
(24:37):
the heart of what it meant to bean Israelite and put it onto
this.
So I'm talking about this Now.
Our politics can be informed bythis passage, though.
Here's how we can read it today.
I think this verse can speak tous today.
How can you and I live as thoughthe other were one of our own?
When I say who's the other inyour head, I mean don't say it
(24:59):
out loud, but who's the other?
Who's the other?
That's foreign, that's stranger.
The gear in your life that youjust don't get, you don't
understand them.
They're across the way from you.
You don't see them.
Yeah, what if we began to liveas though they also were
children of God and human beings, as though they were maybe one
of our own, as though it wasmaybe ourself?
(25:21):
How do I love the other asthough it was one of my own kids
?
How do I fight for them asthough it was one of my own kids
?
How do I see them?
See modern Jewish ethicists.
They see this law, and it wasrepeated 36 or 46 times, because
it was the foundation for humandignity.
(25:42):
May you see the other not as anobject but as a person, but as
a person, as a soul, as a livingembodiment of God himself.
They bear the image of God.
Do you know why we all thinkabout other races like they all
look the same.
You know why we do that.
We all do it.
I've traveled all over the world.
I've met people from everycontinent, many different
(26:04):
countries, and we all do thisbecause we see them as an object
.
I'm not even saying we shouldfeel bad, it's just sort of how
we're kind of wired.
When I saw that person in thehills of Victoria meet their
eyes, I'm standing with thisperson, my partner.
I'm like oh, this person hasbrown hair and a blue jacket and
(26:24):
they're kind of shorter than me.
Immediately I'm interactingwith them as an object as the
other, as something to be seenor examined or sort of like, but
not as a person, not as a soul,not as a mystery of God, more
like a problem to solve, a thingto use or define.
Oh, this person's not as tallas me.
Or they have a North facejacket and they have black shoes
(26:45):
on and they, they seem kind ofartsy.
That's not how.
That's not how you see somebody.
Oh, those people, they all lookthe same.
Yeah, yeah, oh, that group ofpeople, they all do the same
things.
They're all like, they're allfill in the blank, because we
don't see each other.
I think the heart of thispassage is see the other.
(27:08):
Guard the gear.
There's this wonderfulphilosopher named Levinas,
emmanuel Levinas.
Anybody ever heard of EmmanuelLevinas?
He argues that most modern, andI'm going to go into philosophy
for a brief minute.
Just hang with me.
He argues that most of ourmodern Western philosophy is
rooted in ontology, which islike this fancy way of saying
being itself.
(27:28):
And so our modern Westernphilosophy and this has shaped
how you and I think about theworld and ourselves, whether you
know it or not we begin withontology being existentialism,
so like how do I know I exist?
How do I know what I think?
Epistemology, and they allcenter around I.
How does the world relate to I,the I, me?
And so he argues that modernWestern philosophy has taught us
(27:52):
to like relate to the world asthough it's just me and
everything else is an objectaround me, in my orbit.
So no wonder we meet folks.
We just immediately size themup as an object.
Oh, you're tall, you're short,you're this, you're that, you're
as an other, not as a humanbeing.
Levinas says we have to beginnot with ontology but with
ethics.
Begin with the other.
(28:14):
And he argues, how you start isby looking at someone in the
face.
This is his ethics of the face.
I love it.
You can Google it.
You ever held a newborn baby?
Anybody ever held a newbornbaby?
There's a moment like, oh mygosh, especially if you're like
a first time mom or dad usuallyit's the dads, but I'm not
trying to be judgmental here butuh, oh, this baby.
(28:35):
He's got five fingers in thathand.
Five fingers in that hand.
He's got a face, an ear, twoears that's good and some hair
right.
It's an object, almost likeright away.
You're like, oh, this is likethe.
But you keep looking at thatface of that baby and eventually
like something in you melts.
Oh, dear God, this is a child,it's like a soul.
(28:57):
I would give my life for thisthing.
One day, this little kid willbreak my heart by leaving.
I will stay up late at nightwondering where they are.
I'll pray for them.
It's like the mystery of God inthe face of the other.
How does that work?
(29:20):
Levinas says it's by looking inthe face.
You bypass them as object andsee them as a soul.
Yeah, look in the face.
My wife, katie says, has told memany times, ryan, when I get
mad at you which is very, veryrare, just maybe once or twice
in my life because I just lookin your face.
My heart sometimes meltsbecause I see you and you're no
(29:47):
longer this object, but you'resomething different.
You're a person.
You're an embodiment of thedivine mystery of God.
There's a soul in you,something alive.
You're a human being who bearsthe image of God.
She does with our kids too,where she'll, like when our kids
were little, they would justscream and scream and scream.
(30:09):
When they're little, she wouldjust hold them and look at their
faces.
And how can you be mad atsomeone when you look in their
face and their eyes?
Levinas says you no longer seethem as the other, but as one of
your own, even as yourself.
Yeah, I wonder what wouldhappen if the next time we got
(30:37):
mad at somebody or we viewedsomebody as the other or we had
a thought of like hatred orvengeful rage or something like
that.
What if we just looked in theirface?
What would we see?
Levinas says that the face isvulnerable.
It's vulnerable, it's bare,it's naked.
You can do some real harm to aface and embed it at the same
(31:01):
time in the face as the command,levinas says to not kill.
Yeah, the law of god is writtenon the face you shall not kill,
because this person too bearsthe law of God is written on the
face you shall not kill Becausethis person too bears the image
(31:26):
of God.
I'll tell you what one of thehardest things for me this week
has been to look at the shooterlike this, any shooter like this
.
It's hard, isn't it?
That shooter had a family, hada name, was once a child.
How do we look at the other?
Not as other, but as one of ourown, one of ours?
(31:49):
I'm not saying it's easy orthat just erases the bad things
other people do.
I'm not saying it's easy orthat just erases the bad things
other people do.
I'm not saying that at all.
I'm just saying maybe it beginswith us and how we see the
world, how we see the other.
Maybe the thing behind thething is how do we treat other
people who are the other, thatare different, that look
(32:09):
different, smell different?
Maybe we ought to look in theirface and I wonder, if you do
that, you might also just seeJesus In Matthew 25, jesus
starts talking about thisseparation of sheep and goats
and he says this famous line.
(32:30):
He says hey, when I was astranger, you invited me in.
When did we do that?
We didn't do that.
Yeah, you did.
When you invited in theoutsider the least of these, the
broken, the hurt, themarginalized.
When you guarded the gear, youwere doing it to me.
What, somehow in the other, isChrist.
(32:53):
I don't know how that works,but when you encounter the other
on the street, in school, onthe news, on social media, when
you encounter the gear, you'reencountering Christ.
And when you invite them in,you're encountering Christ.
And when you invite them in,you invite in Jesus.
(33:17):
I was a stranger and youinvited me in Central Lutheran
Church this morning.
May you see the other.
May you look into their eyesand not just see a nose and ears
and cheeks and hair and howtall or short or heavy or thin,
or what jersey they had on orwhat language, but may you see
(33:38):
them as a divine mystery, a soul, a human being Created in the
image of God.
May your ethics, your behavior,your way of being at least
start there.
We can figure out all the otherthings later and politicians
will.
And if you have a heart forthose things and vote according
to your conscience or run foroffice, do all those things, but
(34:03):
let's rewind and let's treatothers as we ourselves want to
be treated.
Maybe you're here this morningand you need to hear that.
Maybe the other is actually inyou.
There are parts of you that youdon't like.
There are parts of you that yousee as the other.
Maybe in some sort of Jungiansense there's like these parts
of you like you.
Just you want to suppress themor hide them away.
(34:30):
But may you learn to love theother in yourself too, and may
you see the world the way thatGod sees it.
May you look people in the eyesand may you see the world the
way that God sees it.
May you look people in the eyesand may you guard the gear,
amen.
as we start school and whatever else is going on, I
pray that you'd give us eyes tosee and ears to hear, give us
open hearts and open minds, andbless our time this week as we
go back to school, back to work,whatever else it is that we're
doing.
And God, as Ben said, would youhelp us to see those things
that unite us rather than thosethings that divide us and keep
(00:23):
us different.
May you help us see thecommonalities with the person
across from us in every way andbless us this morning in Jesus'
name.
Amen.
Good morning everyone.
How are we doing?
Okay, so we are wrapping up.
We got one more week after thisone, but our you Pick sermon
(00:43):
series where, this summer, we'vehad several people write in a
question they had or a Bibleverse they wanted us to talk
about, and we just talked aboutit and kind of responded.
And the question for this weekwas about this passage Can you
put the passage back up, sam, isthat possible?
From Leviticus that talks aboutthe alien and the foreigner.
The alien was a foreigner,someone from not within the
(01:04):
country but from outside thecountry, a non-Israelite.
This, of course, was written inLeviticus.
I'll unpack it in a minute andhow does this impact our life
today?
Maybe you know this, maybeyou've been on Facebook or seen
this, because you sort of swimin certain circles where they
talk about politics a lot whoknows?
Where they talk about politicsa lot, who knows?
But this verse is oftentimesused to address modern day
(01:28):
politics and immigration policyand foreign policy and these
kinds of things.
So I think the question in thequestion was like is it fair to
use this passage in such a way,or how does it influence or
impact us how we live today asChristians and American
Christians, or TanzanianChristians, tanzanian American
Christians and these kinds ofthings?
How do we address our modernsort of way of being with this
verse?
And can we, should we?
(01:48):
How can we do it?
Does that make sense?
Okay, you can go back to mytitle slide, so I'm going to
give you my answer first andthen I'm going to unpack what I
think we need to do with thisverse.
But the sermon is called Guardthe Gare.
That was pretty clever, guardthe Gare.
I'll unpack that in a minute,but here's what I would say.
This verse, like many of theseancient scriptures, was written
(02:11):
thousands of years ago.
This Old Testament, leviticallaw was written about 2,500
years ago and, as controversialas might be for some of us, it
was not written to addressmodern American politics.
It was not written to addressour immigration policy or how we
should handle borders or theforeigner.
(02:33):
In terms of 20, what year is it?
2025.
And all the things happening inthis time and place, right here
, right now.
It just wasn't.
It was written 2,500 years ago,more or less, to a people
called the Israelites and howthey were to address the
foreigner, the alien, in theirtime and in their place.
Does that make sense?
(02:53):
Now, here's the thing, though,like a lot of, I would argue,
most of the Hebrew scriptures,we can take stuff out of this.
We can read it and ask forourselves modern, 21st century
questions based on this text.
It's 2,500 years old, but tosuggest that this is what God
has commanded Israel, therefore,now American politics or
(03:15):
policymakers ought to do X, y orZ, it's just really.
It's a misusing of the Bibleverse.
It's not really how it shouldbe read.
However, I do think it's stillhelpful and I want to tell you
why.
Is that be all right?
So guard the gear.
I was in Canada this past weekfor about a week I was up in
Victoria, british Columbia.
Anybody ever been to Victoria,british Columbia?
Oh, nobody, okay, well, yeah, Ididn't know.
(03:37):
It's like a tropical area upthere.
We went into the woods.
I was in the woods for aboutseven days and in the woods they
have deer and they have allkinds of other animals like
evergreens you would see here inMinnesota or in Colorado the
motherland but also they havetree frogs and palm trees and
ferns.
It's like this is the weirdestgeography and landscape I've
ever seen, and so it was amixture of that.
(03:59):
This was up in Brentwood Bay,so I was there for a week.
This is my friend I met.
Yeah, he's a weathered oldfisherman from up in that area.
He's seen a lot that young man,old man, and I was up there in
the woods for about this wasbefore I got into the woods for
about seven days, and I go onthese excursions about once a
(04:19):
year.
I got in the woods for aboutseven days or so.
It's a time of silence andsolitude.
There's some guiding going on,there's other people that are
total strangers that are showingup there and we do all kinds of
things.
It's not a Christian retreatper se.
It's mostly like.
It's an experience in natureand we're doing in this one in
particular, we're doing somestudying like psychology and
Jungian dream analysis, ifthat's interesting to anybody,
(04:45):
and those kinds of things wasvery, very cool.
And here I was eating breakfaston the Brentwood Bay, right
there.
So I took a picture, you know,just so you could see where I
was, and it was an incredibleexperience.
And then there, yeah, there'sthe tree frog.
I'm like, I'm in the woods andthere's, like this beautiful
tropical tree frog, and it was along seven days.
So towards the end of my timethere, you know, I had to have
my coffee in the morning, thereI am.
But things got crazy afterabout seven days.
(05:06):
It didn't, you know, it waslike it got wild up there.
That's how it ended up.
So seven days in the woodsalone, man, it got crazy, but it
was cool.
Here's one of the things we did.
So we had there was 15 otherpeople, and one of the things I
love most about these trips thatI love doing is actually
(05:26):
something that we don't do.
When we show up and I've doneit with the same organization a
couple years in a row one of thethings you don't do is you
don't immediately sit down onthat first night and go around
the circle and do an icebreakerhow many of you love icebreakers
out there?
Okay, we didn't do that.
And the first year I was likewhy aren't we doing any
icebreakers?
I don't know who these peopleare.
Why don't they tell me theirname and what they do for a job
(05:48):
and where they're from?
And I expected like, well, I'mRyan, I'm a pastor from Elk
River, that kind of thing.
But the more I've done of these,the more I really appreciate us
not doing that, because nowyou're forced to get to know
somebody based on all kinds ofother things other than their
name, their job and wherethey're from, because oftentimes
when you introduce yourself,you might sort of present this
(06:09):
front.
We all do this, not even alwayson purpose, but there's this
front and it becomes this filterthrough which now you will
interact with me.
So I'm Ryan, I'm a pastor fromElk River.
Now you immediately think youknow who I am or what I'm all
about and you'll interact withme based on that information
alum.
And so it becomes like this,almost like a, like a shadow or
a false self, and then we sortof interact based on that.
(06:30):
But on this trip we didn't dothat.
You just start getting to knoweach other in all kinds of wild
and crazy ways and I do allthese things to make you
interact, but it's not like thaticebreaker kind of a thing.
For example, one of the thingsthey did was they said okay,
we're going to mill around inthis group and we're out,
everything's outside, you'recamping and you know and like,
okay, as you're walking around,you're going to just sort of
make eye contact with somebodywhen you see them, get close
(06:52):
with them.
So you're like just wanderingaround and you look up and you
see somebody and you're likeokay, so you go and you stand
with them.
And then the guide goes okay,sure, and they're like and don't
look away.
I was like okay, and they startguiding us like this, looking
into their eyes, activity, andthey're like and look into their
, and I'm like that's getting alittle weird and a little
(07:13):
awkward.
So we're gonna practice it now.
So turn to your neighbor, lookinto their eye.
I'm just kidding.
But here's what happened when Ifirst met my person.
I was like okay, brown hair,and they're kind of shorter than
I am and they have a bluejacket on.
But then there's this momentwhere you get past the
(07:34):
awkwardness and also you sort ofsettle into this weird mystical
experience with the other,where you're just looking into
their eyes I didn't even knowthis person, they didn't know me
and it was super awkward, trustme, it was awkward.
I've tried to get my wifethrough this with me.
I'm like let's just stare andshe's like no, I'm not doing
that right, but it's weird.
Something happens and you lookinto their eyes and they look
(07:54):
into your eyes and I didn't evenknow this person again, and you
sink into this another level oflike seeing this person.
It's wild, and I think that'swhat Leviticus 19 is getting at,
rather than how modernAmericans ought to handle
immigration policy.
(08:14):
Here's what I want to say.
Leviticus 19, now Leviticus, incase you didn't know, is the
third book in the Bible Genesis,exodus, leviticus, numbers,
deuteronomy.
The first five books is calledthe Torah, the Pentateuch, or
the books of Moses, and they'relike these.
Torah means teaching orinstruction, and the first five
books sort of tell the historyof the world, the cosmology
(08:36):
according to Jewish people, andit gives them instruction for
how to live as God's people.
And Leviticus sort of comesonto the scene just after the
Israelites have been rescuedfrom Egypt.
So, remember, they end up inEgypt.
They're slaves for about 400years and Leviticus comes onto
the scene right after they'rereleased from slavery in Egypt
for 400 years.
(08:57):
They're learning to live asfree people and they show up
Leviticus does as this manualfor worship.
Okay, so, once you're out ofslavery, here's how you're going
to live as free people.
Here's how you treat each other.
Here's how you relate to God.
Here's a manual for worship.
Here's some rituals you'regoing to engage with.
You're going to do this withthis goat and this blood and
never boil a cow in its mother'smilk.
(09:18):
It's never a good idea thosekinds of things.
And so Leviticus is this manualfor them as they're becoming
free people to learn how to livein the world with each other,
with God and with theirneighbors.
Now, leviticus 19, sort of rightin the middle there of
Leviticus, is like a minimicrocosm of the whole book and
the whole teaching orinstruction called the Torah.
(09:38):
So Leviticus 19, there's awhole bunch of laws or commands
or short teachings that offerinstruction on how to live in
the world with God and with eachother.
In fact, it mimics and mirrorsthe 10 commandments, which of
course came much earlier.
So here's some examples.
Here's the whole.
If you read Leviticus 19 lateron, here's a whole bunch of the
laws in Leviticus 19.
Respect your mother and father.
(09:59):
You might remember that orrecognize that from the 10
commandments, how about this one?
Observe the Sabbath, also oneof the commandments.
Don't turn to idols.
Leviticus 19 says Don't steal,don't lie, don't pervert justice
.
These are all ideas that arefound in Leviticus 19.
And love your neighbor asyourself.
(10:19):
Hmm, where have we heard thatone before?
Well, many hundreds of yearslater, jesus, who is a young
Jewish man at this time, showsup and he quotes Leviticus 19.
He's asked sum up all of thelaw, all of the Torah, all the
teachings, all the instructionof the people of Israel, all the
(10:40):
commands.
Sum them up.
And Jesus is like okay, fine,love the Lord, your God, with
all your heart, soul, mind andstrength, which comes from the
Shema, another Deuteronomypassage.
And Jesus says and love yourneighbor as yourself.
He's quoting Leviticus 19.
I love it.
So of course he would.
He's a young Jewish rabbi.
He would of course know thislaw and he would quote it.
(11:02):
And this is him summing it allup in one go.
Now Leviticus 19,.
You see, immediately there'sthis connection between the
people of Israel and theirsocial behavior and their
religious life.
So God's like hey, I want yoursocial behavior, how you live in
the world, to mimic and mirrorand reflect and be in congruence
(11:23):
with how you worship God.
In other words, how you worshipGod, how you pray, the songs
you sing, the things that yousay when you're in your prayer
closet, when you're readingscripture, when you're at church
on Sunday mornings this is ajoking, it's anachronistic but
how you live in your religion, Iwant that to also be reflecting
how you live in the world.
So you could say this way howyou behave in church and the
(11:46):
things you say ought to also behow you behave and match the
things you say when you're outin the world, in the streets or
at work or at school.
Does that make sense?
What God wanted was congruence,that we wouldn't live all kinds
of split lives that aredifferent, but there'd be
congruence that your behaviorover here on a Sunday morning
with your friends at church andall your holy language and fair
(12:09):
enough, would also match how youlive and move and behave and
treat other people in the world.
There should be congruence.
Now the law help with this,because sometimes you're in your
prayer closet and you're like,you're feeling super holy and
spiritual, like, oh, lord, godis good, amen.
Oh, what was the song?
Oh, how great thou art, howgreat thou art, yes, lord.
And then you leave there andsome idiot cut you off in
(12:30):
traffic.
You're like, oh, I can'tbelieve.
You know right, maybe you'vebeen there.
So God is like okay, here'ssome laws for how to not be an
idiot when you're in public, andI want it to match how you are
in the private.
And so he gives them these laws, because sometimes you need
instruction to sort of shapeyour behavior.
Sometimes your belief comes outof behavior, sometimes behavior
(12:52):
comes out of belief.
It kind of goes, it's like thisbeautiful dance.
So God gives them laws to helpthem live lives that are
congruent.
Because this is interesting too, by the way.
The early Christians so this is,of course, after the, you know,
when Jesus shows up they werecalled followers of the way
based on how they behaved in theworld.
They weren't called believersright away.
(13:13):
In fact, believers, if you wereto call someone a believer back
, then, it meant that theybelieved it to be true so deeply
that it affected their behavior.
There are many culturalChristians in the world today.
People are cultural Christiansthat their behavior, though,
looks nothing like Christ, andso God wanted to establish a
people who didn't livedisintegrated lives.
(13:33):
He wanted lives of integration.
So then he says okay, at theend of 19,.
Here's the law we're talkingabout today, the command.
When a foreigner then residesin your midst and in your land,
don't mistreat them.
By the way, you can sum up allof the 10 commandments and all
of Leviticus 19 by saying this Ilove this by just saying two
things hey, here's the laws.
Be cool and don't be a jerk,right?
(13:57):
So if you're ever like, hey,should I do this?
Well, pastor Ryan said be cooland don't be a jerk.
Oh, I'm not going to do thatthing because I'll be a jerk,
it's all of us.
Just, be cool and don't be ajerk.
So when there's folks that areforeigners living in your land,
don't mistreat them.
Treat them as though they'renative born.
In other words, treat them asthough they're one of your own.
(14:22):
Treat the other as though theywere one of your own.
Love them as yourself, becauseyou were once foreigners in
Egypt.
By the way, there was thisthread in Israel's history of
hospitality, wherever there wasa stranger, a foreigner, an
outsider to come in, god alwayssaid hey, take care of them,
pour them a glass of wine or aglass of not wine, whatever Be
hospitable.
And then in the early Christianchurch it was the same way.
(14:44):
They valued hospitality when astranger comes in, be kind to
them, be good to them, offerthem gifts and these kinds of
things.
Now the word for stranger isthe word ger.
Everyone say ger, or the sermonis called guard the ger.
Guard the ger, clever, right.
Ger means stranger or outsider,or alien or foreigner.
These are all words used in theHebrew scriptures.
(15:05):
You could also say it like thisit's the other, yeah, the other
.
Who's the other in your life?
Now here's the thing.
This passage was mirrored orrepeated many times in the
Hebrew scriptures.
A couple of examples, by theway.
What he's saying is guard theger, so don't mistreat the
(15:26):
foreigner, take care of them,yeah, so, by the way, what he's
saying is guard the gare, sodon't mistreat the foreigner,
take care of them, look out forthem, treat them as one of your
own.
Guard the gare.
Here's some examples.
So, in Exodus, don't mistreat oroppress the foreigner, for you
were once foreigners from Egypt.
That's earlier in Exodus,exodus 23,.
Don't oppress a foreigner.
You yourselves know how itfeels to be a foreigner because
you were once foreigners inEgypt.
So also later on in Deuteronomy, he defends the cause of the
(15:47):
fatherless and the widow andloves the foreigner residing
among you, giving them food andclothing.
God loves the gear, so youshould take care of them.
How about this one inDeuteronomy 24?
Don't deprive the foreigner orthe fatherless of justice or
take the cloak of the widow as apledge.
Remember when you were slavesin Egypt, the Lord, your God,
redeemed you from there.
This is why I've commanded youto do this.
(16:09):
When you're harvesting in yourfield and you overlook a sheaf,
like so, when you're outharvesting the fields and you
leave some food on the fringeson accident, don't go back and
get it.
Leave it for the foreigner, thefatherless and the widow.
So the Lord, your God, maybless you and all work your
hands.
In other words, if you're out,like harvesting your fields, and
you don't get all the way tothe corners, the edges, leave it
(16:31):
and let the foreigner come in,who can't usually afford their
own food, and let them pick itup and have it for free.
Guard the gear.
Also, ezekiel, you are to allotthe land as an inheritance for
yourselves and for theforeigners residing among you
and who have children.
You're to consider them asnative-born Israelites.
Along with you, there will beallot an inheritance among the
(16:52):
tribes of Israel.
So this land you're doling out,give some land to the
foreigners.
They'll be treated just likeyou, as a citizen of Israel.
Okay, declares the sovereignLord as one of your citizens.
Love them as you love yourself.
Treat them as you would wantothers to treat you.
Be cool and don't be a jerk.
Are you with me?
Here's the deal.
(17:14):
Jewish scholars and commentatorsknow how strong of a command
this is because it is mentionedat least 36 times in the Hebrew
scriptures.
At least 36 times in the Hebrewscriptures.
Others argue 46 times that Godcommands Israel to take care of,
to guard the gear.
Don't mistreat them.
Treat them as though you lovethem, like they're one of your
(17:35):
own, like they're your own sonor daughter or brother or sister
or mother or father.
Welcome them in, give them land, give them food.
Treat them kindly, love them asyou would love yourself.
It's an unorthodox number oftimes they repeat this passage
over and over 36 or 46 times.
It's repeated a bunch.
(17:55):
The gare was to receive the samedignity as the native Israelite
.
And here's why Because you, youwere also once a gare.
Have you forgotten Israel?
You were also a foreigner, youwere an outsider.
You were once marginalized,rejected, despised, kicked to
(18:19):
the curb, ignored.
That's who you once were.
Have you already forgotten?
You were in Egypt.
You know what it's like to feelrejected, kept out, left out,
ignored, unseen.
You know what it's like, sodon't do it to them.
The Talmud, this oral traditionin a Jewish story, the Talmud,
(18:41):
suggests many times that theIsraelites know what it's like
to experience pain as anoutsider, because their history
is full of that and they were inEgypt.
So God says don't inflict thison others, because you know what
it's like and, by the way,you've got to know this.
These outsiders, the gers,they're human beings, so treat
(19:09):
them like they're one of yourown.
You ever been to like a a aconcert at a school, or like a
baseball game, right, and?
And you know when that, likewhen there's a kid pitching or
batting, or a kid performing,like on the violin or singing a
solo, you know immediately wherethat kid's family is in the
crowd Because you can hear mom,tommy, yeah, let's go.
(19:32):
Or dad, let's go, tommy, yougot this, let's go.
I'm the ball, tommy Right,because that parent or that
uncle or that cousin who came tovisit, like that's their kid
and I'm going to cheer loud forhim or her, they're going to
know that I'm here and God'slike, yeah, yeah, do that for
(19:53):
everybody.
Could you imagine if we, asparents, did this, if we cheered
that intensely for our kid butfor all the kids?
What if we did that for all thekids?
Yeah, guard the gare, becauseyou were once a ger and the ger
is, after all, a human being.
Look, I know they're strangers,I know that.
(20:13):
I know they're outsiders, Iknow they're foreigners, they
speak a different language, butthey're also a human being, just
like you.
Now, we have a hard time withthis because some people are
just strange and different.
I get it.
It's hard to understandforeigners or strangers or
outsiders.
There are folks I just don'tget.
You know, for example, disneyadults.
(20:38):
This is about nobody inparticular.
This is a generalization.
That's revenge, for last weekBen Took a shot at my Broncos
last week.
I don't get Disney adults, doyour thing, but I don't get.
All right, how about this one?
People who put ketchup on theirsteak.
(21:01):
What are you doing?
Oh my gosh, no, you don'tdeserve a steak.
You guys, you don't deserve asteak.
What are you doing?
Oh my gosh, no, you don'tdeserve a steak.
You guys, you don't deserve asteak.
Just throw in the garbage.
I don't understand yououtsiders, you foreigners,
people who like candy corn.
Come on, this is garbage.
This is so.
It tastes like a warm sock.
(21:24):
I mean come on, oh my gosh.
All right, a couple more.
We're going to have some funthis morning.
Those who use Facebook for theirown personal diary Nobody
looking around or their ownmedical documentation Like here
I am.
I lost my third toe and here'sa picture for everybody to see
the bone poking out of the blood.
(21:45):
I don't want to see that.
Put your foot away, you nastyold foot.
Get off of that.
At the dentist's office gettingmy teeth cleaned, nobody wants
to see that.
Get that off of there.
All right, yeah, who's the otherin your life?
How about those 830ers?
Yeah, who's the other in yourlife?
How about those 830 years?
(22:08):
Oh, they love the organ.
What is the deal with the organ?
Oh my God, I don't know how to,but that sounds like I'm gonna.
What's with all the chantingtoo?
All the chanting and all the?
I can't believe.
Do those folks even like me?
I don't even know if all thatcan.
Those 830 years are so stoic.
And those 10 o'clockers don'tget me started.
Oh my gosh, they like the drums, oh drums.
(22:28):
You know who plays drums Heavymetal musicians.
They're so rebellious withtheir coffee mugs and their hats
on sometimes I can't believe it.
It's so loud, it's so loud.
Yeah, it's the other.
Who's the other?
How about the person who has adifferent color skin than you do
?
How about folks with brown skin?
(22:51):
Oh, they all look the same,don't they?
I don't care, I don't care.
By the way, I grew up, had lotsof African-American friends and
they always said the same thingto me God, ryan, you white
people, you all look the same.
I can't tell you all apart.
Went to high school with abunch of Koreans and we became
good friends and they're likeRyan, you white folks, I can't
(23:11):
tell you apart.
It's all the same.
Yeah, yeah, how about folkswith white skin?
Maybe that's the other for you.
Maybe it's folks with orangeskin, been in the tanning bed a
little too long, whatever right.
Maybe it's introverts like Ijust don't get those introverts
(23:32):
are so quiet I can't.
Maybe it's extroverts.
Maybe it's verbal processors ohmy gosh.
Yeah, maybe it is immigrantswho come to this country who are
different than not we are.
They have different culturalsort of rhythms and habits and
they speak a different language.
Maybe Maybe it's refugees thatare different.
They look and sound different,they raise their kids
(23:55):
differently.
Maybe they're the other.
Maybe it's folks experiencinghomelessness.
You're like I don't know what'sgoing on there, why don't they
just get a job?
Maybe it's the addict, justfigure it out.
And they're like I don't knowwhat's going on there, why don't
they just get a job?
Maybe it's the addict, justfigure it out.
And they're foreign, they'restrange, they're different.
Maybe it's someone from Iowa Idon't know, I'm just had to
bring us back out of thatserious dip there or from
(24:17):
Colorado Fine, from Colorado,guard the gear.
Can you see how this is morethan just about American
politics and how we handle theborders?
It's almost a too myopic of aview to then sort of take this
ancient scripture that was very,very meaningful, essential, to
(24:37):
the heart of what it meant to bean Israelite and put it onto
this.
So I'm talking about this Now.
Our politics can be informed bythis passage, though.
Here's how we can read it today.
I think this verse can speak tous today.
How can you and I live as thoughthe other were one of our own?
When I say who's the other inyour head, I mean don't say it
(24:59):
out loud, but who's the other?
Who's the other?
That's foreign, that's stranger.
The gear in your life that youjust don't get, you don't
understand them.
They're across the way from you.
You don't see them.
Yeah, what if we began to liveas though they also were
children of God and human beings, as though they were maybe one
of our own, as though it wasmaybe ourself?
(25:21):
How do I love the other asthough it was one of my own kids
?
How do I fight for them asthough it was one of my own kids
?
How do I see them?
See modern Jewish ethicists.
They see this law, and it wasrepeated 36 or 46 times, because
it was the foundation for humandignity.
(25:42):
May you see the other not as anobject but as a person, but as
a person, as a soul, as a livingembodiment of God himself.
They bear the image of God.
Do you know why we all thinkabout other races like they all
look the same.
You know why we do that.
We all do it.
I've traveled all over the world.
I've met people from everycontinent, many different
(26:04):
countries, and we all do thisbecause we see them as an object
.
I'm not even saying we shouldfeel bad, it's just sort of how
we're kind of wired.
When I saw that person in thehills of Victoria meet their
eyes, I'm standing with thisperson, my partner.
I'm like oh, this person hasbrown hair and a blue jacket and
(26:24):
they're kind of shorter than me.
Immediately I'm interactingwith them as an object as the
other, as something to be seenor examined or sort of like, but
not as a person, not as a soul,not as a mystery of God, more
like a problem to solve, a thingto use or define.
Oh, this person's not as tallas me.
Or they have a North facejacket and they have black shoes
(26:45):
on and they, they seem kind ofartsy.
That's not how.
That's not how you see somebody.
Oh, those people, they all lookthe same.
Yeah, yeah, oh, that group ofpeople, they all do the same
things.
They're all like, they're allfill in the blank, because we
don't see each other.
I think the heart of thispassage is see the other.
(27:08):
Guard the gear.
There's this wonderfulphilosopher named Levinas,
emmanuel Levinas.
Anybody ever heard of EmmanuelLevinas?
He argues that most modern, andI'm going to go into philosophy
for a brief minute.
Just hang with me.
He argues that most of ourmodern Western philosophy is
rooted in ontology, which islike this fancy way of saying
being itself.
(27:28):
And so our modern Westernphilosophy and this has shaped
how you and I think about theworld and ourselves, whether you
know it or not we begin withontology being existentialism,
so like how do I know I exist?
How do I know what I think?
Epistemology, and they allcenter around I.
How does the world relate to I,the I, me?
And so he argues that modernWestern philosophy has taught us
(27:52):
to like relate to the world asthough it's just me and
everything else is an objectaround me, in my orbit.
So no wonder we meet folks.
We just immediately size themup as an object.
Oh, you're tall, you're short,you're this, you're that, you're
as an other, not as a humanbeing.
Levinas says we have to beginnot with ontology but with
ethics.
Begin with the other.
(28:14):
And he argues, how you start isby looking at someone in the
face.
This is his ethics of the face.
I love it.
You can Google it.
You ever held a newborn baby?
Anybody ever held a newbornbaby?
There's a moment like, oh mygosh, especially if you're like
a first time mom or dad usuallyit's the dads, but I'm not
trying to be judgmental here butuh, oh, this baby.
(28:35):
He's got five fingers in thathand.
Five fingers in that hand.
He's got a face, an ear, twoears that's good and some hair
right.
It's an object, almost likeright away.
You're like, oh, this is likethe.
But you keep looking at thatface of that baby and eventually
like something in you melts.
Oh, dear God, this is a child,it's like a soul.
(28:57):
I would give my life for thisthing.
One day, this little kid willbreak my heart by leaving.
I will stay up late at nightwondering where they are.
I'll pray for them.
It's like the mystery of God inthe face of the other.
How does that work?
(29:20):
Levinas says it's by looking inthe face.
You bypass them as object andsee them as a soul.
Yeah, look in the face.
My wife, katie says, has told memany times, ryan, when I get
mad at you which is very, veryrare, just maybe once or twice
in my life because I just lookin your face.
My heart sometimes meltsbecause I see you and you're no
(29:47):
longer this object, but you'resomething different.
You're a person.
You're an embodiment of thedivine mystery of God.
There's a soul in you,something alive.
You're a human being who bearsthe image of God.
She does with our kids too,where she'll, like when our kids
were little, they would justscream and scream and scream.
(30:09):
When they're little, she wouldjust hold them and look at their
faces.
And how can you be mad atsomeone when you look in their
face and their eyes?
Levinas says you no longer seethem as the other, but as one of
your own, even as yourself.
Yeah, I wonder what wouldhappen if the next time we got
(30:37):
mad at somebody or we viewedsomebody as the other or we had
a thought of like hatred orvengeful rage or something like
that.
What if we just looked in theirface?
What would we see?
Levinas says that the face isvulnerable.
It's vulnerable, it's bare,it's naked.
You can do some real harm to aface and embed it at the same
(31:01):
time in the face as the command,levinas says to not kill.
Yeah, the law of god is writtenon the face you shall not kill,
because this person too bearsthe law of God is written on the
face you shall not kill Becausethis person too bears the image
(31:26):
of God.
I'll tell you what one of thehardest things for me this week
has been to look at the shooterlike this, any shooter like this
.
It's hard, isn't it?
That shooter had a family, hada name, was once a child.
How do we look at the other?
Not as other, but as one of ourown, one of ours?
(31:49):
I'm not saying it's easy orthat just erases the bad things
other people do.
I'm not saying it's easy orthat just erases the bad things
other people do.
I'm not saying that at all.
I'm just saying maybe it beginswith us and how we see the
world, how we see the other.
Maybe the thing behind thething is how do we treat other
people who are the other, thatare different, that look
(32:09):
different, smell different?
Maybe we ought to look in theirface and I wonder, if you do
that, you might also just seeJesus In Matthew 25, jesus
starts talking about thisseparation of sheep and goats
and he says this famous line.
(32:30):
He says hey, when I was astranger, you invited me in.
When did we do that?
We didn't do that.
Yeah, you did.
When you invited in theoutsider the least of these, the
broken, the hurt, themarginalized.
When you guarded the gear, youwere doing it to me.
What, somehow in the other, isChrist.
(32:53):
I don't know how that works,but when you encounter the other
on the street, in school, onthe news, on social media, when
you encounter the gear, you'reencountering Christ.
And when you invite them in,you're encountering Christ.
And when you invite them in,you invite in Jesus.
(33:17):
I was a stranger and youinvited me in Central Lutheran
Church this morning.
May you see the other.
May you look into their eyesand not just see a nose and ears
and cheeks and hair and howtall or short or heavy or thin,
or what jersey they had on orwhat language, but may you see
(33:38):
them as a divine mystery, a soul, a human being Created in the
image of God.
May your ethics, your behavior,your way of being at least
start there.
We can figure out all the otherthings later and politicians
will.
And if you have a heart forthose things and vote according
to your conscience or run foroffice, do all those things, but
(34:03):
let's rewind and let's treatothers as we ourselves want to
be treated.
Maybe you're here this morningand you need to hear that.
Maybe the other is actually inyou.
There are parts of you that youdon't like.
There are parts of you that yousee as the other.
Maybe in some sort of Jungiansense there's like these parts
of you like you.
Just you want to suppress themor hide them away.
(34:30):
But may you learn to love theother in yourself too, and may
you see the world the way thatGod sees it.
May you look people in the eyesand may you see the world the
way that God sees it.
May you look people in the eyesand may you guard the gear,
amen.
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