Outsiders: Refugees


At Christmas, we emphasize the sweet, warm parts of the story of Jesus' birth. Jesus placed in a manger among animals, angels appearing to shepherds, and shepherds worshiping the newborn king in Bethlehem all make for a nice "Precious Moments" portrait.

But the full account of his birth has dark sides to it.  One of those is King Herod's attempt to murder the baby Jesus and his successful murder of baby boys in the area of Bethlehem.  

Matthew 2 tells us that the Lord warned Joseph about what Herod intended to do.  Joseph gathered Mary and Jesus in the night, and fled for Egypt. 

This made the holy family refugees.  Refugees are people who must leave their homes because of events like war, famine, persecution, and environmental disaster.  Joseph had to flee with his family because of Herod's murderous intentions.  

Joseph went to Egypt because it was outside Herod's jurisdiction and because it had large Jewish communities.  It had large Jewish communities because of earlier Jewish refugees.

Like refugees today, Joseph, Mary, and Jesus had to rely on the compassion and generosity of people in the land to which they fled.

The fact that Jesus was a refugee calls us to have compassion on refugees today.  According to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees, there are more refugees and internally displaced people today than there has been at any time since World War II.  One of the worst is Syria.  About 5.6 million people have fled that country since 2011, creating refugee crises in neighboring countries.  Kenya has at least of three of the largest refugee camps in the world, many of them from Somalia.

We've all read in the news stories about how the EU and the US are struggling with refugees.  

Surely the Jesus who said we'll be judged by how we've helped the poor and vulnerable wants us to help refugees.  We can do that several ways.

First, we can find refugees near us and help them.  You can find refugees in your area at sites like 

Second, we can go assist workers who are ministering to refugees in other countries.

Last, and certainly not least, we can pray for specific refugee groups.

God's calling us to care for refugees, who are surely among "the least of these."

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