Stranger Danger

 Welcoming Jesus in the Syrian stranger

Matthew 25:34-36

Jesus said, “Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father.Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me food,

I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me,in prison and you visited me.’”

            In the face of the current Syrian refugee crisis, it’s hard to find a way around Jesus’ words in Matthew 25:35, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”  Our Lord’s command is clear and concrete, not leaving much wiggle room for interpretation.  Put simply: what we do for the stranger, we do for Jesus; if we close the door on the stranger, we close the door on Jesus.  I think every Christian worthy of the name tries to live by that command in one way or another: literally opening their doors to others in need, or virtually doing so by helping them in some other way.  No one seriously studying in the Syrian refugee controversy is saying, “Do not welcome the stranger.”  We all agree with Jesus, in principle.

            The issue becomes quickly heated, however, when there is “stranger danger,” meaning the stranger seeking refuge in your home may also want to harm those already in the house.  The Associated Press reported on Nov. 14 that a Syrian passport, registered as a “refugee” while entering Greece, was found on the body of one of the suicide bombers in the Paris attacks.  Clearly, this stranger was a danger.  Hearing of this, many voices – including those of state governors and presidential candidates – are calling for a “cease and desist” policy, in effect prohibiting all Syrian refugees from entering the United States.

            While we are right to seek greater security for our country and citizenry, I believe that approach is overly reactionary and ultimately ineffective.  Why?  There are very good reasons to believe that “refugee” is not the “go-to-disguise” of radical Islamic terrorists.  Dave Bier, in his recent article, “Six Reasons to Welcome Syrian Refugees After Paris,” outlines why Islamic terrorists would not resort to that ruse to enter a country, in spite of the example noted above.  Furthermore, the mastermind of the Paris attacks was a Belgian citizen, Abdelhamid Abaaoud, who grew up in Brussels, and even attended private schools.  He was not the stranger knocking on the door; he was a family member sitting at the kitchen table.  In other words, terrorists are far more successful when they don’t need to get into the house, because they’ve grown up in the house!

            This is the reason excessive security measures – including denying safe haven to refugees – will ultimately NOT keep us safe from terrorists.  Why?  You see, the real “ground” that the terrorists want to occupy is not Paris or London or New York, but rather the “heart” of anyone who sympathizes with radical religions.  Furthermore, the “hearts” the terrorists are seeking to convert are not only hearts running with Syrian or Iraqi blood, but even those hearts beating with the red blood of Americans.  In recent years, we’ve seen examples of Caucasian Americans, even some in the U.S. military, become “radicalized.”  Do you remember the story of Eric Harroun, who left the U.S. Army in 2000, and joined a radical Islamic group called “Jabhat al-Nusra,” a group the State Department classifies as an alias for Al Queda in Iraq?  The human heart does not have borders or customs agents or restrictive refugee policies to prevent someone from entering.  The heart has completely “open borders” which allows anyone to enter freely, as evidenced every time you access the internet and start clicking and reading.  Who is moving in and out of your heart without a visa?  Like right now.

            Radical Islamic terrorists do pose a clear and present danger to our country and our way of life.  But we do not neutralize or even reduce that threat simply by closing our borders to Syrian refugees.  The real question is not how to control who gets into the United States (even though that is a legitimate question), but rather, what safe-guards you erect to vet those who get into your heart.  There is such a thing as “stranger danger.”  But the greatest danger may not be posed by a stranger who looks Syrian; it may come simply from the stranger who lives down the street.