Hospitality

    Le Chambon, France is a small village in the southeastern part of France. It was one of the few villages during WWII that resisted the satanic persecution against the Jews. Under the sheparding of their protestant pastor they resisted the enemy by offering hospitality to Jews fleeing from the teeth of the dragon. They were sucessful in saving around 5,000 Jews from being arrested and deported to the death camps. Most of these Jews were children. (The image above shows some of the children given hospitality by the people of Le Chambon.)
    Who were these people who risked their lives for the refugees? They were decedents of Huguenots. If you remember your history, the Huguenots were Protestants who were massacred on the streets of Paris during the 16th Century. The people of Le Chambon knew something about bigotry and persecution. They also knew something about the Lord. They knew the second greatest commandment was in part "to love your neighbor as yourself". No qualifications. When asked why they took such extra-ordinary risks, they replied   "We were doing what had to be done." Their pastor on the day after France surrendered stood in his pulpit and said "The responsibility of Christians is to resist the violence that will be brought to bear to their consciences through the weapons of the spirit." And that they did. The result was a remarkable story of divine protection in the mist of insane hatred and absolved responsibility. This story is told in a documentary by one of the surviving children of Le Chambon.
What does this story teach us?
The first thing I think about is, well, was that time different from ours. Is hospitality still demanded of us toward our neighbors? Since the answers to these questions for me are no and yes, this leads me to ask, I am ashamed to say, who then is my neighbor? Immediately images pop in my head of the homeless, the indigent and the immigrant.
Of course,  I have good rational answers for why I do not do more for each category. The homeless don't want help just money for booze. The poor you have with you always.  And the immigrants are illegal. And here's a good one, its not my ministry. Then I think about the people of Le Chambon. They could have had great excuses. It was illegal to give comfort and aid to the Jews. They and their families could have died. On the other hand, the homeless just want my money.
How important is hospitality anyway? I do so much as a Christian at my church. Hell, I give a lot of time and money at my church. Isn't that enough? I invite fellow members over for fellowship. This is good. But the right question rings in my ears, and that is "who is my neighbor?"  Who is our neighbor?
       This whole line of argument makes me want to think a little more privately about our immigration problem. Does this have to do with hospitality? Mexico is literally our neighbor. Yes I know it is going to cost us. Probably in more ways than we know. I personally have seen it cost our Los Angeles schools in lower tests scores. I know it has cost us in crimes and violent behavior and probably drugs, for sure. But how does a citizen of the kingdom of God respond to all this? I know how Doug, citizen of the United States responds. But if I turn off the talk radio and close my eyes to the liberal left's agenda, what is the voice in the dark of my secret place telling me? Really all the illegals I have met have been really down to earth, sweet people.
       Some argue that the problem with Sodom and Gomorra was that the people were inhospitable. This is why God judged them. There is a good argument for at least part of this claim. Abraham treated the angels with gracious hospitality while Sodom wanted to rape them.
       Well I know I don't want to rape anyone so I am safe there. But I wonder.  Hitler blamed the Jews for the economic woes. Are we blaming the immigrants for some of our money woes? Is Arizona thinking the illegal alien is causing problems? What kind of problems are they causing?
Do a search on "alien" in the Bible.  A lot of the scriptures I found talk about not oppressing the alien in your midst.
       I wonder at what point did the people of Chambon made a conscious decision to stop obeying the law? Stop believing the newspaper? Stop thinking the way other Frenchmen thought?  Stop listening to the radio and start listening to their conscious. It is obvious to us now. But to many in Europe, maybe some of our ancestors, it was not so obvious. They did not want to break the law. They must have thought that the Jews were causing the economic problem.
It cost the good Samaritan time and money to help the soul at the edge of the road. Should it cost me? Should that be a consideration?