121 Days of Prayer

When an Alien Lives with You in Your Land, Do Not Mistreat Him

The purposes of this prayer are: Holiness/Righteousness, Justice, Mercy and Obedience.

Loving God, once when an expert in Mosaic law stood up and asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, Jesus responded by asking him what was written in the law. The expert replied, “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself.’ ‘You have answered correctly,’ Jesus replied, ‘Do this and you will live.’” Luke 10:27–28 (NIV). When the expert asked Jesus who his neighbor is, Jesus responded by telling him the parable of the Good Samaritan. The expert in the law was probably testing Jesus because he should have been familiar with the passage from the book of Leviticus that made explicit exactly who one’s neighbor is: “When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 19:33–34 (NIV). Jesus took the occasion of answering a gotcha question from a scribe to teach what is perhaps his most well-known and well-loved parable, that of the Good Samaritan, to memorably illustrate the understanding of just who one’s neighbor is. Lord, we pray that we will always treat the stranger and the alien among us exactly as we are commanded to do: love them as we love ourselves. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.