Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Weekly sermons from our Central Lutheran Church preaching team plus quick reflections from Pastor Ryan Braley.
Real talk, ancient wisdom, and honest questions — all designed to help you learn, grow, and find encouragement when you need it most.
At Central, our mission is simple: FOLLOW Jesus together, be a community where you BELONG, and LOVE our neighbors across the street and around the world.
Think deeper. Live freer. Share an episode with a friend and visit us in person anytime — you’re always welcome here in Elk River, MN.
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Guard the Gar with Pastor Ryan Braley
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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as we start school and whatever else is going on, I pray that you'd give us eyes to see and ears to hear, give us open hearts and open minds, and bless 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 you help us to see those things that unite us rather than those things that divide us and keep us different. May you help us see the commonalities with the person across from us in every way and bless us this morning in Jesus' name. Amen. Good morning everyone. How are we doing? Okay, so we are wrapping up.
Speaker 1:We got one more week after this one, but our you Pick sermon series where, this summer, we've had several people write in a question they had or a Bible verse they wanted us to talk about, and we just talked about it and kind of responded. And the question for this week was about this passage Can you put the passage back up, sam, is that possible? From Leviticus that talks about the alien and the foreigner. The alien was a foreigner, someone from not within the country but from outside the country, a non-Israelite. This, of course, was written in Leviticus. I'll unpack it in a minute and how does this impact our life today? Maybe you know this, maybe you've been on Facebook or seen this, because you sort of swim in certain circles where they talk about politics a lot who knows? Where they talk about politics a lot, who knows? But this verse is oftentimes used to address modern day politics and immigration policy and foreign policy and these kinds of things. So I think the question in the question 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 as Christians and American Christians, or Tanzanian Christians, tanzanian American Christians and these kinds of things? How do we address our modern sort of way of being with this verse? And can we, should we? How can we do it? Does that make sense? Okay, you can go back to my title slide, so I'm going to give you my answer first and then I'm going to unpack what I think we need to do with this verse. But the sermon is called Guard the Gare. That was pretty clever, guard the Gare. I'll unpack that in a minute, but here's what I would say.
Speaker 1:This verse, like many of these ancient scriptures, was written thousands of years ago. This Old Testament, levitical law was written about 2,500 years ago and, as controversial as might be for some of us, it was not written to address modern American politics. It was not written to address our immigration policy or how we should handle borders or the foreigner. In terms of 20, what year is it? 2025. And all the things happening in this 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 how they were to address the foreigner, the alien, in their time and in their place. Does that make sense? 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 for ourselves modern, 21st century questions based on this text. It's 2,500 years old, but to suggest that this is what God has commanded Israel, therefore, now American politics or policymakers ought to do X, y or Z, it's just really. It's a misusing of the Bible verse. It's not really how it should be read. However, I do think it's still helpful and I want to tell you why. Is that be all right? So guard the gear.
Speaker 1:I was in Canada this past week for about a week I was up in Victoria, british Columbia. Anybody ever been to Victoria, british Columbia? Oh, nobody, okay, well, yeah, I didn't know. It's like a tropical area up there. We went into the woods. I was in the woods for about seven days and in the woods they have deer and they have all kinds of other animals like evergreens you would see here in Minnesota or in Colorado the motherland but also they have tree frogs and palm trees and ferns. It's like this is the weirdest geography and landscape I've ever seen, and so it was a mixture of that. This was up in Brentwood Bay, so I was there for a week. This is my friend I met. Yeah, he's a weathered old fisherman 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 was before I got into the woods for about seven days, and I go on these excursions about once a year.
Speaker 1:I got in the woods for about seven days or so. It's a time of silence and solitude. There's some guiding going on, there's other people that are total strangers that are showing up there and we do all kinds of things. It's not a Christian retreat per se. It's mostly like. It's an experience in nature and we're doing in this one in particular, we're doing some studying like psychology and Jungian dream analysis, if that's interesting to anybody, and those kinds of things was very, very cool.
Speaker 1:And here I was eating breakfast on the Brentwood Bay, right there. So I took a picture, you know, just so you could see where I was, and it was an incredible experience. And then there, yeah, there's the tree frog. I'm like, I'm in the woods and there's, like this beautiful tropical tree frog, and it was a long seven days. So towards the end of my time there, you know, I had to have my coffee in the morning, there I am. But things got crazy after about seven days. It didn't, you know, it was like it got wild up there. That's how it ended up. So seven days in the woods alone, man, it got crazy, but it was cool.
Speaker 1:Here's one of the things we did. So we had there was 15 other people, and one of the things I love most about these trips that I love doing is actually something that we don't do. When we show up and I've done it with the same organization a couple years in a row one of the things you don't do is you don't immediately sit down on that first night and go around the circle and do an icebreaker how many of you love icebreakers out there? Okay, we didn't do that. And the first year I was like why aren't we doing any icebreakers? I don't know who these people are. Why don't they tell me their name and what they do for a job and where they're from? And I expected like, well, I'm Ryan, I'm a pastor from Elk River, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:But the more I've done of these, the more I really appreciate us not doing that, because now you're forced to get to know somebody based on all kinds of other things other than their name, their job and where they're from, because oftentimes when you introduce yourself, you might sort of present this front. We all do this, not even always on purpose, but there's this front and it becomes this filter through which now you will interact with me. So I'm Ryan, I'm a pastor from Elk River. Now you immediately think you know who I am or what I'm all about and you'll interact with me based on that information alum. And so it becomes like this, almost like a, like a shadow or a false self, and then we sort of interact based on that.
Speaker 1:But on this trip we didn't do that. You just start getting to know each other in all kinds of wild and crazy ways and I do all these things to make you interact, but it's not like that icebreaker kind of a thing. For example, one of the things they did was they said okay, we're going to mill around in this group and we're out, everything's outside, you're camping and you know and like, okay, as you're walking around, you're going to just sort of make eye contact with somebody when you see them, get close with them. So you're like just wandering around and you look up and you see somebody and you're like okay, 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 start guiding us like this, looking into their eyes, activity, and they're like and look into their, and I'm like that's getting a little weird and a little awkward. So we're gonna practice it now. So turn to your neighbor, look into their eye. I'm just kidding. But here's what happened when I first met my person. I was like okay, brown hair, and they're kind of shorter than I am and they have a blue jacket on. But then there's this moment where you get past the awkwardness and also you sort of settle into this weird mystical experience with the other, where you're just looking into their eyes I didn't even know this person, they didn't know me and it was super awkward, trust me, it was awkward. I've tried to get my wife through this with me. I'm like let's just stare and she's like no, I'm not doing that right, but it's weird. Something happens and you look into their eyes and they look into your eyes and I didn't even know this person again, and you sink into this another level of like seeing this person. It's wild, and I think that's what Leviticus 19 is getting at, rather than how modern Americans ought to handle immigration policy. Here's what I want to say.
Speaker 1:Leviticus 19, now Leviticus, in case you didn't know, is the third book in the Bible Genesis, exodus, leviticus, numbers, deuteronomy. The first five books is called the Torah, the Pentateuch, or the books of Moses, and they're like these. Torah means teaching or instruction, and the first five books sort of tell the history of the world, the cosmology according to Jewish people, and it gives them instruction for how to live as God's people. And Leviticus sort of comes onto the scene just after the Israelites have been rescued from Egypt. So, remember, they end up in Egypt. They're slaves for about 400 years and Leviticus comes onto the scene right after they're released from slavery in Egypt for 400 years. They're learning to live as free people and they show up Leviticus does as this manual for worship. Okay, so, once you're out of slavery, 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're going to engage with. You're going to do this with this goat and this blood and never boil a cow in its mother's milk. It's never a good idea those kinds of things. And so Leviticus is this manual for them as they're becoming free people to learn how to live in the world with each other, with God and with their neighbors.
Speaker 1:Now, leviticus 19, sort of right in the middle there of Leviticus, is like a mini microcosm of the whole book and the whole teaching or instruction called the Torah. So Leviticus 19, there's a whole bunch of laws or commands or short teachings that offer instruction on how to live in the world with God and with each other. In fact, it mimics and mirrors the 10 commandments, which of course came much earlier. So here's some examples. Here's the whole. If you read Leviticus 19 later on, here's a whole bunch of the laws in Leviticus 19. Respect your mother and father. You might remember that or recognize that from the 10 commandments, how about this one? Observe the Sabbath, also one of 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 are found in Leviticus 19.
Speaker 1:And love your neighbor as yourself. Hmm, where have we heard that one before? Well, many hundreds of years later, jesus, who is a young Jewish man at this time, shows up and he quotes Leviticus 19. He's asked sum up all of the law, all of the Torah, all the teachings, all the instruction of the people of Israel, all the commands. Sum them up. And Jesus is like okay, fine, love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, which comes from the Shema, another Deuteronomy passage. And Jesus says and love your neighbor 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 this law and he would quote it. And this is him summing it all up in one go. Now Leviticus 19,.
Speaker 1:You see, immediately there's this connection between the people of Israel and their social behavior and their religious life. So God's like hey, I want your social behavior, how you live in the world, to mimic and mirror and reflect and be in congruence with how you worship God. In other words, how you worship God, how you pray, the songs you sing, the things that you say when you're in your prayer closet, when you're reading scripture, when you're at church on Sunday mornings this is a joking, it's anachronistic but how you live in your religion, I want that to also be reflecting how you live in the world. So you could say this way how you behave in church and the things you say ought to also be how you behave and match the things you say when you're out in 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 are different, but there'd be congruence that your behavior over here on a Sunday morning with your friends at church and all your holy language and fair enough, would also match how you live and move and behave and treat other people in the world. There should be congruence.
Speaker 1: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, god is good, amen. Oh, what was the song? Oh, how great thou art, how great thou art, yes, lord. And then you leave there and some idiot cut you off in traffic. You're like, oh, I can't believe. You know right, maybe you've been there. So God is like okay, here's some laws for how to not be an idiot when you're in public, and I 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 shape your behavior. Sometimes your belief comes out of behavior, sometimes behavior comes out of belief. It kind of goes, it's like this beautiful dance. So God gives them laws to help them live lives that are congruent. Because this is interesting too, by the way.
Speaker 1:The early Christians so this is, of course, after the, you know, when Jesus shows up they were called followers of the way based on how they behaved in the world. They weren't called believers right away. In fact, believers, if you were to call someone a believer back, then, it meant that they believed it to be true so deeply that it affected their behavior. There are many cultural Christians in the world today. People are cultural Christians that their behavior, though, looks nothing like Christ, and so God wanted to establish a people who didn't live disintegrated lives. He wanted lives of integration. So then he says okay, at the end of 19,.
Speaker 1:Here's the law we're talking about today, the command. When a foreigner then resides in your midst and in your land, don't mistreat them. By the way, you can sum up all of the 10 commandments and all of Leviticus 19 by saying this I love this by just saying two things hey, here's the laws. Be cool and don't be a jerk, right? So if you're ever like, hey, should I do this? Well, pastor Ryan said be cool and don't be a jerk. Oh, I'm not going to do that thing because I'll be a jerk, it's all of us. Just, be cool and don't be a jerk. So when there's folks that are foreigners living in your land, don't mistreat them. Treat them as though they're native born. In other words, treat them as though they're one of your own. Treat the other as though they were one of your own. Love them as yourself, because you were once foreigners in Egypt.
Speaker 1:By the way, there was this thread in Israel's history of hospitality, wherever there was a stranger, a foreigner, an outsider to come in, god always said hey, take care of them, pour them a glass of wine or a glass of not wine, whatever Be hospitable. And then in the early Christian church it was the same way. They valued hospitality when a stranger comes in, be kind to them, be good to them, offer them gifts and these kinds of things. Now the word for stranger is the word ger. Everyone say ger, or the sermon is called guard the ger. Guard the ger, clever, right. Ger means stranger or outsider, or alien or foreigner. These are all words used in the Hebrew scriptures. You could also say it like this it's the other, yeah, the other. Who's the other in your life? Now here's the thing.
Speaker 1:This passage was mirrored or repeated many times in the Hebrew scriptures. A couple of examples, by the way. What he's saying is guard the ger, so don't mistreat the foreigner, take care of them, yeah, so, by the way, what he's saying is guard the gare, so don't mistreat the foreigner, take care of them, look out for them, treat them as one of your own. Guard the gare. Here's some examples.
Speaker 1:So, in Exodus, don't mistreat or oppress 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 it feels to be a foreigner because you were once foreigners in Egypt. So also later on in Deuteronomy, he defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. God loves the gear, so you should take care of them. How about this one in Deuteronomy 24?
Speaker 1:Don't deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. Remember when you were slaves in Egypt, the Lord, your God, redeemed you from there. This is why I've commanded you to do this. When you're harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, like so, when you're out harvesting the fields and you leave some food on the fringes on accident, don't go back and get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow. So the Lord, your God, may bless 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 to the corners, the edges, leave it and let the foreigner come in, who can't usually afford their own food, and let them pick it up and have it for free.
Speaker 1:Guard the gear. Also, ezekiel, you are to allot the land as an inheritance for yourselves and for the foreigners residing among you and who have children. You're to consider them as native-born Israelites. Along with you, there will be allot an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. So this land you're doling out, give some land to the foreigners. They'll be treated just like you, as a citizen of Israel. Okay, declares the sovereign Lord as one of your citizens. Love them as you love yourself. Treat them as you would want others to treat you. Be cool and don't be a jerk. Are you with me? Here's the deal.
Speaker 1:Jewish scholars and commentators know how strong of a command this is because it is mentioned at least 36 times in the Hebrew scriptures. At least 36 times in the Hebrew scriptures. Others argue 46 times that God commands Israel to take care of, to guard the gear. Don't mistreat them. Treat them as though you love them, like they're one of your own, like they're your own son or daughter or brother or sister or mother or father. Welcome them in, give them land, give them food. Treat them kindly, love them as you would love yourself. It's an unorthodox number of times they repeat this passage over and over 36 or 46 times. It's repeated a bunch.
Speaker 1:The gare was to receive the same dignity as the native Israelite. And here's why Because you, you were also once a gare. Have you forgotten Israel? You were also a foreigner, you were an outsider. You were once marginalized, rejected, despised, kicked to the curb, ignored. That's who you once were. Have you already forgotten? You were in Egypt. You know what it's like to feel rejected, kept out, left out, ignored, unseen. You know what it's like, so don't do it to them. The Talmud, this oral tradition in a Jewish story, the Talmud, suggests many times that the Israelites know what it's like to experience pain as an outsider, because their history is full of that and they were in Egypt. So God says don't inflict this on 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 them like they're one of your own.
Speaker 1:You ever been to like a a a concert at a school, or like a baseball game, right, and? And you know when that, like when there's a kid pitching or batting, or a kid performing, like on the violin or singing a solo, you know immediately where that kid's family is in the crowd Because you can hear mom, tommy, yeah, let's go. Or dad, let's go, tommy, you got this, let's go. I'm the ball, tommy Right, because that parent or that uncle or that cousin who came to visit, like that's their kid and I'm going to cheer loud for him or her, they're going to know that I'm here and God's like, yeah, yeah, do that for everybody. Could you imagine if we, as parents, did this, if we cheered that intensely for our kid but for all the kids? What if we did that for all the kids? Yeah, guard the gare, because you were once a ger and the ger is, after all, a human being.
Speaker 1:Look, I know they're strangers, I know that. I know they're outsiders, I know they're foreigners, they speak a different language, but they're also a human being, just like you. Now, we have a hard time with this because some people are just strange and different. I get it. It's hard to understand foreigners or strangers or outsiders. There are folks I just don't get. You know, for example, disney adults.
Speaker 1:This is about nobody in particular. This is a generalization. That's revenge, for last week Ben Took a shot at my Broncos last week. I don't get Disney adults, do your thing, but I don't get. All right, how about this one? People who put ketchup on their steak. What are you doing? Oh my gosh, no, you don't deserve a steak. You guys, you don't deserve a steak. What are you doing? Oh my gosh, no, you don't deserve a steak. You guys, you don't deserve a steak. Just throw in the garbage. I don't understand you outsiders, you foreigners, people who like candy corn. Come on, this is garbage. This is so. It tastes like a warm sock. I mean come on, oh my gosh. All right, a couple more. We're going to have some fun this morning.
Speaker 1:Those who use Facebook for their own personal diary Nobody looking around or their own medical documentation Like here I am. I lost my third toe and here's a picture for everybody to see the bone poking out of the blood. I don't want to see that. Put your foot away, you nasty old foot. Get off of that. At the dentist's office getting my teeth cleaned, nobody wants to see that. Get that off of there.
Speaker 1:All right, yeah, who's the other in your life? How about those 830ers? Yeah, who's the other in your life? How about those 830 years? 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 chanting too? All the chanting and all the? I can't believe. Do those folks even like me? I don't even know if all that can. Those 830 years are so stoic. And those 10 o'clockers don't get me started. Oh my gosh, they like the drums, oh drums. You know who plays drums Heavy metal musicians. They're so rebellious with their 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.
Speaker 1:Who's the other? How about the person who has a different color skin than you do? How about folks with brown skin? Oh, they all look the same, don't they? I don't care, I don't care. By the way, I grew up, had lots of African-American friends and they always said the same thing to me God, ryan, you white people, you all look the same. I can't tell you all apart. Went to high school with a bunch of Koreans and we became good friends and they're like Ryan, you white folks, I can't tell you apart. It's all the same. Yeah, yeah, how about folks with white skin? Maybe that's the other for you.
Speaker 1:Maybe it's folks with orange skin, been in the tanning bed a little too long, whatever right. Maybe it's introverts like I just don't get those introverts are so quiet I can't. Maybe it's extroverts. Maybe it's verbal processors oh my gosh. Yeah, maybe it is immigrants who come to this country who are different than not we are. They have different cultural sort of rhythms and habits and they speak a different language. Maybe Maybe it's refugees that are different. They look and sound different, they raise their kids differently. Maybe they're the other.
Speaker 1:Maybe it's folks experiencing homelessness. You're like I don't know what's going on there, why don't they just get a job? Maybe it's the addict, just figure it out. And they're like I don't know what's going on there, why don't they just get a job? Maybe it's the addict, just figure it out. And they're foreign, they're strange, they're different. Maybe it's someone from Iowa I don't know, I'm just had to bring us back out of that serious dip there or from Colorado Fine, from Colorado, guard the gear.
Speaker 1:Can you see how this is more than just about American politics and how we handle the borders? It's almost a too myopic of a view to then sort of take this ancient scripture that was very, very meaningful, essential, to the heart of what it meant to be an Israelite and put it onto this. So I'm talking about this Now. Our politics can be informed by this passage, though. Here's how we can read it today. I think this verse can speak to us today.
Speaker 1:How can you and I live as though the other were one of our own? When I say who's the other in your head, I mean don't say it out loud, but who's the other? Who's the other? That's foreign, that's stranger. The gear in your life that you just 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 live as though they also were children of God and human beings, as though they were maybe one of our own, as though it was maybe ourself? How do I love the other as though it was one of my own kids? How do I fight for them as though it was one of my own kids? How do I see them?
Speaker 1:See modern Jewish ethicists. They see this law, and it was repeated 36 or 46 times, because it was the foundation for human dignity. May you see the other not as an object but as a person, but as a person, as a soul, as a living embodiment of God himself. They bear the image of God. Do you know why we all think about other races like they all look the same. You know why we do that. We all do it.
Speaker 1:I've traveled all over the world. I've met people from every continent, many different countries, and we all do this because we see them as an object. I'm not even saying we should feel bad, it's just sort of how we're kind of wired. When I saw that person in the hills of Victoria meet their eyes, I'm standing with this person, my partner. I'm like oh, this person has brown hair and a blue jacket and they're kind of shorter than me. Immediately I'm interacting with them as an object as the other, as something to be seen or 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 thing to use or define. Oh, this person's not as tall as me. Or they have a North face jacket and they have black shoes on and they, they seem kind of artsy. That's not how. That's not how you see somebody. Oh, those people, they all look the same. Yeah, yeah, oh, that group of people, they all do the same things. They're all like, they're all fill in the blank, because we don't see each other.
Speaker 1:I think the heart of this passage is see the other. Guard the gear. There's this wonderful philosopher named Levinas, emmanuel Levinas. Anybody ever heard of Emmanuel Levinas? He argues that most modern, and I'm going to go into philosophy for a brief minute. Just hang with me.
Speaker 1:He argues that most of our modern Western philosophy is rooted in ontology, which is like this fancy way of saying being itself. And so our modern Western philosophy and this has shaped how you and I think about the world and ourselves, whether you know it or not we begin with ontology being existentialism, so like how do I know I exist? How do I know what I think? Epistemology, and they all center around I. How does the world relate to I, the I, me? And so he argues that modern Western philosophy has taught us to like relate to the world as though it's just me and everything else is an object around me, in my orbit. So no wonder we meet folks. We just immediately size them up as an object. Oh, you're tall, you're short, you're this, you're that, you're as an other, not as a human being.
Speaker 1:Levinas says we have to begin not with ontology but with ethics. Begin with the other. And he argues, how you start is by looking at someone in the face. This is his ethics of the face. I love it. You can Google it.
Speaker 1:You ever held a newborn baby? Anybody ever held a newborn baby? There's a moment like, oh my gosh, especially if you're like a first time mom or dad usually it's the dads, but I'm not trying to be judgmental here but uh, oh, this baby. He's got five fingers in that hand. Five fingers in that hand. He's got a face, an ear, two ears that's good and some hair right. It's an object, almost like right away. You're like, oh, this is like the. But you keep looking at that face of that baby and eventually like something in you melts. Oh, dear God, this is a child, it's like a soul. I would give my life for this thing. One day, this little kid will break my heart by leaving. I will stay up late at night wondering where they are. I'll pray for them. It's like the mystery of God in the face of the other. How does that work? Levinas says it's by looking in the face. You bypass them as object and see them as a soul. Yeah, look in the face.
Speaker 1:My wife, katie says, has told me many times, ryan, when I get mad at you which is very, very rare, just maybe once or twice in my life because I just look in your face. My heart sometimes melts because I see you and you're no longer this object, but you're something different. You're a person. You're an embodiment of the divine mystery of God. There's a soul in you, something alive. You're a human being who bears the image of God. She does with our kids too, where she'll, like when our kids were little, they would just scream and scream and scream. When they're little, she would just hold them and look at their faces.
Speaker 1:And how can you be mad at someone when you look in their face and their eyes? Levinas says you no longer see them as the other, but as one of your own, even as yourself. Yeah, I wonder what would happen if the next time we got mad at somebody or we viewed somebody as the other or we had a thought of like hatred or vengeful rage or something like that. What if we just looked in their face? What would we see? Levinas says that the face is vulnerable. It's vulnerable, it's bare, it's naked. You can do some real harm to a face and embed it at the same time in the face as the command, levinas says to not kill. Yeah, the law of god is written on the face you shall not kill, because this person too bears the law of God is written on the face you shall not kill Because this person too bears the image of God.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you what one of the hardest things for me this week has been to look at the shooter like this, any shooter like this. It's hard, isn't it? That shooter had a family, had a name, was once a child. How do we look at the other? Not as other, but as one of our own, one of ours? I'm not saying it's easy or that just erases the bad things other people do. I'm not saying it's easy or that just erases the bad things other people do. I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying maybe it begins with us and how we see the world, how we see the other. Maybe the thing behind the thing is how do we treat other people who are the other, that are different, that look different, smell different? Maybe we ought to look in their face and I wonder, if you do that, you might also just see Jesus In Matthew 25, jesus starts talking about this separation of sheep and goats and he says this famous line.
Speaker 1:He says hey, when I was a stranger, you invited me in. When did we do that? We didn't do that. Yeah, you did. When you invited in the outsider the least of these, the broken, the hurt, the marginalized. When you guarded the gear, you were doing it to me. What, somehow in the other, is Christ. I don't know how that works, but when you encounter the other on the street, in school, on the news, on social media, when you encounter the gear, you're encountering Christ. And when you invite them in, you're encountering Christ. And when you invite them in, you invite in Jesus. I was a stranger and you invited me in Central Lutheran Church this morning.
Speaker 1:May you see the other. May you look into their eyes and not just see a nose and ears and cheeks and hair and how tall or short or heavy or thin, or what jersey they had on or what language, but may you see 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 other things later and politicians will. And if you have a heart for those things and vote according to your conscience or run for office, do all those things, but let's rewind and let's treat others as we ourselves want to be treated.
Speaker 1:Maybe you're here this morning and you need to hear that. Maybe the other is actually in you. There are parts of you that you don't like. There are parts of you that you see as the other. Maybe in some sort of Jungian sense there's like these parts of you like you. Just you want to suppress them or hide them away. But may you learn to love the other in yourself too, and may you see the world the way that God sees it. May you look people in the eyes and may you see the world the way that God sees it. May you look people in the eyes and may you guard the gear, amen.
