Eyes Wide Open: 41-Day Lenten Devotional Sample

Welcoming and Proclaiming the Humble, Exalted One

“Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was…a stranger and you welcomed me…” – Matthew 25:34-35

Jesus gave his life on the cross for us. And before that, he gave us the way he lived, in humility and vulnerability.

We read in Philippians 2:6-7 that Jesus, “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.”

As a child, Jesus’ parents fled with him to another land to escape a hostile, dangerous government: a refugee experience.

In these days, when refugees and immigrants are in the news, when policy is loudly debated on our screens, we’re invited to see our vulnerable neighbors through the lens of Jesus, who said, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matt. 25:35). 

When we offer this welcome, we testify to the good news of our Savior in the spirit of 1 Kings 8:43: “Do whatever the foreigner asks of you, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your own people Israel, and may know that this house I have built bears your Name.”

In our humility and through our welcome, we then proclaim what that passage in Philippians goes on to say:

Therefore God also highly exalted him
    and gave him the name
    that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus
    every knee should bend,
    in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue should confess
    that Jesus Christ is Lord,
    to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:9-11)

Prayer: Lord, we’re grateful that you gave everything for us. You gave even your life. You entered the world humbly, your family fled. As you invite me to welcome the stranger, may I testify to you through my words and actions to share with others how we are welcomed into your love by grace. Amen.

- Written by Kent Annan