“Be Fair To Foreigners, Orphans And Widows!”

“Be Fair To Foreigners, Orphans And Widows!”(Dt.24:17-22).
The text today tells us how we should treat the alien, the fatherless and the orphan. These are people who are often deprived of their just rights!
Three grassfield proverbs come to my mind to use in elucidating my reflection about these marginalized persons:
“Water that you beg cannot fully prepare your meal.” “When the food is not well prepared, orphans will have full plates.” And, “No matter how you lavish a widow with gifts, she’ll only think of her late husband.”
As in the past, even as it is now, aliens (foreigners) receive shabby treatments in foreign lands. The zenophobia spirit in South Africa is usually only temporarily quieted down, but with time it erupts. The procedure to obtain visas to some countries leaves very little to be admired. Africans are merely tolerated in some Caucasian countries. In some countries a foreigner is always the first suspect when a crime has been committed in the neighbourhood. And in some countries foreigners live as fugitives. Yes, foreigners can only live on borrowed water which can hardly prepare a meal!
To say that orphans would have their fill when the food is not well prepared is acknowledgement that orphans are not usually well fed. In the midst of greedy grabbers orphans are disenfranchised. The wealthy and powerful bribe the authorities and take without compunction what belong to orphans.
And lastly is the widow! The first and perhaps the most dehumanizing stigmatization that is tagged on the widow is that she is called, “widow of…” Even if she remarries, she is addressed as “widow of…remarried to…” In some cases – and this is regular – she is accused of killing her husband and disinherited by her late husband’s people.
What is aching is that these shabby treatment of foreigners, orphans and widows are perpetrated by some Christian countries and some Christians.
The followers of Christ are the light of the world and should be the difference. Today we are reminded: “Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge…When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand…”
My friend, no condition is permanent! You never can tell what has been lined up for you in the days ahead. Times and tides change; not always for better, but for better or for worse.
When you care for the marginalized and the downtrodden you attract God’s blessing on all the work of your hand.
Do good and be good to everybody.
Prayer of the week: Heavenly Father thank you for favouring me. Inspire me to dispense the same favours to the less fortunate. Amen!
Welcome back to a new working day and week! Have a blessed day and week! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.