Hospitality to the elderly and foreigner

 Leviticus 19:32-33:  32You are to rise in the presence of the elderly, honor the aged, and fear your God. I am the LORD.  33When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you must not oppress him. 34You must treat the foreigner living among you as native-born and love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God

Thoughts: Hospitality and respect go hand in hand.  Respect means you do n
ot harm another and even honor them as persons.  The fear of God (19:1- "be holy for I am holy") means we respect God more than anyone else.  It does not just mean be afraid of what God can do to you if you don't listen, but that you listen to Him out of revering Him.  
     Rising in honor and respect of the elderly  means we recognize that we would not be here without them, and that their experience and crystallized intelligence (wisdom) should be respected and listened to.  One of the great anti-wisdoms was when Rehoboam refused to listen to his wise father (Solomon's) advisers but instead went with the younger advisers who were his friends.  As more people live longer (despite covid), and as the elderly have much of the money and property of our day in America, we should expect more degrading of the elderly.  But the other side is that if the elderly hold onto all of their "stuff" and power, they will hurt instead of help the elderly as a whole.  My opinion is that the two over 75 candidates for president should humbly step out of the way for the good of the country and let someone else have a chance.  But, they should be respected as former presidents (sometimes despite their actions- the office deserves respect).  
       The touchy part of this passage is how we treat foreigners in our midst.  This makes no distinction between the foreigner who has gained citizenship and the one who has not.  But the other context of this is that those who break the laws of the land are not to be respected.  Those who come illegally should not be as respected as those who waited in line, paid the cost to become legal or even citizens.  But this passage does soften any super anger, fear, or prejudice toward the foreigner who is in our midst.  We are not called to be prejudiced against any human being.  All are made in the image of God.  The Israelites are reminded to be kind to foreigners for they were foreigners in Egypt for 400 years.  In their foreigner status- they were made slaves and treated poorly.  We are not to forget that.  

Prayer:  Lord, give me grace to respect and show kindness to others.  Let me look for ways to be kind to others as you have been kind to me.