I’m sure many books have been written on the subject, but it’s been my pondering this evening anyways.
Matthew 25:31-46 is a section some Bibles title as “The Final Judgment” where Jesus describes returning as King and separating those who did Good from those who didn’t. One of the lessons commonly taught out of this section is that Jesus is instructing us to provide for “strangers” and “the least of these” as if we are doing it for Jesus himself.
A hotly debated detail is who, exactly, Jesus was talking about when he said “strangers” and “the least of these”. I’ve seen all sort of interpretations ranging from “literally everyone” to “specifically the Samaritans”. Personally I’ve tried to focus on “those who can’t help / take care of themselves”.
My evening pondering has been this question: What about those who hate us and want us to die? Those who, when given the opportunity, are killing our wives, husbands, and children? Are we to risk the lives of those under our (Biblically mandated!) care to care for them? Are those people “strangers” and “the least of these”, or something else?