Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84Plough Quarterly • Autumn 2016 73 credence to the voice of German churches is their direct links to churches in Iraq and Syria. This gives churches a unique form of firsthand access to reports about refugees’ experiences of war, terrorism, and displacement. Yet it must be said, too, that the churches’ appeals for a sustainable foreign policy to address the root causes of the crisis have been largely ineffectual, partly because their recommenda- tions to the government have fluctuated, at times calling for a nonviolent solution and at times giving a tentative blessing to the use of military force. Nor will the churches long be able to ignore the public’s growing skepticism toward immi- gration and the social changes it portends. After all, this skepticism is already surfacing among their members. Mercy and Stewardship The obligation to care for the vulnerable and marginalized lies at the heart of Scripture, especially its teaching about the Trinity: the community of love that exists within God himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God, by his very nature, is a relationship-seeking God whose life is one of communion. This love overflows itself. By calling Israel out from among the nations and accompanying her through history, God opens a way for a fallen and hostile humanity to share in his life of love. Through the cross of Jesus, the incarnate eternal Son of God, this suffering and vulner- able love overcomes evil, renews human beings through the Holy Spirit, and destines them for eternal life in communion with the Triune God within his transformed creation. This very brief summary of the biblical gospel offers the most fundamental basis for shaping a response to the refugee crisis. Jesus Christ commands his community of disciples to go with him on his way of suffering love and reconciliation. He frees them from their compulsion to pursue their own self-serving interests in competition; he frees them to serve. Like him, they are to receive and care for the lost, the wounded, and those in need of protec- tion. In every suffering human face, the body of Christ is to see Jesus himself. The church is to encounter each person with an uncon- ditional commitment that extends far beyond the circle of fellow Christians, reaching out to include every person as a creation of God who, though lost, is someone Jesus came to save. As Matthew 25:40 teaches, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” This passage, which contains the core of the New Testament’s attitude toward those most in need of care and protection, is set in a frame- work that is significant: that of the farewell discourses in Matthew 23–25. If we’re attentive to this framework, it can teach us how we as the body of Christ should discern the signs of the times and understand our task in the political realm. Here at the end of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus, faced with death on the cross, confronts the political and religious elite of his day, proclaiming to them the imminent end of their power. He puts the political realm into the context of the end times, announcing: The kingdoms of this world will come to an end; they are destined to pass away. But the kingdom of the crucified and risen one has arrived. According to Matthew, then, political affairs belong to the interim period that will conclude with Jesus’ return at the end of time. This interim period is a time of confrontation between evil – which, though conquered, still remains powerful – and the kingdom of In every suffering human face, the body of Christ is to see Jesus himself.