One summer on family vacation, a grandson decided we should have a family Olympics to mirror the games unfolding that summer in Brazil.
The team names: Us and Them.
We had lots of amusing conversations and plenty of confusion. I remember asking repeatedly: "Am I an Us or a Them?" I think I was a Them, but still not quite sure.
When it comes to immigration: are we an Us, or a Them?
I was 12 or 13 when I stumbled on the poem "Outwitted," by Edward Markham, a little known American poet born in Oregon in 1852:
He drew a circle that shut me out-- Heretic, a rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in!
I copied it and memorized it quickly. Not so much because of the idea of heretic or rebel, but because I was captured by the idea that the circles others draw can be overcome by wider, intentional circles of love.
I believed it then. I believe it now.
I've been saddened to hear Christian friends speak about immigrants as a dangerous "them", threatening and endangering a self-protective "us."
I've known many immigrants, from all corners of the globe. I've never felt threatened by any. Instead I'm grateful:
- For Hudson, the Ugandan refugee who helped me with my West Philly community garden, then came and shared the produce for dinner.
- For the Hmong families who joined our church and invited my husband and me to a celebration dinner in honor of a daughter they named after our own first daughter.
- For Tran, the Vietnamese refugee who helped me lead our Brownies in their camping trips, sitting by the fire after the girls were asleep, sharing stories of her years in a refugee camp.
- For the immigrants I see in our church every week, adding their rich perspective to conversations over shared Sunday lunches.
Others? I never ask. Current US avenues toward legal immigration are messy, broken, and in great need of reform.
The Bible has much to say about our welcome of the exile, the stranger, the immigrant, the unknown "them." A quick review of the most forceful:
“You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien; for you were aliens in the land ” (Exodus 22:21)
The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:34)
For the Lord your God...loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
(Deuteronomy 10:19:‘Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.’ Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
(Deuteronomy 27:19)
Old Testament passages suggest that when it comes to "strangers," we are all in that group, and should treat others as we would like to be treated.
Jesus makes the case even stronger: our acceptance of strangers is equal to our acceptance of him. Our denial of stranger is a denial of him and ample cause for his own denial of us.
Read Matthew 25:31-46 carefully, prayerfully. Jesus challenged the "us" and "them" of the people who considered themselves chosen. He said there would come a a day of judgment that would not go as they expected.
The word “xenos” in the original Greek, translated “stranger” in the Matthew passage, could also be translated foreigner, alien, sojourner, guest. It's the root of the word “xenophobia”: fear and hatred of strangers, foreigners, anything strange or foreign.
Treatment of the "xenos", Jesus said, is the same as treatment of Jesus himself.
There are plenty of arguments to be made for welcoming immigrants.
Our economy has for centuries been dependent on immigrant labor, work ethic, ingenuity.
Opposing arguments about immigrant crime have no basis in fact. For decades studies on the issue have shown immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes. Undocumented immigrants in particular do all they can to avoid any encounter with law enforcement.
The World Relief Corporation of the National Association of Evangelicals provides a six-session study: Discovering and Living God's Heart for Immigrants: A Guide to Welcoming the Stranger. The study addresses issues raised above and more.
But for Christians, our response to immigrants, legal or otherwise, ,can't be based on economic questions, protection of "our" way of life, or judgment of the motives of the strangers struggling to join us. Jesus suggests none of that matters. The deeper issue is love of neighbor: the command second only to love of God himself.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if churches spreading alarm about "illegal aliens" would take time to learn the facts and see what God has to say?
If you're interested in learning more, spend some time with that World Relief study guide.
If you hear people talk about "illegals," dangerous aliens, our borders overrun: ask for facts, sources, and offer that study guide. Or invite friends of family to read that Matthew 25 passage together.
What I see in the Matthew 25 discussion of sheep and goats is Jesus' rebuke of the self-important, self-protective "us" vs "them." I hear him saying "don't assume you're the insiders, the chosen. You may be surprised."
The divisions will not go well for those most eager to divide. Jesus stands with the "them": the strangers, the foreigners, the "illegals", the xenos: "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me."
Earlier posts on this subject:
- Welcome the Stranger, January 28, 2024
- Walls, Welcome, Mercy, Law Sunday, August 28, 2016
- Epiphany and Filoxenia: Entertaining Angels, January 4, 2015
A movie that helped me see this more clearly: The Visitor
