Ed: This post is part of a new series called “Reclaiming the Bible’s Prophetic Voice,” in which Council staff consider the biblical and theological roots of their work. You can read more from the series here.
The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37)
25 Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” 27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”
29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
33 But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
In Church, when we talk about immigration, the first question isn’t whether immigrants contribute more than they take or how to secure the border.
The first question is: “Who is my neighbor?” Are immigrants our neighbors?
How do we as Christians treat people who don’t have the “right” status? How do we treat those whom society rejects and treats as invisible? This is a major question throughout the Bible. In fact, many familiar passages involve the stories of migrants and other people who are marginalized, including the stories of:
- Abraham
- Isaac
- Jacob
- Joseph
- Israel (in Egypt)
- Exodus (Moses, Joshua)
- Ruth
- David
- Exile
- Jeremiah
- Esther
- Ezra
- Nehemiah
- Jesus
- Paul
In his book God’s Companions, Sam Wells (former Dean of Duke Chapel), reminds us that “strangers” represent not a threat to the Church, but a gift:
I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me (Matt. 25:35-6).
These six acts of mercy embody God’s call to his people to worship him, be his friends, and eat with him. For they begin with food and drink; they constitute the hand of friendship extended across the bounds of shame, impurity, fear and need; and they are revealed to be encounters with Christ, and thus appropriately described as worship…
But an ethic that lapses into responsibility for or duty to the stranger is inadequate. It misses the crucial dimension, that the stranger is a gift to the Church… not a burden to it. As all the scriptural examples demonstrate, the stranger represents the hand of God, becoming present in the Church to rescue, restore and remind. The stranger is not the harbinger of scarcity but the sacrament of abundance – not the drainer of resources but the bringer of gifts. Caring for the stranger, sharing food, and offering friendship, are not matters of altruism: they are done in the simple trust that this person has something precious that will sustain or build up the life of the community, even if that gift is slow to be revealed or hard to receive.
Samaritans didn’t have the right status in Israel. They were considered “half-breeds,” people whose religious and social practices were suspect. “Good Jews” didn’t talk with them or eat with them. “Good Jews” passed by the other side of the street when they saw a Samaritan coming.
In this story, Jesus – as he often does – turns conventional wisdom on its head. The point of the story is not that we who have status should show hospitality to those who don’t. Rather, we need the stranger, the Samaritan, to show us what real hospitality is all about.
We find this throughout Jesus’ life. In the Gospels, discipleship is about becoming like those who don’t have status:
- If you want to learn how to give generously, become like a poor widow who gives her last two pennies;
- If you want to learn how to pray, become like a widow arguing her case before the authorities;
- If you want to learn how to be the greatest in the Kingdom, welcome little children (who also had no status);
- If you want to learn how to become first, make yourself last;
- If you want to learn how to become a disciple, take up your cross every day.
We are called to welcome the unwelcomed, to offer hospitality to those without status, and to break bread with strangers, for in doing so we welcome Jesus and become the Church together (Matt. 25, Luke 24).
What Chris is implying is we should just open up our borders to anyone who wants to come to this country, with no restrictions. How well do you think that will work? Yes the illegal immigrants want to better themselves and take advantage of the free care our nation offers them at the expense of people living here. I don’t blame them for wanting a better life. It certainly highlights the failures of their own county’s governments. It is not the responsibility of the United States to compensate citizens of other countries due to the corruption that occurs in their own country. As we are seeing there are limitations to our financial resources and we can’t solve all of the world’s problems.
Offering amnesty to all illegal immigrants is not the answer. It is unfair to those who played by the rules. A good compromise in my opinion if for our nation to offer guest worker options like has been used in Europe for Turkish, Greek and Italian workers. They register, work in the host nation for a few years, pay taxes and then return to their own countries. Throughout the process, they retain the citizenship of their own countries.
I disagree, it is not up for debate which laws can be obeyed and which ones cannot. As Christians we must follow the laws as Christ himself said give unto Caesar what is Caesar’s. When you refer to Christ being on the wrong side of laws, I suggest you go back and review the New Testament. Christ was on the wrong side of religious laws, not government laws.
Yes we can love our neighbors even when they break our laws, just like any other lawbreaker who breaks the law by theft or murder. We do understand that those people who make the concious decision to break our laws, like sneaking across our borders, must suffer the consequences and ultimately be deported back to their country of origin.
I want to echo Rennie’s and Lisa’s comments below. Most immigrants are here because they are following the command in 1 Timothy 5:8: “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
They are providing for their own household, often at great sacrifice and risk, and in the process yes some do break US immigration law. I think that all of us should think seriously about what we would do in similarly dire circumstances.
I hope that I would have the same courage and faith in God as many undocumented immigrants if I were in their shoes.
And I don’t think we can honestly say that we love, value and respect immigrants without working to change our broken immigration system, which rips families apart and locks up hardworking men and women who are simply trying their best to provide for their families. If we love them, we must work for change.
I’m reminded of a story …
One evening, during the depression, a man was brought before the judge. He had been caught stealing a loaf of bread. After listening the man’s heartfelt and sincere story the judge pondered for a few moments. Then he announced his judgement. “First,” he said, “we must punish these kinds of crimes to make sure they never occur again. Sir, you are sentenced to time served.” Then he said to the gallery, “I’m fining everyone present a fine of $5 for living in a society where a man has to steal a loaf of bread to feed his family. Bayliff, collect the fine, and start with me.”
Immigration isn’t a debate about obedience to the law or disobedience. It is about obedience to God’s command for us to love each other to our death, to be willing to lose everything to gain life, and witness to the gracious gift we have received in Jesus Christ. The moment our position is proscribed by national borders or the laws that define them, we limit the grace we can receive from the “gift of strangers,” and the lives we can all live together.
I’m reminded of a beautiful story of another man caught stealing a loaf of bread for his sister’s family. That man was bitter but a later act of kindness from a clergyman changed his life. It was from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. The man served his time in prison for that theft, but became reformed by someone else’s kindness. Borders and laws never limit the kindness that we can give strangers despite the punishments that those strangers receive for their actions.
I love that story! I especially love how it underscores the point I have been trying to make. As pointed out above it was NOT Val Jean’s imprisonment (coincidentally an imprisonment that did not befit the crime and which subjected him to violence and oppression at the hands of guards and inmates alike) that rehabilitated him but the act of kindness he received. This story also chronicles the injustice of a government that eventually led to a rebellion as the people fought for independence and justice. I am not advocating such a turn by any means, but that aspect of the story underscores the injustice and corruption present in the society whose laws were broken. It is unclear whether Val Jean would if necessary steal bread again to feed those in need. What is clear is that he dedicated his life to one of kindness and love because of the kindness and love shown to him.
I’ll end this comment with a few words from 1 John 4:18-19 “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. We love because he first loved us.”
Yes that is a great story and the impact of acts of kindness. When I started reading that book, I couldn’t put it down. I also loved the musical.
In my opinion, the illegal immigrants could best be helped, without violating our laws and imposing societal costs by the use of guest worker status.
There is nothing evil for a nation to safeguard its borders and to establish rules for immigration.
As Christians we are obligated to obey just laws. While illegal immigrants are here, we should show them kindness, develop relationships and friendships but recognize that they have chosen to break a just law for which they must be punished and ultimately they will be returned to their country of origin. An orderly society requires that and we Christians are obligated to obey such laws.
Loving the stranger is a call to give up our ideas about what constitutes safety and security trusting in God to provide those things even when all evidence points to the contrary. Laws only function to proscribe what is wrong not to tell us what is right. Therefore, the only just laws are those that remind us what is truly just. The laws surrounding immigration do not do that. They prey on minorities who are here legally. They seek to enforce a status quo that cannot be maintained without the presence of persons who violate those laws. They exclude the marginalized populations of the poor and working class while privileging the wealthy and those who potentially serve the financial interests our country. There is no justice in a law that forces people to chose between a life of fear and a life of poverty.
Our desire for protection is only natural. We want to know that we are safe. But no law can enforce such a state. Welcoming strangers isn’t safe; it is good. It isn’t our moral obligation; it is Christ-like. Our security and stability do not derive from laws but from our faith and trust in God. God doesn’t want anarchy, but God also doesn’t want injustice. As Christians, we should be less concerned with securing national borders than we are with crossing borders. We follow a savior who was constantly on the wrong side of the tracks who by Jewish standards broke every law in the book. We do chose which laws we obey and which we do not. Yes, there will be consequences for our choices. So it is all the more important that we pay attention to what is good more than what is “lawful.” Besides, Jesus said “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. On these hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt. 22:36-40) How do we we love our stranger-friends as ourselves if simply say, “Sorry, you got caught. Time to pay the piper.” When they are torn from our family and their own to satisfy the law? How do we love our stranger-friends as ourselves if we are willing to walk with them only until they are caught? How do we love our stranger-friends as ourselves if we aren’t willing to suffer a fraction of what Christ suffered for us (illegals in God’s sight) for them?
Like it or not we are a nation of laws, we cannot as citizens decide which laws to obey and which ones we should not. In a democracy, if we don’t agree with a law, there is a process for changing laws. There is nothing evil about a nation safeguarding its borders and establishing rules for immigration. Without rules, we fall into anarchy, lose order and chaos results. God does not want that, as referenced by your Biblical quote. Yes indeed we all bear God’s image, but we humans live in different countries with different laws. We can show compassion to lawbreakers but understand that there are consequences when those laws are broken. Everyone makes choices and when those choices violate the law, they have to understand that civil punishment will occur.
Indeed strangers are God’s gift to the church and we should love the illegal immigrants as our brothers. But, we need to separate our Christian love from Society’s need to enforce its laws. So while they are here, we should show them love, even as our Government escorts them back to their country of origin.
This is the age-old question – whose laws do we follow, the laws of God or the laws of humans? I am reminded of the story in Matthew 22 in which the Pharisees ask Jesus whether or not they should pay taxes. The Pharisees were trying to trap Jesus, to see if he was going to commit treason by telling them not to pay taxes to the Emperor. But Jesus is surprising, as always. He asks them for a coin and then questions them as to whose image is on that coin. It’s the emperor’s image, of course. Jesus replies, “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s.” So, what is Caesar’s? The things that bear his image – mere coins. But what bears God’s image? All of us. American, immigrant, foreigner, patriot. Everyone. We are all made in the image of God. Living in the Kingdom of God means living out a different kind of life. A life that does not label people by an arbitrary legal status but by recognizing each person by the image that is stamped on his or her face – the image of God. Jesus time and again refuses to play by the rules of his day; instead, he shows a new kind of life that is inclusive, loving, and welcoming to everyone. Rather than colluding with human made laws that attempt to address the “sin” of some immigrants, perhaps we should instead be working to correct the systemic sins that are harmful to God’s children.
Loving the stranger requires more than just lip service to the idea and more than just the sentimentality of the feeling. In Biblical treatment, love is never dealt with as a state of emotion, but rather as a type of action. Thus, when loving the stranger among us, we are called to a level of interaction and community that fosters deep and intimate relationships and friendships. When we frame our positions in terms of law, we miss the opportunity to witness to the gospel by our loving actions. As James makes clear in his letter, our goodwill for the oppressed and poor must go beyond well wishes and blessings. Our love must move us to action on behalf of those in need.
When we begin to try to separate our love as Christians from a need for “social order” we become complicit in a status quo that promotes oppression and disenfranchisement. Our love calls us to forge a new social group that is defined not by gender, skin color, legal status, geography, etc …, but by Jesus Christ. In him, we are all restored from “illegal” status to one of reconciliation with God and by extension each other. By welcoming the stranger or the immigrant in our midst (of any status) we are able to participate in the mercy of God by our merciful actions. In this, the Holy Spirit transforms our relationship from strangers to friends. Only when we see strangers as a true gift to the Church in community and friendship will we be able to stand up and witness against the social order that depends on their presence but demands their silence, oppression, and exclusion.