The Road to Perdition

 

This essay is from one of the parishioners at St Patrick's...  

The United States is not on the road to greatness.  We are on the road to perdition.

We have “law enforcement” sweeps conducted by men is militia style tactical gear, devoid of any law enforcement insignia, while wearing facemasks.  They are indistinguishable from street thugs and criminal gangs. 

Our government has established “detention facilities” that reek of concentration camps with inhumane unsanitary conditions for people, human beings, who are denied the due process rights that, at least theoretically, are guaranteed by our Constitution.

In the administration’s eagerness to round up criminal illegal immigrants, we have rounded up legal residents, asylum seekers, tax paying workers, and US citizens.  We have torn families and communities apart.  And far too many of our citizens applaud these travesties of justice, even far too many who claim to be Christian.  But what does the Bible say about how we treat the strangers among us?

Leviticus 19:33-34 is pretty clear.  “33 “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. 34 The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born 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 24:22 reiterates the point, “You shall have one law for the alien and for the native-born, for I am the Lord your God.”  To me, it is pretty clear that all of our rights as US citizens must also apply to immigrants, both legal and illegal.

But what does Jesus say?  In Matthew 22:36-40, Jesus is asked to rank the commandments.  The conversation is recorded as this:  36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

When someone asks, “Who is my neighbor,” Jesus responds with the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37.  The story makes it clear that even those we may despise are still our neighbors.  And how we treat even the poorest of our neighbors matters.  Matthew 25:31- 46 is unforgiving about it.  “31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, 35 for 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, 36 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.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.’ 41 Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You who are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, 42 for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life.””

In John 21:15-17, Jesus summarizes his instructions when he tells Peter, “Feed my lambs, tend my sheep.”

So regardless of what our “leadership” is Washington are doing, Christian faith makes it clear that our Constitutional rights and protections must extend to all persons regardless of legal status, that we are to love our neighbors by feeding the hungry, providing drink to the thirsty, clothing the naked, healing the sick, visiting the imprisoned, and, by the small extension of tending Christ’s sheep, healing the sick and housing the homeless.

Anyone who supports the administration’s inhumane treatment of the powerless among us and at the same time describes themselves as Christian, is, at best, a hypocrite.  While Romans 10:9 says salvation is rooted in confessing Jesus is Lord, Jesus himself says that is not enough.  Matthew 7:21 presents Jesus’ warning, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.”   If Jesus is “Lord and Savior,” it is incumbent upon us to live by Jesus’s teachings and expectations, even if it is hard, uncomfortable, or unpopular.