Immigration and the Gospel

by Russell Moore

The Christian response to immigrant communities in the United States cannot be “You kids get off of my lawn” in Spanish. While evangelicals, like other Americans, might disagree on the political specifics of achieving a just and compassionate immigration policy, our rhetoric must be informed by more than politics, but instead by gospel and mission.

I’m amazed when I hear evangelical Christians speak of undocumented immigrants in this country with disdain as “those people” who are “draining our health care and welfare resources.” It’s horrifying to hear those identified with the gospel speak, whatever their position on the issues, with mean-spirited disdain for the immigrants themselves.

[ALSO FROM Q: "Immigration Matters" and "The Immigration Question: Part Two" by Denver Seminary's M. Daniel Carroll R.]

This is a gospel issue. First of all, our Lord Jesus himself was a so-called “illegal immigrant.” Fleeing, like many of those in our country right now, a brutal political situation, our Lord’s parents sojourned with him in Egypt (Matt. 2:113-23). Jesus, who lived out his life for us, spent his childhood years in a foreign land away from his relatives among people speaking a different language with strange customs.

In so doing, our Lord Jesus was re-living the life of Israel, our ancestors in the faith, who were also immigrants and sojourners in Egypt (Exod. 1:1-14; 1 Chron. 16:19; Acts 7:6). It is this reality, the Bible tells us, that is to ground our response to those who sojourn among us (Exod. 22:21; Ps. 94:6; Jer.7:6; Ezek. 22:29; Zech. 7:10). God, the Bible says, “executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt” (Deut. 10:18-19).

This is much more than a “political” issue, abstracted from our salvation. Jesus tells us that our response to the most vulnerable among us is a response to Jesus Himself (Matt. 25:40). God will judge those who exploit workers and mistreat the poor. No matter how invisible they seem to us now, God hears (Isa. 3:15; Amos 4:1; Jas.5:4).

This is also a question of our mission. There are upwards of 12 million undocumented immigrants in this country right now, and many more in the Latino community who came here legally. If our response to them is to absorb the nativism and bigotry of some elements of society around us, we are showing them a vision of what the Bible calls “the flesh” rather than the Spirit. If our churches ignore the nations around us who are living in our own communities, we will reflect 1970s Bible Belt America rather than the kingdom of God which is made up of those from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language (Rev. 7:9).

It is easy to lash out at undocumented immigrants as “law-breakers,” and to cite Romans 13 as reason to simply call for deportation and retribution. But this issue is far more complicated than that. Yes, undocumented immigrants are violating the law, but, first of all, most of them are doing so in order to provide a future for their families in flight from awful situations back home. Many of them are children (as our Lord Jesus was at the time of his immigration).

And, even given our nation’s Romans 13 responsibility to maintain secure borders, the message our nation sends to those across our borders isn’t clear and univocal. As Southern Baptist leader Richard Land puts it, there are two metaphorical signs on our border: “Keep out” and “Help wanted.”

This isn’t to say that there aren’t real political challenges here. I agree that the border should be secured. I support holding businesses accountable for hiring, especially since some of them use the threat of deportation as a way of exploiting these vulnerable workers. I support a realistic means of providing a way to legal status for the millions of immigrants already here. But there are many who disagree with me, and for valid reasons.

The larger issue is in how we talk about this issue, recognizing that this is not about “issues” or “culture wars” but about persons made in the image of God. Our churches must be the presence of Christ to all persons, regardless of country of origin or legal status. We need to stand against bigotry and harassment and exploitation, even when it’s politically profitable for those who stand with us on other issues.

And, most importantly, we must love our brothers and sisters in the immigrant communities. We must be the presence of Christ to and among them, even as we receive ministry from them. Our commitment to a multinational kingdom of God’s reconciliation in Christ must be evident in the verbal witness of our gospel and in the visible makeup of our congregations.

Immigration isn’t just an issue. It’s an opportunity to see that, as important as the United States of America is, there will be a day when the United States of America will no longer exist. And on that day, the sons and daughters of God will stand before the throne of a former undocumented immigrant. Some of them are migrant workers and hotel maids now. They will be kings and queens then. They are our brothers and sisters forever.

We might be natural-born Americans, but we’re all immigrants to the kingdom of God (Eph. 2:12-14). Whatever our disagreements on immigration as policy, we must not disagree on immigrants as persons. Our message to them, in every language and to every person, must be “Whosoever will may come.”

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What do you believe the "political specifics of achieving a just and compassionate immigration policy" should look like? How effectively are American Christians addressing this issue, in your opinion?

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Editor's Notes: This piece was originally published on Russell Moore's blog. It is reprinted here by permission.The artwork above by Shepard Fairey is a piece intended to "gain awareness and action to help improve immigration policy and perceptions."

Comments

Karen Dawber

Now will Q: Ideas That Create a Better World focus on the adoption industry next? Where is the Christian ideal expressed when young single mothers like Jesus' mother are coerced by "Christian" adoption agencies to relinquish their first born infants without outside legal counsel, without a full disclosure of the long term adverse side effects to the natural mother and her infant? To many adoptions are of white infants when there are so many older, non white children in foster care. Too many adopters place their needs before the needs of needy infants and children. Please speak up about this ongoing "Stork Market" in the U.S.

Estreitta

Com'on Preach it!

Carl Ruby

I'd recommend the "Evangelical Call for Bipartisan Immigration Reform" as a great blueprint for thinking about policy reform.

My university (Cedarville University) is planning an event called "G92: Equipping the Next Generation for an Effective Biblical Response to Immigration." Our goal is bring young evangelical leaders together to discuss a Christian response to this issue. The Conference will be on October 20-22, 2011.

Thanks to Q for raising this issue.

Richard

re: paragraph 3. Jesus was definitely a sojourner and an immigrant, but I'm not sure how illegal he was and that's the issue - not immigration. Do apples come from pear trees? Even Jesus says if something looks like a grape, tastes like a grape and feels like a grape - it's probably coming from a grape vine and will act like a grape would. Similarly, if an immigrant has no regard for the Entrance law of a host country, would you expect him to regard the other laws and assimilate? 'Course not!

I am glad you used the metaphor in paragraph 1 of Christian Americans as adults telling kids to get off the lawn because it's not really apropos. Maybe it's our lawn, (and maybe not!), but they are not developing kids - they are people who have risked life and limb to get here and take advantage of our system. Maybe if a few million had stayed in their own country and put their energy and risk preference profile to use in staging a rebellion, things would be very different.

Not saying our response shouldn't be compassionate on an individual level, but there's a policy discussion inherent in the article. And there are times for compassion and times for justice. Remember Jesus also initially ignored the syro-phoenician woman with the demonized daughter and even called her a dog, metaphorically speaking. (Mt 15:21-28). He healed her daughter, and came for more than just the lost sheep of Israel. But he also made a clear contrast so that his compassion and mercy was evident. A Christ-ian response has to include Justice as well. Justice is good on it's own and Mercy is meaningless without it!

blah bla blah.

Carl Ruby

Richard, You raise a good point. Christians are to submit to the legal authority is over us. But at the same time, we (in the US) are blessed to live in country where we can challenge laws that are inherently injust. Christians led the way in challenging a legal system that allowed slavery, and some Christians (unfortunately, not many evangelical white believers) also led the way in challenging segregation and discrimination in the 1950’s and 60s. Looking back, we treat those who demanded better laws as heros of our faith. And we wonder why others were silent. I believe that evangelicals should lead the way in asking our legislators to give us an immigration policy that reflects the Spirit of Christ and a biblical perspective on how we treat strangers.

Todd

I dunno Richard. Herod wanted Jesus dead, so his parents took him and fled to another country. Sounds like an illegal act to me if you equate the ruling power with legality. It's not illegal immigration, but emigration. Nonetheless, if the ruling powers are unjust, then what is "good" about their justice? I think there is enough blood on the hands of the American people (since "we the people" are the power in this equation) to call our sense of justice into question from God's perspective. What is justice when corporations and capital, endowed by our laws with the rights of the individual, can freely cross borders to seek resources and higher profit margins via Mexico (NAFTA), while individuals with the wrong zip code are branded illegals for trying to escape horrible lives. Is this just?

Michael

Words mean things and sometimes our reaction to suffering and inequality can lead us to make synonyms out of words that really aren't. An immigrant and a sojourner are two different types of persons. An immigrant comes from another place and stays. A sojourner comes from another place and passes through, perhaps returning to the place from which they began their journey.

Jesus was NOT an illegal immigrant as stated in the article; his family were sojourners in Egypt as scripture correctly notes. Israel were sojourners in Egypt and for forty years the wilderness but immigrants to a promised land. We are called to love the sojourner because we are all sojourners, passing through this place, this life, on our way to the Promised Land.

There is no room for bigotry or exploitation in our faith, our language, or our politics on this issue, but the Church and the nation have different roles. Nations have the right to decide who can and who can't come and stay. As Christians, we must treat every child of God with love and charity while they are among us - whether they be neighbors, immigrants, or sojourners.

I think the biggest mistake that those who advocate for the illegal immigrant to have a path to citizenship is that they do so with demands for justice. Again, words mean things. Justice gives us what we deserve - that's what judgement is all about. To continually demand justice from citizens of a nation for those violating that nation's laws seems self-defeating because justice under those laws would result in penalty or deportation.

The louder "justice" gets shouted, the less it is heard because the language doesn't make sense and the current situation really does drain the resources of the states and the nation. Instead of demanding something undeserved, advocates for causes such as this should try another way.

Mercy delivers us from what we deserve - that's what forgiveness is all about. God calls us to do justice but love mercy. Jesus, on the cross, shows mercy trumps justice. Mercy, not justice, is the higher calling of the Church. I believe that the nation could move forward on this issue if it was understood that an act of mercy is required by its citizens and a request for mercy was being made by want-to-be citizens.

Tim

I think sometimes the two sides talk past each other. Though some do fear, even hate, illegal immigrants (for various reasons including, but not limited to, racism), others are more concerned with securing the border (a reasonable concern in a time of war and terrorism).

While a path to citizenship is not incompatible with secure borders, the polarization surrounding this issue has made it difficult for people (policymakers or just "us folks") to find common ground in discussions.

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