SANCTUARY for Immigrants

Torah and the Prophets warned Israel not to discriminate against economic or political refugees, since in

YHWH’s eyes even the chosen people were “but aliens and tenants” (Leviticus 25:23). Instead, they were

to treat the “sojourners in your midst” with dignity and justice (Deuteronomy 24:14). This fundamental

regard for the resident alien, and call to solidarity with the “outsider,” came to full realization in the

teaching and practice of Jesus of Nazareth. An oft-cited verse that captures this is Matthew’s last-

judgment parable, in which Jesus commends those who welcome him in the guise of a stranger—and

condemns those who do not (Matthew 25:35–46). (5)

Three archetypally vulnerable groups are commonly named in almost formulaic fashion: widows,

orphans, and strangers. Because YHWH “watches over” them (Psalm 146:9), they have intrinsic rights to

sustenance (Deuteronomy 14:29, 24:19–21, 26:12–13) and to human rights (Deuteronomy 27:19; Psalm

94:6). And the prophets measure the health of the nation by how widows, orphans, and strangers are

treated (Jeremiah 7:6, 22:3; Zechariah 7:10; Malachi 3:5)….

But there is another, theologically startling characteristic of scripture: from beginning to end, God

too is portrayed entering our world in the guise of a stranger in need of hospitality. One of the first divine

epiphanies is YHWH’s mysterious appearance in the form of “three guests” (Genesis 18:1–8). Abraham

and Sarah offer them food, drink, and shelter, and their hospitality occasions the great promise of

progeny that launches the salvation story of an entire people (Genesis 18:9–10)….

We can go further: the God of the Bible is consistently portrayed as “stateless,” and we can

reasonably add undocumented. This is in stark contrast to the patron-gods of the empires that

surrounded Israel, who lived comfortably in the temples of the king. In the Exodus tradition, the

wilderness God doesn’t even have a name, much less “papers”: the moniker YHWH means “I will be

whoever I will be” (Exodus 3:14). God’s voice summons Moses into a conspiracy for freedom from a

burning bush outside the borders of, and in opposition to, Pharaoh’s political and economic system.

Inspired and led by this God, the Hebrews flee Egypt “in haste” (Exodus 12:33), and wander in the desert

as a people with no legal status—as political refugees still must do.

The Gospel writers portray Jesus as a refugee in need of hospitality:

The Second Testament continues in this tradition. The gospel story begins with Jesus’ family fleeing

violence as political refugees, pushed around Palestine by the imperial forces of Caesar and Herod

(Matthew 2; Luke 2). The adult Jesus not only characterizes himself as homeless (“the Human One has

nowhere to lay his head,” Luke 9:58), but stateless. “My kingdom is not of this world,” he says before the

Roman procurator (John 18:36). The evangelists also portray Jesus as a constant recipient of hospitality

who sometimes even “invites himself in” (see, for example, Luke 19:5). (57-58)

Ched Myers and Matthew Colwell, Our God Is Undocumented: Biblical Faith and Immigrant

Justice (Orbis, 2012).

To think about...

1. How was the subject of immigrants handled in your family of origin? How were immigrants

viewed? Favorably? Welcomed? Disdained? Distrusted? With compassion? With contempt?

2. How have immigrants been depicted in the media you read, hear, or watch? More pariah or

blessing?

3. How does documentation factor into people’s view of immigrants?

4. How does documentation ahect compassion?

5. How does the above, very brief overview of the scripture’s voice on the treatment of immigrants sit

with you? Any surprises? Any tension created?

6. Why do you think Jesus equated our treatment of immigrants with how we treat Jesus?