At the
church where I serve, we have been spending our time together in a sermon
series entitled “Vote for Jesus”. During this series, our hope and our prayer
is to accomplish three specific goals. First, our hope and our prayer is to
demonstrate that Jesus is not a republican and Jesus is not a democrat.
Instead, Jesus is God and as God Jesus is the one that we are to place our hope
in, not a political party.
Second, our hope and our prayer is to equip and
empower us to think critically and Biblically when it comes to the issues that
our culture is faced with that often find themselves expressed in the political
process. And third, our hope and prayer is to provide a framework from the
message and teachings of Jesus when it comes to how we as followers of Jesus
are to engage in the government and in the political process in way that
reveals and reflects Jesus to those around us.
This
week, I would like for us to spend our time together transitioning to address
specific political issues that would be a part of the political platform of
Jesus if He was running for office. In other words, if Jesus was running for
political office, what position would Jesus hold to when it comes to a specific
issue that is in the forefront of the political conversation today?
This
week, the issue that I would like for us to examine is the issue of
immigration. Specifically, I would like for us to ask and answer two questions.
And the two questions are “What policy would Jesus promote when it comes to the
immigration of people from other countries? And what would Jesus say we should
do about illegal immigrants who are now in the United States?”
However,
before answering these questions, I would like for us to spend a few minutes
examining the current discussion in our country when it comes to the issue of
immigration. In our current political climate, the conversation surrounding
immigration can best be described as heated and toxic.
At one
end of the conversation when it comes to the issue of immigration would be politicians
and others who advocate for open borders. Now an open border is a border that
enables free movement of people between different countries with limited or no
restrictions on movement. As the website openborders.info argues:
“The best
argument for open borders is that it would allow people, not their birthplace,
to control their lives. Open borders would offer people who had the bad luck of
having been born in poor and/or unsafe countries the opportunity to escape
their unfortunate circumstances and find a better life in a safer, more
prosperous country. It is wrong for the lucky who were born in the developed
world to deny this opportunity to the unlucky who were born in poor countries.”
And many who promote the concept of open borders often paint those who are
against open borders as being racists, isolationists or xenophobic.
On the
other end of the conversation when it comes to the issue of immigration would
be politicians and others who advocate for drastically limiting immigration to
the United States. There are politicians across the political spectrum who reject
the idea of open borders, but for differing reasons. Some politicians who would
be viewed in our culture as being on “the left” reject the concept of open
borders for economic reasons, believing that immigrants would be exploited by
wealthy corporations and drive down wages for American workers.
Other
politicians who would be viewed in our culture as being on “the right” reject
open borders due to national security concerns, calling for a temporary ban on
immigration of Muslims to the United States. And many who promote the concept
of reduced immigration often paint those who are for open borders as being
anti-American, one world order, socialist communists. And in between these two
ends of this conversation on immigration, there are many who simply believe that
the solution to the problem of immigration is the enforcement of current laws
concerning immigration, which they believe are not being enforced.
Now,
with all that background in mind, let’s take a look at what the message and
teachings of Jesus have to say when it comes to the issue of immigration. When
you look at the letters that make up the Bible, the word immigration is not
found. However, while the word immigration is not found, there are five
specific passages that address the issue of immigration and the
responsibilities that an individual follower of Jesus and a government has when
it comes to the issue of immigration.
The
first four passages are found in the Law, which is the first five letters that
are recorded for us in our Bibles today, which the Jewish people referred to as
the Law or Torah. Tomorrow, we will look at these four passages together and
then unpack how these particular passages address the issue of immigration…
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