Today’s Scripture Reading (July 31, 2019): Psalm 146
Immigrant.
The word produces a different image to different people. Left-leaning news
organizations tend to lean on pictures of parents with children or weary
travelers that have wandered thousands of miles in search of a better life.
These are ordinary people who have been oppressed to the point where leaving
home and all that is familiar is the only answer that they can see that might solve
their problem. The immigrant, and only the Native Americans can claim that their
families were never foreigners living in a strange land, is one that deserves
our pity and to be treated with respect until we can decide whether their case
can be adjudicated in such a way as to allow them to become permanent
immigrants in the land.
From the
right, the picture is much different. For this group of people, immigrant is
synonymous with criminal. They are liars and cheats trying to find their way
into the country. Children are mules, excuses that place a respectable story on
the reasons why the immigrant came to us in the first place. But even they are
not innocent. The immigrant is just another name for people that we do not want
in our country. And we will take whatever steps necessary to keep them on the
other side of the border. They are nothing more than revolutionaries and gang
members, and their only reason for being in this country is to be the source of
pain for the rest of us.
I think the
truth is probably somewhere between the two extreme views. Are there criminals
within the group of people trying to immigrate into our countries? Most
definitely. But every study that I have read tells me that the vetting process
in most nations means that there is a lower percentage of criminals among the
immigrant populations than there is among those who were naturally born in our
country. Most of the people come fleeing pain somewhere else. And the only way
that we will stop them from coming is if we are willing to change the situation
that they experience at home.
But on
another side of the coin, we need to recognize the voice of God when it comes
to the immigrant who lives among us or the ones who cross our borders, even if
that crossing is illegal. God takes particular pleasure in watching over the
immigrant; he is protective of the vulnerable. And if we have any dream of
being on his team, then this will be our role as well. We cannot say that God
is remaking us in his image as long as we are mistreating the foreigner who lives
among us. Taking care of the vulnerable is one of our tasks, placed before us
by the God that we serve. And if we are his, we will find a respectable way of
dealing with the strangers who walk among us.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 147
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