Outsiders

Deuteronomy 24: 14-15; 17-22, Hebrews 12:1-2; Matthew 25: 24-40
Tough Questions, Week 2: What does the Bible say about immigrants?
June 10, 2018
First Presbyterian Church, Sterling IL
Christina Berry

Our second week of our tough questions series concerns immigration. The aim in this series is to look at these issues in light of God’s word – the written word, and the incarnate word in Jesus, the Word made flesh. The most difficult piece of preparing for this Sunday for me was that it was hard to narrow down exactly which passages to focus on. On this subject, there are many scriptures and none of them disagree. Our first reading comes from the book of Deuteronomy, and it details how God’s people will treat immigrants. It is helpful to bear in mind that these words are not just personal moral instruction; these are laws – the laws by which God’s people are to govern themselves. Let’s listen for God’s law and expectations about immigrants in Deuteronomy 24: 14-15; 17-22

You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers, whether other Israelites or aliens who reside in your land in one of your towns. You shall pay them their wages daily before sunset, because they are poor and their livelihood depends on them; otherwise they might cry to the Lord against you, and you would incur guilt.

You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice; you shall not take a widow’s garment in pledge. Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this. When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be left for the alien, the orphan, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all your undertakings. When you beat your olive trees, do not strip what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the alien, the orphan, and the widow. Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I am commanding you to do this.

Our epistle reading is just one verse from the letter to the Hebrews, mixed in among some other instructions for living the Christian life: Hebrews 13:1-2:

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.  

The gospel reading comes from a much longer section in Matthew, a story Jesus told that many of you will remember in its entirety. The story was among a number of stories about God’s kingdom. In this one, Jesus describes a final judgment with a King sitting on a throne, sorting out the sheep and the goats. Jesus says God’s true people are the sheep. They are the ones who give water to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, care for the sick and visit those in prison. Rather than giving a checklist of beliefs that people must believe, Jesus lists a series of actions that people ought to be doing. This is surprising to everyone because the goats in the story think they are the righteous ones, and the sheep are unaware that what they have been doing was for Jesus himself! Let’s listen for his words in Matthew 25:34- 40

34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand,
‘Come, you that 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 

who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ 

The word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

It can’t have escaped your awareness recently that the issue of immigration in our country is very much in the news. People hold many myths, assumptions, fears and concerns about immigration and public policy. Some of those grow out of a post-9/11 fear that those who come to this country illegally are likely to be terrorists. Some people believe that undocumented immigrants should be deported.

Immediately.
All eleven million of them.

Some say that immigrant workers, undocumented or not, contribute substantially to our nation’s economic growth and well-being, while others contend that they receive all sorts of public assistance, which makes them a burden on our system. I did a little research this week on the costs of immigration. One of the chief objections I encounter to immigrants is that they are costing citizen taxpayers a great deal of money. And they do cost the rest of us – on average about $1700 a year. That’s for the first generation – after that immigrant families add to the economy at about that same rate.

Youngsters brought to the country as children, also known as Dreamers, who were protected under the DACA program, contribute greatly to our society. They are soldiers, students, workers and patriots who love this country.

Immigrants also add the economic growth by taking low wage work which keeps prices down for the rest of us. That’s particularly true of agricultural workers, who do the jobs that no one else seems to want. The H2A Visa lets seasonal farm workers come to the USA to work, but only for ten months, and only after a great deal of paperwork.[1] Farm owners say its hard to get enough workers to harvest some crops, and the increased ICE roundups put their harvest in jeopardy.[2]

“Farmworkers as a whole make up less than 1% of the U.S. labor supply and undocumented workers comprise only about 5 percent of the U.S. market across all industries. Undocumented workers mostly do jobs that U.S. citizens consider too unpleasant, unsanitary or unsafe to be worth the wages and conditions that come with those positions. “So what would the nation lose if ICE shut down the temporary migrant labor force? According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the cost would be about $5 trillion in goods and services over the next decade.”[3]

Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for public assistance, but they do receive medical care and probably some other assistance; they also pay taxes – sales taxes, income taxes, and social security.

It’s hard to sort out the economic impacts. There are plenty of costs associated with a zero tolerance policy. Children taken from their parents must be cared for, housed, fed, educated, supervised. The proposed wall on the border would cost billions of taxpayer dollars – the president has estimated that cost at about ten billion. Did you know that it costs about $11,000 per person to deport someone?[4] That would cost more than a hundred billion – with a B – dollars![5]

In Texas, Customs and Border Protection officers are turning away those who come to the border seeking asylum. The agents are telling the asylum seekers that they don’t have enough detention space available to take them in – the holding cells are all at capacity![6] Christian immigration ministries at the border say that federal law requires that asylum seekers be admitted and processed as potentially legal. The current administration’s new policy requires that anyone caught entering illegally be arrested, face criminal charges, and be separated from any children they are traveling with.[7]

The question is far more complicated than any specific assertions or even all of them put together. Christians of every sort disagree on these points. Interestingly, however, Christians of every theological and political stripe have spoken out strongly against the practice of literally tearing screaming children from the arms of their mothers: separating children, even very young children, from their parents who have been detained by Customs and Border Protection or by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, otherwise known as ICE. Some of those parents have been caught coming into the country while others have come to the border seeking asylum or refugee status.

If you’ve had the news on at all, you know that there is much being said attempting to justify this policy from the executive branch. But every Christian I’ve heard make a public statement on this practice has spoken against it – from a purely humanitarian concern for children. Sadly, those children have often been taken to facilities far away–

I heard this week of three boys who were taken to a facility in New York, while their mothers were in South Texas. The emotional and psychological toll this trauma will have on those children is hard to imagine. I can’t even imagine the budget implications of it.

So what are we supposed to think?

What are we, as Christians, supposed to do?

It’s impossible to avoid the clarity of the law set forth in the Bible:
Every single scripture that deals with aliens, strangers and immigrants says the same thing: pay them fair wages; feed them and care for them; give them the Sabbath day off; make sure they are treated justly.

These are not just pretty words – they’re the word of God!

For the ancient Israelites, chosen by God to be God’s people, prospering was a matter of interdependence. They were called during that period “a nation of brothers,” who depended upon kinship networks, family relationships, and tribes for their well being and social status.

Membership – citizenship - had its privileges. Outsiders, resident aliens and immigrants, did not have that family status. As a result, they were extraordinarily vulnerable. Lacking kinship and tribe, they were depended upon a patron or the goodwill and decent treatment of those with whom they lived. That’s why the law demanded prompt payment of wages and generous access to fields and vineyards.

These texts make clear that the God of Israel is the protector of the poor, the disadvantaged and vulnerable. These laws highlight the importance of the law not only for the protection of property, but also for the common good.

So it is the business of God’s law not to protect individual rights, but to protect the community as a whole: not just the people of the covenant, but also the immigrants and aliens.

Jesus expanded that statute to something even more generous.
His teaching in Matthew 25 makes it clear that just thinking nice thoughts or feeling sorry for people is insufficient where he is concerned. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger… because you are doing that for Jesus.

Jesus, fulfilling the law, in this case extends the law with grace.
Not only are we to care for the immigrant and the stranger because we too were once outsiders, wandering in a wilderness, but because when we do so, we are demonstrating love for Jesus.

If we are indeed, as so many Christians assert, “a Christian nation,” we are a “nation founded upon Christian and biblical principles, whose values, society, and institutions have largely been shaped by those principles.”[8]

If we are not a Christian nation, you and I, at least, consider ourselves to be Christian people in a Christian community. Either way, then, we have the same responsibilities as those in the time of Moses, and those in the time of Jesus.

So, what do we as Christians need to do?
We can’t do everything, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do anything.

First, we can educate ourselves.
Many of us have misconceptions about immigrants and about policy.[9] I’ve printed a summary of Presbyterian Church policy statements about immigration, and included a website to look up. When you hear claims about immigration and immigrants, don’t let fear or anger rule – find out the rest of the story.

http://www.pcusa.org/resource/summary-all-220th-general-assembly-actions-immigra/

Second, we can speak up – not to each other, but to law makers.
There’s nothing wrong with sharing a post on social media, but that is just a beginning step. It’s important to express your concerns about immigration to those who have the power to enact immigration reform.

Third, be aware of how you can help outsiders here in our community.
Our local YWCA is active in providing interpretation, support, advocacy and education to immigrants and to those who employ them.
Catholic Charities Youth and Children Services offers help as well. Our schools welcome volunteers to help with various student needs.
The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights has volunteer opportunities, too: imagine helping a brand new American citizen register to vote![10]
Find out how you can get involved and use your gifts to help.

Finally, return again and again to God’s word. The written word in the scriptures instructs us to welcome the stranger, to care for the alien and the immigrant in our midst. The Bible tells us that we are to do this because we, too, were once outsiders, a people without a land or a name.

We were outsiders. 

But God in Jesus Christ has welcomed us, and made us a new people. 

Through Jesus, we who were outsiders are now insiders.

Now that we are God’s people, we are citizens of God’s kingdom.
We are now beloved family members of the household of God.
We are reminded that by showing mercy and hospitality to strangers,
we just might be entertaining angels without knowing it.

In God’s kingdom, the outsiders become insiders;
the alien and the orphan become family,
and the immigrant becomes a citizen in the new kingdom.

First Peter 2 reminds us:
“Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.
Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these
who are members of my family,
you did it to me.

Amen.



[1] https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2018/0326/Worried-by-talks-of-deportation-farmers-defend-immigrant-workforce
[2] https://www.pccmarkets.com/sound-consumer/2017-08/high-cost-of-deporting-farmworkers/
[3] https://www.pccmarkets.com/sound-consumer/2017-08/high-cost-of-deporting-farmworkers/
[4] https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/29/opinion/campaign-stops/what-does-immigration-actually-cost-us.html
[5] http://time.com/money/4566401/trumps-deportation-immigration-plan-numbers/
[6] https://www.texasmonthly.com/politics/immigrant-advocates-question-legality-of-latest-federal-tactics/
[7] ibid
[8] https://www.joycemeyer.org/america/articles/defining-a-christian-nation
[9] https://www.latinomemphis.org/immigrationmyths
[10] http://www.icirr.org/