Personal Responsibility at the Border and a Prayer

Some people try to blame migrant parents for the unbelievably tragic deaths of migrants at the U.S. border. The photo above of the young man with his 23-month old daughter tucked in his shirt with her arm around his neck, haunts me. They died attempting to cross the Rio Grande River in order to seek safety within the U.S. 

While I disagree wholeheartedly with those who put blame on the migrant parents (because seriously, how can you blame people who are *literally* running for their lives?), they are right about one thing: This is indeed an issue of personal responsibility:

Our personal responsibility to be accountable for what our government does under our name with our tax dollars. The law is one thing but enforcement is another. There is no excuse for the inhumane, abusive treatment of desperate migrants. We can--and must--do better. 

Our personal responsibility for addressing the consequences of our actions when we destabilize other nations through brutal regime change or equally brutal trade policies, such as what the USA does in Honduras, El Salvador, etc. Migrants are fleeing the resulting violence and chaos.

Our personal responsibility to deeply and sincerely hear the cries of those begging for help, taking them abundantly seriously and doing all in our power to welcome, show compassion and be a vehicle for God's mercy.

Our personal responsibility to be our brothers' and sisters' keeper, as outlined in Scripture (Genesis 4).

Our personal responsibility to follow the Gospel call to love one another. This is in fact the Greatest command that Jesus himself gives. I want to give Scripture verses here but I could list dozens and dozens of places in Scripture telling us to do this very thing.

Our personal responsibility to welcome the stranger (Matthew 25).

Our personal responsibility to be merciful. Numerous examples all through Scripture attest to this, from the mercy of the Good Samaritan to the Beatitudes. The whole of Scripture is a story of mercy, it can be argued. But do we listen?

Yes, this is all about personal responsibility. Our individual and collective responsibility as members of our United States society.

And being accountable for our own actions. 

And facing the consequences of our political, cultural, social and individual decisions in the voting booth, in the marketplace, in our communities and globally, and in our personal relationships, our personal budget and with our time and talent.

If you say:  "It's not my problem! It's the migrant parents fault! What do you think I am... my brother's keeper??" Just remember who first used that line of reasoning:

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” 

He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?”

And the Lord said, “What have you done? 

Listen; your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground!

Genesis 4:9-10

Or perhaps our brothers' and sisters' blood is crying out to God--and to us--from the rivers, as well.  

I don't want to share this photo. But I think I have to. How many of you out there are fathers? Perhaps with a 23-month old daughter?

I am a father with a 2-year old daughter. I know I'm going to hold her closer tonight than ever. But I'm not sure I can hold her as tight as this daughter and father were holding each other on this fateful journey. May their arms be forever joined in love and safety for all eternity.

My Prayer

May God have mercy on the U.S. for creating the conditions abroad that are so desperate people are forced to flee for their lives.

May God have mercy on the U.S. for making it as hard as possible for these same desperate people to find safe shelter here. Turning them away--when we have ample space and resources--at the very moment of their greatest, most desperate need. They had nothing but the hope to beg for help.

May God have mercy on the people of the U.S. who find the flimsiest excuses to turn them away, turn their backs to them and suspect the worst in them, without even bothering to find out for sure.

May this father and daughter find the peace they were working so hard to find in the arms of their loving God, Father and Mother. Because they certainly didn't find it here in the arms of their fellow Christians, their fellow humans, their neighbors to the north, their brothers and sisters on earth.

May their love and embrace echo through eternity.

***

Have you prayed for the migrants at the border?  

If you haven't, I ask you to do it now.

Then I ask you to pray for yourself--that God may open our hearts, open our minds to God's wisdom, and turn our paralysis--or indifference--into action on behalf of those suffering the most.

Social Justice, the Good Samaritan and Outsourcing Charity

A portrait of personal involvement.

The Good Samaritan by William Henry Margetson (cropped)

One of the most common arguments I hear against "social justice" is this:

Many Christians believe the Gospel calls us to get personally involved in doing charity. They argue that we shouldn't work to improve economic and political systems because that would be outsourcing our Christian responsibilities to a third party, such as the government. For example, they would say Jesus calls us to personally feed the hungry (Matthew 25:31-46), not to pay taxes so that the government can do that for us.

The story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) shows why this is false.

As you know from the story, Jesus himself holds up the Good Samaritan as a model of a "good neighbor." The Good Samaritan helped the injured man he found on the side of the road. Indeed, he took personal responsibility to provide personal care for this man. No question about it.

The Samaritan "took pity," so he was emotionally involved. He provided immediate triage of the man's wounds using his own wine and oils.  He helped transport him using his own donkey.

But that wasn't all he did.

Remember that the Good Samaritan was a busy man who was in the middle of some business of his own. What did he do?  He paid an innkeeper to take care of this man during a period of time when the Samaritan could not be there himself. However, he promised to watch over this process and to return to make sure this work had been done to his specifications.

Jesus does call each of us to be personally involved, no question about that. Christian charity as Christ describes it is not the kind where we simply write a check and forget about it. Rather, we are to get viscerally involved on every level of our being. The parable tell us that there are many ways in which to do that.

The Good Samaritan continued to be personally involved even when he solicited the help of another person in this work. The Good Samaritan was wise to involve the innkeeper who had the time and skills to provide what he couldn't. However, the Good Samaritan didn't "check out" by writing a check.  Rather, he continued to be very much involved.

The Role of the Government

Many people misunderstand the role of governments in this way. They consider the government to be the "nanny state" which has taken our personal involvement away from us. Therefore they believe it is "more Christian" to do things on our own rather than involve the government. However, that is not a fair understanding of the government. Yes, we are indeed called to be personally responsible and be our brother's keeper. Just like the Good Samaritan, people may choose to exercise their personal responsibility by working together as a collective group or by hiring experts at strategic points. They stay attentive to the process to make sure the work gets done. An active, engaged citizen in a democracy has in no way diminished her level of personal responsibility to the "nanny state." She's going to personally elect representatives and then watch over them like a hawk to make sure they do the job they were elected to do.

I have never seen any moral difference between helping others as individuals, as a family, as a church community or as a whole society using the resources of the government. The only difference is the scale--and that is the point.  The government has a reach that no other organization has.  It is simply the best tool for some jobs. To not use that tool would be irresponsible if that tool were the best one to get the job done.

For example, if my neighbor falls off his roof, I will personally make sure he gets medical care.  However, I will not be the one providing that care. Instead, I will take him to the hospital. I am definitely personally involved, but I am not going to directly attempt to provide medical care--that would be dangerous since I don't have medical training. But I CAN be an advocate and make sure he gets to the hospital and gets the right people working on him. As you can see, there are times when involving others who have more skills than ourselves may be the more responsible--and yes, more Christian--thing to do than simply doing it ourselves.

That's what the Good Samaritan did. Because he didn't have the time, skills or resources (or a combination of all of these), he chose to involve the innkeeper. And remember:  Jesus holds up the Good Samaritan as a model of a good neighbor.

Likewise, when we work together with our fellow citizens to solve a problem together as a whole group rather than as isolated individuals, it may not simply be an option, it may actually be the most responsible thing to do from a Christian standpoint.

Where Charity and Love Prevail: The Matthew 25 Solidarity Test

Our society is so divided over many hot-button issues. There are conservative and liberal viewpoints, with variations of all kinds in between. It can be confusing to know what to think when half of the population seems to have strong opinions one way and seemingly the other half of the population has just as strong views on the other side.

When people express opinions about a particular issue, I always look to see how charitable they are in this. Do they take the concerns of others seriously and try their best to get to the bottom of it? Or do they simply dismiss their concerns outright without getting involved? That is often a clue as to whether their opinions are in line with Christian discipleship.

Jesus promises that he is close to the poor and suffering of the world. He is so close that he can say whatever is done to the "least of these" is also done to him (see Matthew 25:31-46). In this passage, he compels us to do the same through the works of mercy. This is a great model for how Christians can move and act in this world.

If you are trying to figure out what position to take on a controversial issue, you can use what I call the Matthew 25 Solidarity Test: Do you know the people who are affected by this issue? Have you walked in their shoes? Have you heard their concerns in their own words rather than from a third party? Are you so close to them that whatever happens to them also happens to you?

I'll use two hot-button issues to illustrate this point:  Racism in the U.S. and the struggle of refugees and undocumented immigrants.

Reports have been mounting in recent years of unarmed black people in America being killed or otherwise brutalized by police officers. There are so many reports that it is hard to dismiss them all as simply isolated incidents. Yet, some people are quick to say, "There is no racism in the U.S.!" It is strange how that is their first thought. It comes across as defensiveness and frankly just flat out denial. 

Anyone who studies statistics can tell you that a string of incidents does not necessarily prove that there is something like societal racism in play. Such things are difficult to prove and it can take years for the proper data and studies to come in. However, anyone who is even remotely charitable should recognize that we have a big problem. All indicators point to it. Even if we were to find out later that this treatment of African Americans is somehow NOT systemic racism (which I sincerely doubt), we should still be acting as if it were racism until we know for sure. That is what a charitable person would do. Until we get to the bottom of it, we should be doing everything possible to solve this. We should be sensitive, compassionate and diligent until this problem is solved. The fact that so many resist any effort to work on this issue just about proves the legitimacy of the charge of racism.

For example, if someone falls out of a tree and thinks he has broken his arm, the best thing to do is take him to the hospital. It is possible that the arm is not broken, but doctors will treat that person as if the arm is broken until they can properly diagnose. It would be cruel and inhumane to say, "quit crying, your arm is not broken!" without actually doing the necessary evaluation to know for sure. Yet, that is exactly how many in our culture are treating African Americans who present strong evidence of racism and are met with resistance, dismissals of their concerns and overall lack of interest.

The people who say that racism is not a factor are rarely (if ever) close to the issue. They seem to pronounce their judgement from their comfortable living rooms in very white neighborhoods. They aren't the people who are consoling grieving family members or helping a wounded and angry community heal. Those who are involved seem to have no problem recognizing the footprint of racism at work.

I see the same pattern over how we treat refugees and undocumented immigrants. The people who are closest to migrants—who hold their hands when a loved one is missing or who simply listen to them with open minds and hearts—these people overwhelmingly support a merciful approach to welcoming immigrants and granting hospitality whenever possible. Those who want to shut out immigrants and refugees with strict rules are usually people who have had no meaningful contact with those migrants and have rarely taken the time to fully understand their concerns.

An important note: It takes more than physical proximity to truly be in Christian solidarity with others. For example, police and the people they arrest are very close. The police physically touch them and they share a ride in a police car. However, despite sharing that space, they are often very far apart in terms of their life experiences and perspectives. People in segregated communities can often think they are close to each other. They see each other from behind their car windows or in limited interactions in public. They can fool themselves into thinking they understand the concerns of the other group. Segregated or confrontational relationships are not relationships of solidarity, and solidarity is what Jesus is requiring in Matthew 25.

Being in close solidarity with the poor and suffering of the world is no guarantee that you will always form the best opinions. However, in our culture that seems almost evenly divided on so many important issues, we are actually not very divided when we factor in solidarity. Looking at the issues of racism and immigration, those who are in solidarity with the affected groups overwhelmingly have a supportive, sympathetic opinion of their struggles while those with differing opinions are almost always those who are not in solidarity. I'm sure there are exceptions, but quite frankly, I have never met one. Exceptions must be very rare, if they exist at all. This is a pretty clear indicator to me that opinions on both sides are not equal in validity.

I'm reminded of the lyrics to the old church hymn:

Where charity and love prevail,

there God is ever found;

Brought here together by Christ’s love,

by love are we thus bound.

Ancient Hospitality: A Lost Religious Practice

Ulysses [Odysseus] Conversing With Emaeus
by John Flaxman (1755-1826)

Hospitality to strangers was a very big deal throughout the ancient world. I am not sure if any of us in the modern era have any appreciation for just how important it was. There were no hotels, no GPS systems, few restaurants. Being in a tough spot away from home was a life or death situation!

Hospitality was not only a cultural practice, but it also had serious religious significance.

I just finished listening to an audio book of The Odyssey, the Ancient Greek poem attributed to Homer. It was an appropriate companion on some recent long road trips (this blog is called "The Traveling Ecumenist" for a reason!) It is generally thought to have been written in the 8th century BCE, and it is the second-oldest surviving work in western literature.

The Odyssey is called an "epic" for a good reason--it is a sweeping saga of wartime battles, magical meanderings, courtly drama and intense personal struggles. It is the quintessential tale of a young man who goes off to build his identity by confronting challenges and then faces the equally difficult-struggle to come home again as a wiser, more mature adult. Yet in the midst of so many complex themes, the subject of hospitality makes it mark on nearly every scene.

I'm not even exaggerating: Hospitality is just everywhere in this story. As Odysseus, his son Telemachus and others travel through the ancient world, they are continually treated to lavish feasts, incredible gifts and a warm welcome nearly everywhere they go. In fact, one time Telemachus had to actually sneak away from an exuberant King Nestor just to keep up with a rigorous travel schedule. No good host would have allowed him to leave so quickly without being received properly.

Hospitality wasn't just for royalty. How the poor were treated was also of special importance. The Goddess Athena once turned Odysseus into a beggar so he could case his palace in disguise and test the loyalty of his subjects. While there, an elaborate debate ensued among the crowd. Many taunted the beggar. Others attacked him, urging him to get lost. Many accused the beggar of being lazy or an opportunist, living off of the work of others. Still others begrudgingly gave charity but withheld respect. Those with contrary views asserted that they should treat the beggar kindly, as no one knows what circumstances brought the beggar to this place in life. Still others postulated that the beggar could be a test from the gods.

You can hear the same comments today about the poor that were in full voice 2,800 years ago. Almost daily I hear the same debates rage in regards to homeless beggars and immigrants knocking on the door asking for safe refuge. The one thing that's so different from our modern society was the underlying code of ethics about how to treat the stranger who comes to the door begging. We seem to have lost this.

I was amazed when listening to this story just how similar the views of hospitality were to those found in the Bible. Even though the Ancient Greeks had a very different religious tradition from the Ancient Israelites, they came to similar conclusions. The Greeks were worried that the gods themselves would disguise themselves as beggars just to test their charity. Mistreating beggars--perhaps the most vulnerable members of society--was believed to warrant the gravest consequences from the gods. Stories from the Bible have very similar notions. Consider these passages:

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13:2

This is a reference to Abraham and Sarah's experiences in Genesis 18-1-15. Abraham wasn't just kind to three unexpected guests--he went out of his way to dote on them. These men turned out to be angels. Tradition even suggests that these were the three persons of the Holy Trinity. As a reward for treating strangers kindly, God granted Abraham and Sarah a child. You just never know who the person who knocks on your door may be! And while helping others, you just never know what blessings may come back to you.

It is actually Jesus himself who confirms everyone's suspicions on the matter. In the famous passage Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus as God incarnate comes right out and tells us:  

"‘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.’

Jesus actually admits directly what everyone has already known in their hearts.

In so many cultures, people have an intuition that beggars, strangers and the homeless are special representatives from God.

We refer to this as the preferential option for the poor in the Catholic tradition. What this means is:  Yes, Jesus is incarnate into all of humanity, and God loves every one of us. But the "least" should get our preferential attention and treatment, because God is there with them and in them in a special way. A preferential way.

The Ancient Greeks did not know Jesus by name, but they still knew that there was something special about a guest who comes to the door--especially a guest in need who is desperate enough to beg for help. Yes, despite the religious overtones, the Ancient Greeks still struggled, like we do today, over whether or not to assist the stranger. But at least their religious tradition gave strong support to the side of hospitality.

When we see a beggar on the streets, we can choose to see him in glass half-empty or half-full terms. It is within the realm of possibility that the beggar has either the best or worst intentions or something in between. Anything is possible. But what is going to be our assumption? We can choose to either assume that he is attempting to swindle us or whether he is just trying to cope with difficult circumstances. We can also choose to see the presence of God in this person and offer warm hospitality.