ON CHRISTMAS EVE, JESUS, MARY AND JOSEPH WERE REFUGEES
CHRISTMAS EVE - YEAR
C
December 24, 2015
Saint Cecilia
Catholic Community
Palm Springs, CA
Rev. David Justin
Lynch
Isaiah 9:1-6 Psalm
96:1-3;11-14 Titus 2:11-14 Luke 2:1-14
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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN.
Refugees
have received lots of publicity over the past few months. One or more of the
political candidates have particularly called out those arriving from Syria and
applied negative and inaccurate stereotypes to them. They have referred to all Syrians as
terrorists. They want to embargo all
Muslims from entering our country for an indefinite period of time, and turn
away Syrian refugees.
Surprisingly,
all these candidates purport to be Christians, and are directing their campaign
pitch to win votes from other purported Christians by exploiting hostile
feelings towards immigrants and refugees whose culture and race is different
from theirs. I wonder, however, if these
folks would be hostile to Jesus on the night He was born. How ironic that
during this Christmas season, a time of the year when giving and generosity are
the order of the day, we are urged to post a sign saying: “No room at the inn.”
When we look at
immigrants and refugees in light of tonight’s Gospel reading, we can see that Mary
and Joseph and baby Jesus have more in common with Syrian refugees than they do
with the American Caucasians who don’t want them in the United States. For one
thing, being from the Middle East, they had the same physical appearance. Now imagine
a woman, well along in a pregnancy had traveled several days with her husband
to a foreign land in response to a government decree they did not understand.
And then when they arrived, there was no place for them to sleep except in a
barn, because either all the hotel rooms were taken, or there were none
available that they could afford.
Obviously, when
Caesar Augustus published his decree, he did not take into account where those
traveling to distant areas would stay. Thus,
Caesar Augustus had a great deal in common with those contemporary politicians
who tell the homeless people and indigent unwed mothers, “if you don’t have a
home, or if you don’t have enough money for a doctor, that’s your problem, not
mine” repeating their heartless mantra endlessly trumpeting their “personal
responsibility for your own survival” ideology.
What happens in
a society where people think this way? Surrounded by farm animals, in an
unheated building, without any medical assistance, in very unhygienic surroundings that included
the smell of manure, Mary went into labor and gave birth. This was hardly the peaceful bucolic scene
depicted in paintings and displays of the Nativity scenes we see everywhere at
this time of year. Those were the unfavorable circumstances under which Mary
gave birth to Jesus, which western civilization now celebrates with decorated
trees, copious gift shopping, and plateful after plateful of food.
But all of that
celebration obscures those not-so-lucky people fleeing from oppressive regimes
in Syria and other parts of the Middle East. They have much in common with Mary and Joseph
in the stable, forced to stay there because better lodging for whatever reason
was unavailable to them. Yet, to get
themselves elected, politicians play to the fears of uneducated people using
events in San Bernardino, Paris, the presence of a barbaric Islamic state known
as ISIS, and terrorist groups like the Taliban and Al Qaeda, to give themselves
ammunition to present every refugee as a terrorist, criminal or intruder. One
of them went so far as to say that even migrant children under age five should
not be allowed into the United States. [1]
This shameful
political fear mongering has encouraged many members of the public to shun
compassion for those less fortunate and instead become preoccupied with personal
survival by holding tight their prejudices, possessions and ideologies. They
forget that a central tenet of Christianity is loving one’s enemies to prevent
the constant seeking of revenge and an endless spiral of retaliation.
Our conservative
sisters and brothers claim to be Bible-believing Christians, but they don’t
know their bible very well. The truth is, the Bible has a lot to say
about immigrants and immigration.
The Biblical message is very clear. Excluding and discriminating against
immigrants is simply wrong. In fact, the Hebrew word ger, the closest word
to our concept of an immigrant, appears 92 times in the Old Testament alone.
The author of Exodus reminds the Hebrew people not to oppress
aliens because they, too, were once aliens when they were in Egypt.[2]
To paraphrase Exodus, God told the Israelites, “You must not oppress
foreigners. You know what it’s like to be a foreigner, for you yourselves were
once foreigners in the land of Egypt.” If you recall the narrative of the
Book of Genesis, the Jewish people experienced famine and immigrated to Egypt
so they could be fed. The price,
however, was to be slaves to the Egyptians. They were not welcomed as sisters
and brothers in need. Instead the
Egyptians took advantage of their necessities and exploited their labor.[3]
Our conservative
sisters and brothers are fond of quoting Leviticus to support other parts of
their agenda such as their campaign against the L-G-B-T population. But when it
comes to refugees and immigrants, they replace Leviticus with unmitigated
xenophobia, which means fear of someone different than you are. Leviticus,
however, contains many references to immigrants. Leviticus tells us we should treat aliens the
same way we would expect to be treated.[4]
The prophet Ezekiel tells us that the children of aliens and native born
children are to be considered equals.[5]
Doesn’t that sound like something Jesus would say? So why can’t we do that here
in the United States in the Twenty-First Century?
In telling
refugees America does not welcome them, we are not allowing love to cast out
fear. To contemplate love in a world now
living in an age of terrorism is a challenge indeed. But history has shown us
that when fear pervades a society, more often than not the society reacts
unwisely by choosing and supporting strong, authoritarian political leaders who
are expected to scapegoat and decimate those who are the objects of popular fears.
In today’s world, that’s our Muslims sisters and brothers.
We Americans are pre-occupied
with defending our way of life, our little comfort zone at the expense of doing
away with the Gospel of Jesus. That Gospel starts with the proposition that all
of humanity, not just us, is created in God’s image. We have forgotten about
why God sent us baby Jesus. God did this because God loves us. God came to us as a human person to be among
us, to drive home the idea that humans were, in fact, created in God’s
image. We are, ontologically, what God
is. We are made of the same substance as God. Our will, our emotions, our intellect,
and our spirituality, all reflect what God is. The incarnation of Jesus, the
Word of God, was the personal demonstration of that fact.
By proclaiming that
all humans are made in God’s image, the Bible does not limit this privilege to
Caucasian Americans. Yet our conservative sisters and brother prattle on with
empty twaddle about obeying immigration laws, even if doing so means inflicting
tangible human suffering on those powerless to resist. They forget that the supreme commandment,
before all others, what’s called the Shema Israel in Deuteronomy, is, “Hear, O Israel!* The LORD is
our God, the LORD alone! Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with
your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength.”[6]
The creation of
all persons in God’s image applies to both people born in the United States,
and those born outside it. When we look into the eyes of immigrants and
refugees, we are looking into the eyes of God. We are looking into the eyes of baby
Jesus, who supremely embodied God’s divine image and provides us an avenue for
a relationship with God.
Jesus demonstrated what it means
to be a child of God. In fact, Jesus gave us some pretty explicit instructions
about how to treat those who are less fortunate than we are. In Matthew twenty-five, Jesus identified
himself as a stranger to be welcomed. He told us, “ For I was hungry and you
gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed
me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you
visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see
you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a
stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or
in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say
to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for
me.’”[7]
In creating us
as His Children in His image, God expects us to adopt and carry out His agenda,
not just listen to it or read it. That agenda is to bring about God’s kingdom
where we live. Caring for the least among us, particularly immigrants and
refugees, in the manner detailed in Matthew twenty-five, is part of what that
looks like. But refusing to house immigrants and refugees is just like telling
Mary and Joseph there is no room for them at the inn and sending them to a
barn. But the worst was yet to come.
Shortly after Jesus was born, evil King Herod flew into a jealous rage and
decreed that all male children under two years of age would be killed. Herod was a terrorist with a crown whose
despicable decree forced the Holy Family to flee into Egypt.[8]
In doing so, they were in the same situation as the refugees from Syria. They
must either leave, or be killed by religious extremists. The Holy Family is
thus the archetype of every refugee family.
Mary and Joseph are, for all
times and all places, the models and protectors of every migrant, pilgrim and
refugee of whatever kind who, whether compelled by fear of persecution or by
want, is compelled to leave native land
and family to seek safety on foreign soil. The newborn Jesus stands for all political
refugees, all those in despair of having a place to lay their head. To quote
the late Trappist Monk Thomas Merton, “Jesus is always present with those for
whom there is no room." We are dealing with family after family who are
now in the same predicament as Mary and Joseph were. Slamming doors in the faces of refugees, as
was done to Mary and Joseph on Christmas Eve, is unthinkable.
And immigrant
issues are not just an American problem. As you may recall from reading headlines,
Europe is also dealing with waves of immigrants. With over forty-five million
displaced persons, we face a world-wide holocaust of homelessness resulting
from war, natural disasters, persecution and discrimination of every kind,
depriving a multitude of people of their home, employment, family and homeland.
Let us also not forget that a substantial number of refugees are the victims of
the religious extremism that people of faith have a solemn duty to oppose.
Because human persons were made
in God’s image, promoting the dignity of every person is a fundamental
obligation of every Christian, no matter what denomination. Solidarity with
immigrants and refugees is inscribed on our hearts based common membership in
the human family. The welfare and dignity or persons is more important than
political interests and national security. Taking care of people comes ahead of
winning elections and balancing accounting books.
In the New
Testament, the Epistle to the Hebrews exhorts us, “Do not neglect to show
hospitality to strangers, for by doing that thereby some have entertained
angels without knowing it.”[9]
In opening our country to refugees, we
are opening our hearts to Jesus and entertaining God’s angels. Opening one’s
heart to Jesus is not just mouthing prayers or participating in ceremonies. It
is a commitment to see Jesus in others. It is opening our hearts to God’s love,
and allowing that love to shine through our souls in the decisions we as a
society make addressing every scenario afflicted with human suffering of any
kind. As followers of Jesus, we are called to welcome the strangers of our
time, be they from Syria or elsewhere. God calls us to open our hearts and
our doors to those seeking refuge this Christmas season, regardless of their
religion. To contend that non-Christians
worship a different God is blasphemy…because there is truly only one God, who
made us as one human family, and that family includes everyone born everywhere,
without exception.
The Christmas
story is there to remind us of a family struggling under the twin oppressive
regimes of the Romans and the Herodians.
The former compelled them against their will to leave their homeland to
be counted in a census, and the latter threatened to kill their infant son. In
our own world, it is now winter in Syria and Iraq. Little kids are straining at
the wire fences, dreaming of a warm place. But some of our political candidates
would rather they stay there, regardless of how sick their parents are, or how
hungry the kids are. Some refugees may be terrorists, but more might
become terrorists if our response is to deny them refuge. There’s never an
excuse for terrorism, but sometimes, desperate people often do desperate
things.
Tonight’s Gospel
reading should open our eyes and hearts to those most vulnerable, those whose
only hope is to travel for days in search of a livable life. Many of them are Middle
Easterners, just like Mary and Joseph. Let’s make room for them in the inn of our
hearts. AMEN.
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