How Far Would You Walk To Feed Your Children?
Repentance is a word I use often in posts, podcasts, and sermons. I do this for two reasons.
First, it sums up the call of Jesus to those who would dare to follow him into God’s other-worldly kingdom.
Second, repentance is not a one-time event securing us a place in heaven when we die. It is a lifelong calling that leads Jesus-followers into the grace and beauty found in God’s kingdom. A kingdom, I might add, that is not so much out there somewhere (it is that), but that is meant to be a present reality in our world here and now.
Metanoia is the Greek word used in the New Testament and translated repentance. It literally means to change the way one thinks and to see life and our world differently. And as I said, that is a lifelong calling.
Okay, Dan, I get it, but what does that have to do with the title of your post?
I’m glad you asked.
I am immensely blessed to have an awesome daughter who dedicates much of her life to helping undocumented immigrant children who are detained in the United States. In spite of the many efforts to keep these “illegals” (a polarizing and politically charged word) out, they keep coming.
Now, I want to ask you a question. And I want you to think, really think, about your answer.
What would motivate a people to leave their country and culture, and to risk their lives and the lives of their children?
I’ve traveled and lived abroad, and I can tell you that when all is said and done, I prefer my country, my culture, and my people above all. It’s not that my country and culture is better than the others. It’s just where I feel most “at home.”
In her book, The Death of Josseline, Margaret Regan quotes the question of a young mother who left her country and people to risk a dangerous border crossing into the United States looking for work in a desperate effort to provide for her family — “How far would you walk to feed your children?”
I don’t know the answer to the problem of the thousands who seek to enter the United States illegally. I will also be the first to say that there are those who cross the border that are trouble with a capital T. But here’s what I do know - for followers of Jesus, illegal immigration is not a policy issue, it is a people issue. People who are hungry. People who are dying. People who are willing to risk life itself for their loved ones.
But how many in today’s Nationalist-America-First Christianity see the problem of illegal immigration in this light? Some genuine repentance is needed. Seeing things from another perspective. The perspective of human beings created in the image of God. The perspective of people rather than policy. Of God’s kingdom rather than the kingdom of the United States.
So, what can we do?
For starters, we can tone down the rhetoric. Stop calling these fellow human beings animals. And though we may not use this language ourselves, we need to speak out against those who do. To remain silent is complicit. It is support by default. Frankly, I’d rather be on the side of those accused of being too easy on the issue than on the side of those whose policies violate the very teaching of Jesus. who taught us to love our neighbor as ourselves.
But let me be clear - it’s not about sides. “Whose side are you on?” That’s the question Joshua asked the incognito angel who appeared before him after God’s people entered Canaan. His answer? “Neither, I’m on the Lord’s side.”
This Christian obsession with political parties and candidates is worldly, temporal, and blind to the eternal ways and kingdom of God.
As Christians, we are called to be prophets before patriots. All of us. And to be a prophet is to eschew red and blue, left and right. To be a prophet is to recognize how far both sides are from the ways of Jesus.
But here’s something else I want to suggest. Something I am looking into.
Plan a mission trip to the border. Join with other Christians in feeding the hungry. Wash their weary feet. Hug them. Show them the love and compassion of Jesus.
Sadly, there is a price to be paid for doing this. In this day when the God of heaven and earth has been reduced to the God of the land of the free and the home of the brave, many whose hope is based on nothing less than Jesus’s preferred candidate despite his unrighteousness will condemn, ostracize, and reject us.
But when that happens, keep the words of our Lord in mind - - -
Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
In Christ,
Dan