for the least of these

I’m not even going to try and say that I don’t normally do this, because everyone who knows me knows that I do. But the whole US Syrian refugee thing is really starting to piss me off. And the reason is that all these “Christian” politicians are talking absolute garbage and straight up fear mongering.

I mean, think about this situation realistically for a minute. What if these people weren’t “evil Muslims” seeking shelter in our country? What if it was you? What if a crazy, murderous cult on a bloody rampage operated out of your country? Wouldn’t you want to get your family as far away from that as possible? Of course you would, and that’s why this whole “national security” defense for turning away refugees is honestly the stupidest thing I’ve heard of.

In Matthew 25 Jesus says this:

And the King will answer them,

‘Truly, I say to you, as you did for one of the least of my brothers and sisters, you did for me…

          And Truly, I say to you, as you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

What are we supposed to make of that in this situation? What would Jesus do if He were physically on this earth right now? I think that He would want to welcome these people.

Because here’s the thing: we’re called to love sacrificially. If sacrificing a little of our own security and a little of our own paranoia to love on people who need it most is too much for us, then how can we call ourselves followers of Christ? Besides, you are crazy if you think that every refugee coming into this country is a terrorist in disguise. Yes, there’s a chance that one might slip in, but at least for Christians, what’s more important, our own comfort and our own security, or the testimony that we show the world? Because if support the turning away of people who need our help, we’re basically raising a banner that says we value our own comfort and our own peace of mind more than the literal lives of people who are trying to escape a murderous cult.

I’ll say this again in this post because I feel like it’s worth repeating. I might write angry posts every once in a while, but it’s only because it breaks my heart that people are being turned away when they literally have no one else to go to. And not only is that horrible in and of itself, but it also paints our God and our Jesus in the same colors.

And this is why I feel like Christians should be the biggest group of supporters for helping these refugees, these people that have fled their own countries because they no longer feel safe there. We like to say that we’re the body of Christ and that we’re the hands and feet of Jesus, but how can we continue to declare that if we don’t actually do anything of substance with our lives? Do we think that our God cannot protect us if we open up our borders to welcome in His children at the risk of exposing ourselves to danger?

“For God has given us a spirit not of fear, but of power and love and self-control.”

• 2 Timothy 1:7

If our hope and our salvation have been assured because of Jesus’ sacrifice for us, why, then, do we continue to fear people that can only destroy bodies and buildings? That fear shouldn’t get in the way of doing what we’re supposed to do: loving people the way Jesus would, even if that means risking some of our own safety to do it.

“And do not fear those who kill only the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.”

• Matthew 10:28

We need to stop treating ‘what would Jesus do?’ as a hypothetical question, because we have the opportunity to practice that in this day and age.

Anyway, I’ve ranted for long enough already in this post. But I’m being so serious. I feel like so many of us continue to treat the Gospel and Jesus’ words like they’re hypotheticals, like we need a neatly delineated, signed mission statement in order to do anything worthwhile in our lives. There are so many things that we can do right now, right here, without any special training or special equipment. You don’t need to be trained in how to have compassion or how to love people. You just do it.

So think about some of those things in the days that come. What are the real reasons that we oppose things? Because fear is not a legitimate excuse. That says we don’t believe our God is big enough or powerful enough to handle what the world He created might throw at us. And then what would Jesus actually do? That’s not a hypothetical question. That’s how we should be living our lives. Because that’s how people will see Jesus, not by our cheap words or our politics or our theology, but by our actions.

So let’s maybe try and actually be the hands and feet of Jesus as the world continues to give us more opportunities to show off the God that we serve.

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