It may seem strange for a Jewish man to quote a Catholic Cardinal. But today, I read Bill Kristol’s article about Cardinal McElroy and his comments on how we treat migrants in the United States.
Kristol, a former member of the Bush administration, spent the weekend raising money for Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. They have raised $340,000 as of this writing. Because of a recent Supreme Court ruling and our nation’s immigration policies, these Haitians have lost their ability to work, are living in fear, and are in dire need of support.
You can read Kristol’s entire article here, but below are a few quotes:
[https://www.thebulwark.com/p/we-are-losing-our-soul-as-a-nation-springfield-mcelroy-cardinal-immigration-deportations-tps-haitians]
“The cardinal’s text was the parable of the Good Samaritan, and he pulled no punches. We as a nation have not been good Samaritans.”
“For the last year and a half, the people of the United States have witnessed the suffering of the undocumented in our midst, purposely and strategically magnified by our government, and for the most part, we have simply passed on by.”
“Indeed, McElroy explained, we have failed to live up to the two great legacies that shape America’s duty to the stranger: the command in Deuteronomy that ‘you shall not violate the rights of the alien or the orphan,’ and . . . in the last eighteen months, our country has traded that legacy for ‘suspicion, division, cruelty, and violence.’ And in abandoning the words of Deuteronomy . . . ‘we are losing our soul as a nation.'”
You may not know that the John Legend is from Springfield Ohio. He recorded a six minute video to support the fundraising effort for the Haitian community. Please take a few minutes to hear a very compelling message.
A Text Out of Context
My approach to today’s Bible passage is out of context, but I think it captures the spirit of the argument in some ways.
The religious authorities wanted to change the narrative. They did not want the apostles preaching about Jesus rising from the dead after they had condemned Him to crucifixion.
In the same way, many government leaders want to change the story about immigration. They try to explain it in ways that minimize the impact of voices like the Cardinal or Bill Kristol.
The religious authorities tried to stop the Jesus movement by putting His followers in a public prison. God had a different plan.
“But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, brought them out, and said, ‘Go, stand in the temple and tell the people the whole message about this life.’ When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching.” (Acts 5:19-21)
Immigration matters deeply to anyone who reads the Bible. From beginning to end, we see that God loves and cares for the most vulnerable among us: widows, orphans, and immigrants.
As important as immigration is, sharing the message and reality of Jesus is even more important. God would not allow his servants to remain in prison or his word to be kept silent. So an angel opened the prison doors, and they publicly proclaimed who Jesus is.
Breaking the Law
To save space in my blog article, I will not include the dramatic details of how they discovered that the disciples they had imprisoned were free and preaching again. We now come to the moment when the religious authorities tell them that they are breaking the law.
“When they had brought them, they had them stand before the council. The high priest questioned them, saying, ‘We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you are determined to bring this man’s blood on us.'” (Acts 5:27-28)
The apostles experienced Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and an angel. They knew God’s will, so they could say the following to the authorities:
“But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than any human authority.'” (Acts 5:29)
God’s Will vs. Institutional Policies
I have already noted that I am taking this Bible passage out of context to consider it alongside immigration. The text’s main message is the continuation of the gospel.
Still, part of the gospel is how we treat others.
Jesus taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves. We have the story of the Good Samaritan and Matthew 25, which speaks about caring for many kinds of people. In that parable, Jesus said that whatever we do for the least of his brothers and sisters, we do for him.
Immigration involves serious issues that no blog post could ever solve. Still, I believe we can seek God’s will and try to live it out in how we treat the least of Jesus’ brothers and sisters.
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed Acts 5:12-32 on YouTube today.
