WWJD in a Trump America?
WWJD? One of my Facebook friends and I got into a friendly debate about the interpretation of a specific scripture in light of how this administration is handling the immigration situation. The scripture they posted is Galatians 3:28 (NIV) which states, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Their position is that the Bible reinforces the rule of law and justifies the actions of this administration and the Department of Homeland security. If you’re interested you can see my response below.
My response:
My friend, I can appreciate your position as I can see that any analysis through the lens of Jesus’s teachings would likely grapple with the tension between the principles of law and order and the consistent and strong biblical mandates for compassion, mercy, and love for the stranger and the marginalized. My belief is that Jesus’s response would likely challenge any approach that fails to see the humanity in each individual affected by these policies, and He would lead with compassion, grace, and seek an alternative to simply throwing these people out of the country, breaking up families, and destroying people’s lives.
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus consistently showed concern for the poor, the outcast, and the vulnerable. He ministered to those on the fringes of society and criticized religious leaders who prioritized rigid adherence to the law over mercy and compassion. I interpret the actions of Jesus as an example to care for the needs of immigrants, regardless of their legal status.
I think there’s an alternative to spending billions of dollars to round up illegal aliens who have not broken the law other than illegally entering the country. Why can’t those billions of dollars be used to create a pathway to citizenship that these productive individual and families can utilize to become legal citizens? At the same time I believe in enforcing illegal immigration at the border, but I think there is a model that would take into consideration people who have been here over 5 years or some number of years that makes sense and have demonstrated that they are both peaceful and law abiding individuals and not simply throw them out of the country.
The Old Testament, which forms the foundation of Jesus’s teachings, also contains numerous commands to care for the “foreigner” or “sojourner.” For instance, Leviticus 19:34 states, “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.” This is often understood as a call to empathy and acceptance.
Central to Jesus’s teachings is the commandment to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). When asked, “Who is my neighbor?”, Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan, highlighting a person who showed compassion to a stranger in need, suggesting that neighborly love should extend beyond one’s own ethnic or social group.
So I think I land on the old popular trendy phrase...”WWJD”?