Matthew tells us that baby Jesus was born a homeless asylum seeker. His parents fled with the newborn Redeemer to Egypt in order to save his life. The King wanted him dead so they became political refugees. The family stayed there until the psychopath died and they returned to Galilee.
While this fulfilled prophecy, we aren’t given any more of the story of Jo, Mary, and the young Son of Man’s time as immigrants. We don’t know what the immigration experience was like for them. There are books on it but they are at best well-educated suppositions.
All of the increasingly amplified fearmongering about immigrants by the new gold standard of Christlikeness president and his MAGA Christian followers has given cause to wonder: Did the actual Christ experience treatment similar to our fine “Christian” border policies and practices?
Was the little Lamb of God separated from his parents at the border? Did the Messiah’s family have to wait on their side before anyone would listen to their pleas that someone was trying to murder their child? Did they have to navigate a wall or razor wire or coyote predators as part of their journey? Did the Alpha and Omega’s mom have to live under constant threat of government agents sending them back to Herod? And, apparently the most important factor in deciding whether to grant mercy and compassion, was the King of Kings documented or not?
We just don’t know but time as an immigrant obviously influenced the Light of the World because he repeatedly takes special care to emphasize welcoming strangers in his teachings. “Whatever you did for the least of mine, you did for me.”
How are we treating the Son of God? How are we treating the least of his people?
Roger Patterson, Kanab
