October 27, 2018

Would You Let Jesus In?

The LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.

– Psalm 146:9

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” – Matthew 2:13

Would you have welcomed Joseph, Mary and Jesus into your country? Would you have allowed them to cross the border and come into your land to make their home? Or would you have turned them away, perhaps arrested them and separated Jesus from his earthly parents, because they weren’t welcome?

“Of course not,” some of you are saying right now. My next question is this: Are you sure?

Joseph didn’t have time to apply for the proper papers. He didn’t have time to pack and have a good-bye party and make a plan. He followed the angel’s directions and left immediately. Jesus’ life depended on it.

I know there are some who cross our borders with evil intentions. There are some who are violent criminals who have been repeatedly deported. And I know that laws are important and should be followed whenever possible.

But as I read this story again I can’t help but realize that we wouldn’t have allowed Joseph, Mary and Jesus into our land. We would have turned them away. I know this because we do it almost every day.

The horror stories are real. If your son doesn’t join the gang, they will kill him the next day. If your daughter doesn’t agree to be a prostitute, we’ll kill her too. They know the threats are real because they’ve seen it happen. They don’t have two or more years to file the paperwork and go through the “proper” channels.

So, yes, we would have turned Joseph, Mary and Jesus away. We would have told them quickly that they weren’t welcome. We would have called them names and protested against desperate people because they broke the law. We wouldn’t have extended compassion. We wouldn’t have offered food and shelter. We would have condemned without ever trying to understand.

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,” – Matthew 25:35

One day Jesus will ask us why we thought it was okay to be so cruel. One day we’ll have to explain why we harshly judged those who needed our compassion. So, let me ask you again: If Joseph, Mary and Jesus, were at the border trying to get in, would you let them?