Face it, Jesus was an Immigrant (...a note to Christians)
source: egyptianstreets.com
Yes. Jesus Christ is the author of life and is the creator of all that exists (for without him, nothing was made that has been made.)
Yes. Jesus Christ transcends space and time and existed eternally with the Father (so that there hasn't been a time when He has not existed).
But like immigrants, there came a point in time in history when He left His kingdom, went past the gates of splendor, and crossed a border into our realm.
Are you aware of how much of a misfit Jesus was in His day? He was a constant threat to the cultural status quo because His ideas and lifestyle conflicted with the culture of His day.
Those darn foreigners!
So of course,
He wasn't exactly welcomed with open arms.
It seemed to many an easy solution to simply send Him back to whence He came, albeit, violently.
Come to think of it, God's own chosen people were immigrants! From Abraham's wanderings in a-land-not-his-own, to Joseph in Egypt, to Ruth the Moabite in Israel, to the Jews in captivity, you can't help but note a streak of immigration/refugees running through the narratives of Scripture.
To be clear, I am not in favor of evil men with evil ideologies and intent roaming our streets.
While I see great wisdom in (and agree with) a national policy that wages war against those organized militant groups, I find myself inclined to pray that they would experience a road to Damascus experience like the apostle Paul. I realize that that may sound a little naive in light of how legislatively complex the issue of immigration and refugees in America truly is. But I can't help it. The author of life has wired my heart in such a way that it beats for globally displaced men and women seeking to find a better life than the one they've come from.
There are close to 40 million immigrants in this country and most of them do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. Incidentally, their immigration experience predisposes them to be particularly open to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Most of these forty million are legal residents but are isolated in immigrant neighborhoods and mostly unreached by the church.
They are a mission field of God.
They are the harvest Jesus spoke of when He instructed us to pray that God would raise up workers (that's you, by the way).
When you and I, as followers of Jesus Christ can get our minds around the fact that God is not only looking for those "who will go to the nations", but is now bringing those very nations to our doorstep, then, we will experience a fresh outpouring of His Spirit as we obediently love, serve, and embrace into the family of God these immigrants. Practically, it may simply need to start with a change of mindset towards these displaced people groups. From there, then we can have those difficult conversations about actual resettlement.
Whether you agree or disagree with me, know this: We're really ALL just passing through. This world is not your home! Someday in the near future, we'll head to our real home.
The least we can do is help those passing through feel a little more at home.
