\t\t\t\tIt happens every time someone suggests that the immigration debate should take into account the people and circumstances involved. Whenever one suggests that we do not have to use law as an impersonal club against people that some wish removed from our country,\u00a0 he or she is called a “bleeding-heart-liberal.”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Apparently, such has become unUSAmerican. Visit the “blogosphere”\u00a0 anytime that immigration issues are discussed, and you will quickly see what I mean.<\/p>\n
Might there be a truly Christian perspective to be applied here?\u00a0 Hmm.<\/p>\n
One day as Jesus was busy teaching about the meaning of the “kingdom of God among humanity”, his attention was diverted by a commotion, growing in intensity and drawing closer.\u00a0 Suddenly, he was faced with city authorities who, in association with the “good people of the city”, thrust a young woman before him.<\/p>\n
She was taken in the act of adultery, they informed him. They wanted to know what he, a professed interpreter of the law, had to say about this disgusting wretch before him.\u00a0 Now there were clear laws on the books about this crime against society.\u00a0 Under strict application of the law, she would be stoned to death.<\/p>\n
Although stoning for adultery was not normally practiced, the city leaders felt that this was a good “test case”.\u00a0 In addition to humiliating the woman, and embarrassing a teacher who they did not sanction, they had another motive.\u00a0 They wanted to force him to go on record as being soft on the law.<\/p>\n
“Law is law, and we are truly a people of laws”, they no doubt declared!\u00a0 “Now Mr. Teacher of the Law, what do you say?”<\/p>\n
Never mind that he was busy teaching folks about the transcendent nature of a loving God; his class that day was over.\u00a0 He said nothing. In reflective thought, he sat down in his open-air classroom, leaning over, marking the sandy ground with his fingers.<\/p>\n
The silence was deafening and the tension palpable.\u00a0 Then the officials, frustrated with his passive behavior, insisted that he make a verbal response.<\/p>\n
“Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. Our laws command us to stone such women. Now what do you say?”<\/p>\n
What was this Jewish teacher to say?\u00a0 They were technically correct.\u00a0 There was such a law on the books.<\/p>\n
Yet this law in and of itself could not speak to the mistreatment of women, as characterized by their actions.\u00a0 It could not address the effort to entrap this woman, who was conveniently handed over in spite of the curious absence of the man involved. This law, in and of itself, could not speak to the corrupt and insensitive hearts of the religious leaders.\u00a0 Nor could it expose their hidden agendas. So he wrote and thought.\u00a0 Thought and wrote on the sand.<\/p>\n
Finally he had an answer.\u00a0 “Very well then, stone her, you who are oh so righteous.\u00a0 In fact let the most righteous among you cast the first stone.\u00a0 That’s right, you who have no sin, go ahead.\u00a0 Cast the first stone at this trembling creature standing before me.”<\/p>\n
Then refusing to look at them, he returned to his curious position on the ground, continuing to write in the sand.<\/p>\n
I suppose she closed her eyes, awaiting the first blow.\u00a0 It never came.\u00a0 The outdoor classroom was slowly evacuated– in the order of age, the oldest followed by the younger.<\/p>\n
Once they left, he stood and made eye-contact with her.<\/p>\n
“Where are the accusers?\u00a0 Who is here to condemn you? ”<\/p>\n
“No one”, she replied.<\/p>\n
“Then neither do I.\u00a0 Now go make a fresh start!”<\/p>\n
Based on the gospel of John, chapter 8:1-11\u00a0 Read it for yourself. <\/a><\/p>\n God did not make immigration laws.\u00a0 Those are a product of man. We are responsible for the quality of their substance and their application.\u00a0 Our motives can be humanitarian or racist.<\/p>\n I am nearly 62 years old.\u00a0 I remember the other laws that extended the enslavement of a people well beyond the Emancipation Proclamation.\u00a0 I remember being taught by my white segregationist culture that some folks just were not as important as others. That they could be cast off at any provocation.<\/p>\n I remember the laws that made it illegal for a friend of mine to eat with me in a restaurant because his skin-tone was not acceptable.<\/p>\n I remember as a boy\u00a0 seeing dark-skinned men, women and children, loaded up on police wagons and taken to jail, because they were not the right color, because they spoke differently, because their culture and experience were not the same as their “white superiors.” And because “they” were asking to be treated as “our” equal.<\/p>\n I remember the laws that allowed for “keeping people in their place” and away from our neighborhoods, and our jobs.<\/p>\n I remember our laws that made it impossible for “them” to ever vote, because if the white man ever lost his political advantage who knew what terrible thing might happen?<\/p>\n And that’s only the part of our past, as a nation of laws, that I can remember.<\/p>\n I know what racism sounds like, and when we are attempting to use law to summarily dispose of a people that we care nothing about.\u00a0 As a nation of laws, we’d do well to not\u00a0 be overly impressed with ourselves, or our collective righteous behavior.\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It happens every time someone suggests that the immigration debate should take into account the people and circumstances involved. Whenever one suggests that we do not have to use law as an impersonal club against people that some wish removed …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Continue reading →<\/span><\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-perspective","category-immigration","category-race-relations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/youdidntask.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}