The Law of God does not promote preferential treatment of the poor.

“For the LORD your God is a God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore…” Deuteronomy 10.17-19

I rather suspect, given the present crisis of immigration, that immigrants, and especially “illegal aliens”, are near the bottom of the list of most admired people in this country. At least some of this contempt is understandable. But that does not make it acceptable. We may not admire people from other countries – with their different languages, garb, customs, and traditions – but we must love them. If we do not love the strangers and sojourners in our midst – even those who are here illegally – we will not be able to craft just policies concerning them. This burden falls, in the first place, on the doorstep of the churches of the land.

People come to America for a variety of reasons, most of them, at least these days, related to the opportunity to pursue material wellbeing. As we have seen, the idol of material wealth has largely replaced the God of Moses and Jesus as the deity of choice all over the world. But the confused and selfish motives of immigrants and illegal aliens do not excuse the people of God from loving them. We must love our neighbors as we love ourselves, and do unto them what we would have them do unto us – regardless of their country of origin or legal status in this country.

Increasingly, conversation about the immigration crisis tends to be polarized between those who look, especially at illegal aliens – for here is the crux of the present crisis of immigration – either as a population of entitled people or a criminal class. Neither of these poles will be helpful in crafting just public policies. It is doubtless true that many – perhaps millions – of those who come here are drawn by the opportunity for freebies of various kinds or to practice their nefarious designs for greater profit. We do not condone such motives, but we must not fail to love those who pursue them.

But loving our neighbors does not mean simply shrugging our shoulders and accepting whatever it is they want to do. We love our neighbors when we seek justice for them, and when we work to help make them contributors to a just society. Justice, as we have seen, is the result of obedience to just laws. If we love our neighbors we will seek to create a society in which justice flourishes, and to which they may expect to make a meaningful contribution. Justice – neighbor-love – may require retribution toward some of these our neighbors. But even then we must not mete out punishments vindictively, but with a view of teaching justice and restoring justice to those who are to be punished, as well as to the society as a whole.

In the matter of public policy relative to immigrants and immigration, Christians must lead the way with thanksgiving and concrete gestures of love. These might include providing food and clothing, temporary housing, instruction in English language, helping with job training and finding work, and much more. Then they must insist that civil government begin to reflect more of the holiness and righteousness and goodness of God’s Law in all their policies respecting immigrants and immigration. Wherever churches can establish means of helping the strangers and sojourners in their communities – without breaking existing laws – they should do so gladly and with thanksgiving. Let the policies and practices of our churches be the harbingers and prototypes of what governments might do throughout the land.

Such gestures of love, demonstrated by congregations everywhere, will position the Church well to join and perhaps even to lead this public policy debate.

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