Matthew Chapter 2: The story of when Jesus was a refugee and had to flee to Egypt because of a despicable demagogue named Herod — and how it occurred in 21st Century America
It is not biblical to treat migrants and refugees like animals.
It is not biblical to take children away from their parents.
It is not biblical to ignore the needs of the stranger.
Father James Martin, S.J.
… the despicable acts of American Christians with refugees like Jesus
In the second book of Matthew, the story relates first to the visit by the Magi to see baby Jesus, guided by a star in the sky.
Then it pivots to the desire of Joseph to protect Jesus and Mary from Herod and his bloodthirsty soldiers,
The Flight to Egypt.
13 When they had departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said,
“Rise, take the child and his mother, flee to Egypt,* and stay there until I tell you. Herod is going to search for the child to destroy him.”
14 Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt.
15 He stayed there until the death of Herod, that what the Lord had said through the prophetd might be fulfilled, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Book of Matthew, Chapter 2
The massacre of all the baby boys
Then Herod ordered that all of the boys be massacred so that he could get rid of Jesus, the new king of the Jews,
The Massacre of the Infants.
16
When Herod realized that he had been deceived by the magi, he became furious. He ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the magi.
17
Then was fulfilled what had been said through Jeremiah the prophet:
18
* e “A voice was heard in Ramah,
sobbing and loud lamentation;
Rachel weeping for her children,
and she would not be consoled,
since they were no more.”
Matthew, Chapter 2
Which brings us to America, 21st Century
As part of his un-Christian approach to immigration, Donald Trump forced American employees to separate children like Jesus from their parents. They then threw them into cages like the one pictured above.
That is not as bad as killing the children as Herod did, but more than 700 of those children never again saw their parents.
That is sinful, and the American Herod named Jeff Sessions said that Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and refugees like them were criminals, just like Herod said,
“Illegal entry into the United States is a crime – as it should be. Persons who violate the law of our nation are subject to prosecution. I would cite you to the Apostle Paul and his clear and wise command in Romans 13, to obey the laws of the government because God has ordained them for the purpose of order.”
Bharat Ranganathan, “The Bible’s message on separating immigrant children from parents is a lot different from what Jeff Sessions thinks,” The Conversation, June 18, 2018
After the press secretary repeated the line that the separation and placing into cages was “biblical,” Father James Martin, a well-known Jesuit priest and author, said this on Twitter,
It is not biblical to treat migrants and refugees like animals.
It is not biblical to take children away from their parents.
It is not biblical to ignore the needs of the stranger.
It is not biblical to enforce unjust laws.
Do not use the Bible to justify sin.
Biblical scholar strenuously disagrees with Sessions
The Bible, however, does not say that at all. In fact, as a scholar enunciated two years ago, it says something entirely different from what Sessions and so many alleged Christians have said,
Loving thy neighbor
In the Gospels, Jesus repeatedly teaches that Christians should love their neighbors. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Later in Matthew, Jesus explains what loving your neighbor involves: feeding the hungry, slaking the thirsty, inviting in the stranger, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick and imprisoned. “Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these,” Jesus says, “you did not do for me.”
And in the very passage that Sessions cites, Romans 13, the Apostle Paul mirrors Jesus’ teaching. “Whatever other command there may be,” he writes, “[they] are summed up in this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.“
Given the scriptural emphasis on acts of mercy and love of neighbor, Sessions’ claim that Paul’s command is clear is at best dubious. It is at worst indefensible.
Bharat Ranganathan, The Conversation, June 18, 2018
For the least of my brethren: Seems Sessions and press secretary Sarah Sanders must have missed that that passage in their biblical studies.
Loving thy neighbor includes protecting the family
The value of the family to cAtholics was enunciated by Pope John Paul II in an apostolic exhortation entitled Familiaris Consortio, and in it he said in part,
At a moment of history in which the family is the object of numerous forces that seek to destroy it or in some way to deform it, and aware that the well-being of society and her own good are intimately tied to the good of the family,[7] the Church perceives in a more urgent and compelling way her mission of proclaiming to all people the plan of God for marriage and the family, ensuring their full vitality and human and Christian development, and thus contributing to the renewal of society and of the People of God.
John Paul II, “Famliaris Consortio,” Vatican, 1981
What could be worse for deforming the family than separating children from their parents?
Dr. Bharat Ranganathan further explains that importance,
The centrality of the family
How do mercy and neighborly love relate to the family?
Beginning with Genesis, Scripture emphasizes the centrality and importance of the family for individual and social well-being. In Genesis, God creates Adam and Eve so that they may be companions to one another. God also commands them to be fruitful and multiply.
In addition to being placed by Jesus at the heart of the Kingdom of God, children are a gift from God. And parental love aims to mirror for children the love of God.
The import of these teachings is reflected in several contemporary documents, including Catholic social doctrine, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, all of which claim that civil society and the state should prioritize care for mothers and children.
Bharat Ranganathan, The Conversation, June 18, 2018
How sinful is the separation of children from parents?
Recent data illustrates that the U.S. government has more than 700 children who have been permanently separated from their families. This is simply wrong according to the beliefs of Jesus,
In recent days, the media have reported the painful stories of the forced separation of hundreds of immigrant families at U.S. border detention centers.
What’s conspicuous and morally problematic about these stories, is the trauma that forced separation causes to families, and in particular to children.
Sessions’s invocation of Romans 13 is only the most recent example of the use of this passage which has been used to justify all manner of immoral behavior: imperialism, slavery, Nazism and apartheid.
What Sessions and others have missed is the moral of Romans
13. Care for the most vulnerable, falls to the family first and then to the state. Immigrant families fleeing from destitution are attempting to find the means to provide for their themselves. The state must honor this priority if people are to consider their laws just and worthy of the submission Paul enjoins on Christians.
The spirit of charity and hospitality, recognizing that we are all strangers and sojourners alike, demands caring for the most vulnerable members of the human family. The Trump administration’s rhetoric and action flout these.
Bharat Ranganathan, The Conversation, June 18, 2018
Conclusion
So, the story in Matthew about Jesus becoming a refugee with his parents is tied very closely to refugees who were also fleeing persecution, which is occurring throughout the world.
Persecution has never ended, and what is very sad is that so many people who call themselves Christians in the U.S. have been unwilling to condemn the actions of its government with these refugee children, who are just like Jesus Christ.
Comments
Post a Comment