As we were discussing the theme of “neighbor” for this issue, I was reminded of the passage in Luke 10 (NIV) where an expert in the law asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus reminded the man of what was written in the law: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself.”
But wanting to justify himself, the man asked him, “And who is my neighbor?”
Instead of answering him directly, Jesus launched into a story.
“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds…he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expenses you may have.’
“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
What makes Jesus’ message all the more poignant is that the Hebrews of Jesus’ day looked at the Samaritans as enemies. The point of the parable is that the “neighbor” you are supposed to take care of might be very different from you — but it’s still your obligation to help them.
It’s hard to imagine that the current American policy of separating families and imprisoning children in detention camps is something that complies with this Biblical direction. On Oct. 24 of this year, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights released a report examining trauma at the border and the cost of inhumane immigration policies.
The report found that, “Functionally, what has resulted from the Administration’s policies is the separation of more than 2,700 migrant families and children, massive overcrowding of poorly run detention facilities that lack resources and fail to uphold basic standards of medical and mental health care, the forced return to Mexico of over 11,000 migrants waiting to be heard on asylum claims, and other conditions that give rise to concerns of civil and human rights violations. These policies put the lives of migrants and their families in danger and at times resulted in their needless deaths.”
These policies are a far cry from Jesus’ command for us in the Bible. All throughout Scripture, God commands his people to look after each other. Just as God cared for the Israelites when they were wanderers, He has always commanded his people to look after those on the margins of society — the leper, the stranger, the hungry, the oppressed, the widow and the orphan.
Leviticus 19:33-34 reads, “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.”
Today, it’s not hard to see the modern equivalent. As long as we share the same planet, we are all neighbors. But in our region of Southern California specifically, the crisis at our borders directly confronts us. Refugees from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are migrating toward Mexico and the United States to escape poverty, violence and political instability.
Many migrant caravans traveling from Central America end up camping on the streets of Tijuana, Mexico for months, hoping to apply for citizenship or asylum, or just looking for any way to get across the border. Independent journalist Jorge Ventura interviewed those living in the migrant camps last year.
“After interviewing many migrants from the caravan…one thing is for sure. They want the people in the U.S. to know that they are not gang members or people that want violence,” Ventura said. “They just want to escape a very bad situation in their home country and are looking for a second chance.”
Migrants spoke of the dangerous gang rivalries in Honduras, particularly between the MS-13 gang and the 18th Street Gang. “In our country, there is a lot of corruption. Day after day, the government, the people, it makes it corrupt,” said Christian Ramos, one of the migrants interviewed by Ventura.
Why is this happening? Taking a look at the recent history of those countries, it’s not hard to see that the United States’ intervention has played a key role in creating the political instabilities within their government.
For decades, the United States has undermined democracy and stability in Central America through economic trade and military intervention, creating vacuums of power that become perfect breeding grounds for political corruption, drug cartels and human trafficking. Since 2004, a free trade agreement between the U.S. and five Central American countries called CAFTA-DR has restructured the those countries’ economies and guaranteed their economic dependence on the U.S. by weakening domestic industries through the influx of both agricultural and industrial goods, and by creating massive trade influxes.
Accepting refugees, particularly from South and Central America, is not only our country’s moral obligation and in line with Biblical commandments — some have even gone so far as to argue that it might be better described as a matter of reparations.
As neighbors, it’s not enough for us to spout inclusive rhetoric — that’s not enough to spark true change. We must continue to exercise our right to free speech, question the fundamental logic of the need to strengthen borders and advocate for those who are experiencing injustice.