Love UndocumentedSample

The apostle Paul tells us in Romans that all governments are under God and reminds us to live responsibly to avoid trouble with the authorities. As a lifelong rule-follower, I resonate with these verses. As Christ-followers, we seek to honor the laws of the land in which we live while recognizing that our primary allegiance is to God. We must acknowledge that the kingdom of God calls us to unique concerns, values, allegiances, and actions. 

From the moment he arrived and was laid in a manger, Jesus has been challenging his followers to be present and active on behalf of the most vulnerable. This is a countercultural way to live when we are most accustomed to everyone seeking only their own best interests. Instead, we are told in Scripture to pay attention to those on the margins of power who are the most vulnerable. We are instructed to leave extra grain at the edges of our fields rather than take all our profits for ourselves. And as the people of God, we are reminded of our own experiences as foreigners. We hear a call for mercy and welcome in the midst of a society that exploits and abuses those who are not “their own.”

Our call to love extends beyond our feelings of affection or our satisfied inquiries into whether another person is deserving of our care. We are challenged to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, and we are told to love others because God loved us. Theologian William Willimon, in his book Fear of the Other, writes, “We simply try to see the Other as loved and cherished by God in the Other’s mix of righteousness and sin, good and evil, as are we, embraced by the outstretched hands of Christ on the cross.” 

We open our arms to immigrants, documented or not, not on the basis of their purity or deservingness but because of Christ’s love for us in our undeservedness.