How much does one have to suffer
before we accept them on our shores?
Is their pain enough to satisfy us,
the gatekeepers of freedom?
What do they need to show us
before we accept that their loss is real:
Bombed homes, dead families, starving children?
Or must they lose something more?
How much weight must the immigrant carry
to tip the scales of our heart,
til it finally tilts toward justice,
instead of apathy and self-indulgence?
Who is afforded this luxury of human rights?
…and who can keep them?
Is anyone safe from losing everything?
Most of us are one paycheck, or vote, away.
Where should a homeless person stand,
to get us to look up from our five dollar coffee
and see them as human?
…to give them a dollar from our purse?
Why can a song elicit heartfelt tears,
yet our neighbor’s plight cannot?
Have we forgotten that people are suffering,
in camps paid for by our tax dollars?
How can we justify our vacation to Cancun
when innocent people are behind bars,
being treated worse than animals,
because they dared to go to their immigration hearing?
Are we really so self-focused
that the only pain we see is our own;
that which represents our suffering alone?
Is it really a case of “out of sight, out of mind?”
What will we do when we get to Heaven
and the face on our savior is theirs?
Will we finally look into their eyes then?
Or look away, as we have a thousand times before?
~ elr
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
— Matthew 25:31-46
“And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.”
— Luke 3:11
“And he answered, “You shall 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 your neighbor as yourself.”
— Luke 10:27
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
— John 13:34-35
So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality,”
— Acts 10:34
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
— Galatians 3:28
“For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
— Galatians 5:14
“Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.“
— Hebrews 13:1-25
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
— James 1:27
“Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?”
— James 2:5
“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”
— James 2:14-17
“Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.”
— 1 Peter 4:9
“You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.”
— Exodus 23:9
“And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”
— Leviticus 19:10
“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”
— Leviticus 19:33-34
“And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”
— Leviticus 23:22
“If your brother becomes poor and cannot maintain himself with you, you shall support him as though he were a stranger and a sojourner, and he shall live with you.”
— Leviticus 25:35
“He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.”
— Deuteronomy 10:18
“You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns.”
— Deuteronomy 24:14
“‘Cursed be anyone who perverts the justice due to the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”
— Deuteronomy 27:19
“The Lord watches over the sojourners; he upholds the widow and the fatherless, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.”
— Psalm 146:9
“Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed.”
— Proverbs 19:17
“Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?”
— Isaiah 58:7
“The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice.”
— Ezekiel 22:29
“You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the sojourners who reside among you and have had children among you. They shall be to you as native-born children of Israel. With you they shall be allotted an inheritance among the tribes of Israel. In whatever tribe the sojourner resides, there you shall assign him his inheritance, declares the Lord God.”
— Ezekiel 47:22-23
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.”
— Malachi 3:5
Image: ID 5383587 © Brad Calkins | Dreamstime.com