here<\/b><\/a>.)<\/b><\/p>\nRomeo also reminds us, in chilling resonance with the passage we just read in Matthew 25, that \u201cJesus, our Lord, was also Brown. As a working class, young adult, Jewish man living in the colonized territory of Galilee, he also occupied a space of social, political, cultural, and religious liminality\u201d (p. 16).<\/p>\n
As many of you know, I live in Appalachia. Recently, I overheard a group of four working-class White men complaining that a nearby construction site was \u201cfilled with Mexicans.\u201d Because I knew a few of those construction workers through various faith communities here locally, I knew they were actually from Honduras, but everyone who presents as Latin American is a \u201cMexican\u201d to certain folks around here. Their actual national origin was also incidental to the slur. They could have been American by citizenship and would have still been targeted as \u201cMexicans.\u201d Slurs are not about facts, but about prejudice, stereotyping, and exclusion. \u00a0<\/span>I then overheard one of the men respond, \u201cSomeone needs to call I.C.E.!\u201d And the conversation escalated from there. In their own echo chamber, their xenophobia became uglier and uglier. I also know one of the men in that group. They and their family are weekly churchgoers. They sit in a pew each week and listen to preachers preach from the gospels, but somehow they missed the part of Jesus\u2019 teachings that we\u2019re reading this week. I turned around and did my best to speak up on the construction workers\u2019 behalf, but it mostly fell on ears that refused to hear.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nAnother example of the many justice violations being committed toward migrants in the U.S. currently is denial of due process. Placing Jesus\u2019 teachings to the side for just a moment, consider this though the lens of the U.S. constitution. Denying migrants due process undermines fundamental human rights and the rule of law. It strips individuals of the opportunity to fairly present their case, and often results in wrongful deportations or detentions. Migrants fleeing violence, persecution, or poverty may face life-threatening consequences if deported without a hearing. Due process ensures accountability, transparency, and justice in immigration systems, and when it is denied, it fosters discrimination, abuse of power, and systemic injustice. Upholding due process is essential for a fair and humane immigration policy. Without it, basic democratic principles are compromised, and vulnerable populations are left without legal protection or a voice. Every time we weaken democratic principles, we are not just harming others, we are making our world less safe for ourselves, as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nLooking out on the landscape of the current crisis with our migrant population, I think back the words Romero wrote during the first Trump administration:<\/p>\n
\u201cA five-alarm fire is raging through the Latina\/o immigrant community. Millions are impacted. And yet, relatively few outside of our community\u2014and very few within the evangelical community\u2014seem to care. In fact, through their xenophobic rhetoric many are intentionally stoking the flames without regard to the many lives being consumed.\u201d (Robert Chao Romero, Brown Church: Five Centuries of Latina\/o Social Justice, Theology, and Identity<\/i>, p. 207)<\/p>\n
To the ten lepers and his disciples, Jesus asks, \u201cWere not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?\u201d It\u2019s the same lesson as the good Samaritan. And it should challenge every Jesus follower to assess and reject whatever xenophobic bias we may hold.<\/p>\n
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The story of the ten lepers communicates a similar lesson as the good Samaritan and should challenge whatever xenophobic bias we may hold.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4129,"featured_media":11402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,729],"tags":[52,678,2720,284,3815,3812],"class_list":["post-11399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-immigration-justice","category-liberation-theology","tag-gospel","tag-immigration","tag-lectionary-reading","tag-liberation-theology","tag-stranger","tag-xenophobia"],"yoast_head":"\n
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