“Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in your land. Treat them
like native-born Israelites, and love them as you love yourself. Remember that you
were once foreigners living in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.” (Leviticus
19:33-34 NLT)
The daily office scriptures during the fourth week of Lent are from Leviticus.
Amidst the many do’s and don’ts cataloged there, I ran across a gem for our time.
Recently, the United States of America appears besieged by people who want in,
both from the south as well as from the north. And it doesn’t take a degree in
rocket science to figure out why. For many decades, people have desired to
resettle in the US. But why is there such a flurry of asylum seekers these days?
What’s driving the drastic increase of people wanting to immigrate?
Rampant injustice, burgeoning autocracy, random crime, and worldwide
human rights violations would top the list. But behind all that lies the capital sin of
greed. For some world leaders, enough never seems to be enough. “I want more,
I deserve more, and you deserve less, much less” is their tune.
But what did the Lord’s tell his so-called chosen people? He was reminding
them to treat foreigners decently. People whom some call the “other” are our
neighbors, too, regardless where they were born, how they look, talk, or dress.
God’s telling us, “don’t take advantage of them, neither look down on nor look
away from them when they show up in your own backyard. Don’t say NIMBY to
people who are fleeing for their life.”
Quoting another biblical text, the writer of Leviticus restates the second
great commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself. In case they might be
suffering from short-term of amnesia, he reminds the Israelites that only recently
they too were strangers in a strange land, enslaved, disrespected, and thoroughly
distained by the Egyptians. In other words, don’t forget where you came from,
turn around, and proceed to inflict that very same bad behavior on others.
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