By Father Myron J Pereira
In recent times, the dramatic reality of unchecked migration has convulsed the world.
Indeed, several European countries are expelling their immigrants, claiming that they have no cultural affinity with the host country despite years of domicile. Other countries simply refuse to take in migrants from Asia and Africa, most of them Muslim.
There are about 232 million migrants today, the equivalent of the fifth most populous country in the world.
Over 65 million people are forced to leave their homes in search of work, of which 21 million are refugees fleeing armed conflict or natural disasters, 38 million are internally displaced, and 3 million are asylum-seekers.
Sadly, the Mediterranean Sea has become the largest cemetery in the world.
Today Syria is one of the countries with the highest number of asylum seekers and internally displaced people fleeing abroad, along with Afghanistan, Somalia, and Sudan.
Contrary to what the Western media tend to publicize, it is not Europe but many developing countries — Turkey, Pakistan, Lebanon, Iran, Jordan and Kenya — that take in the bulk of refugees, almost 86 percent of them.
But of course, no one publicly talks of this.
Questions, questions
We are living at the crossroads of history where the flow of migration, together with humanitarian needs are raising questions about our way of life, our understanding of international relations, and how we manage diversity in our societies.
For how long can we accept an economic system which permits the mobility of capital and financial transfers, but blocks the movement of people? For how long will we encourage industrial systems that exhaust the natural resources of the country, displace the poor, and produce serious consequences for the whole planet?
Is it feasible to support authoritarian governments and armed conflicts in countries of the South, just so that a high standard of living is maintained in the West? Is it acceptable to close our eyes to the millions who cross our borders every day, desperate to escape wars and natural disasters, all of which make a humane and dignified life impossible?
And finally, when are we going to re-formulate our ways of understanding citizenship, social policies, and nation-states?
Migration and the Christian tradition
As Christians, we must respond to the needs of those forced to leave their homes all over the world. There are numerous studies about migration from the socio-political, cultural, and psychological perspectives, but not too many from a theological or pastoral point of view.
In other words, what guidance does our faith give us about how to deal with migrants?
The Bible gives us histories of human mobility right from its very beginnings — the call of Abraham, the exodus from Egypt, the wanderings in the desert of the Israeli tribes, the exile, the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt, and the missionary activity of the early Church.
As the letter to the Hebrews puts it, “We have here no permanent home, but seek one which is to come.” (Heb 13.14). Or more bluntly, aren’t we all migrants?
However, the silence of the churches and their reluctance to consider migration as a significant part of their contemporary history becomes a matter of accusation. This is more so since the age of colonialism was spearheaded by the Christian nations of Europe and North America.
It was also the first occasion when people were forcibly displaced from their homelands only to become slave laborers in foreign countries.
In brief, the history of the People of God is intrinsically related to the human story of displacement and exile, as much as it is to the story of pilgrimage and hospitality. It is a process which permeates the whole of Scripture and the Christian tradition.
It may be useful to briefly consider Jesus’ attitude to migration. We will take four parameters and relate them to Jesus’ teaching and actions. They are identity, dignity, justice, and hospitality.
Identity: Who is my family?
Most Western Christians feel comfortable with the idea of the “nation-state,” seeing in it an extension of their traditional sense of “family” or “home.” But this emphatically is not Jesus’ idea of identity. In Mt 10.34ff, Jesus speaks of the Gospel as a divisive force in traditional families (“to bring not peace but a sword”), and in Mt 12.46ff, he challenges conventional family relationships (“Who is my mother?”)
Accordingly, what gives identity to every Christian is not blood ties, or links to a particular homeland but following Jesus (discipleship) in his life of pilgrimage and homelessness. And it is dialogue that is the key to understanding the “other” — the migrant, the refugee.
Dignity: How has God created us?
The first book of the Bible says it all: humanity was created “in his own image and likeness” (Gen 1.26; 5.1-3). No declaration of human rights can surpass this, no matter what label we give the immigrant — “forced migrant,” “internally displaced person,” “de facto refugee,” etc.
But most host countries apply a clear economic or mercantile label, to the point of adjusting their migratory policies to the needs of their labor market. Is this just?
Being created in the likeness of God confers a special dignity and fraternity to every human being which challenges every racist and xenophobic expression, but particularly against the poor and vulnerable. How tragic then that the Christian countries of the West are often the most racist!
Justice: When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you?
In Matthew’s Gospel, we see Jesus not only taking on human nature, but assuming the role of a refugee as a child (Mt 2.13 ff), and of a homeless person as an adult (Mt 8.20). This condition of vulnerability and accompaniment is a sign of deep solidarity with the human situation.
In Mt 25, he says emphatically, “whenever you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” When Jesus takes the form of a homeless migrant, it means that the closer we draw to the migrants, the closer we draw to God.
Hospitality: Everyone is invited to the banquet
Through the ministry of reconciliation and celebration, Christians are called to cross over the borders of legal-illegal, pure-impure, included-excluded, and sit at one table in fellowship with those rejected and demonized by society. Migrants and refugees are the first to be stereotyped.
This hospitality is a preparation for the Kingdom (as numerous parables point out), and this it is, which will also lead Jesus to the Cross.
These four parameters continue to encourage, defy and challenge us as we approach the reality of migration, guided by our faith in Jesus and his teachings.
No one in recent times has appealed to the conscience of the world regarding migrants more than Pope Francis. Let’s therefore conclude with the prayer he made at Lesbos (Greece) in Apr 2016, in memory of all the victims of migration:
Merciful God, Father and Mother of us all,
we pray to You for all the men, women and children,
who have died after leaving their homelands in search of a better life.
Though many of their graves bear no name,
to You each one is known, loved and cherished.
May we never forget them,
but honor their sacrifice with deeds more than words. – UCA News
*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
