Rembrandt (1606–1669), The flight into Egypt, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. [1]
In the story of the Magi, we are told that the wise men were advised through higher powers not to tell Herod that they had found Jesus, since the baby would be killed to preserve the earthly power of the despot. The Gospel tells of Joseph, Mary and Jesus fleeing for their lives to Egypt until the political climate in the Holy Land improved. In those days Egypt for the Jews meant Gaza— the irony of it is stunning as we support the bombing of those populations.
Those pictures of humans fleeing persecution in Biblical times are not so different from today’s realities, when the world is awash in political refugees fleeing for their lives. In the United States this need not be the case. The United States was founded by European refugees fleeing religious and temporal oppression. There is a real opportunity for Americans to return the favors granted their ancestors by the indigenous First Americans.
The planned policies of the incoming administration to persecute immigrants misses the unique opportunity for it to manifest the Christian love that their many political supporters from Christian denominations assert to have. We reside on land taken from those who were here prior to 1492. We could at least partly atone for the outrages of the past by welcoming those who are fleeing intolerable conditions in their home countries today.
The scarcity of workers is already disrupting the lives of people that I know. Construction companies; agricultural concerns; landscaping and gardening operations; home cleaning services; elderly care and nursing facilities; and other industries are struggling to staff their operations. Will those enterprises fold and bring layoffs?
Will wages rise due to labor scarcity and drive up inflation? Every American family will be impacted. The demagogues ranted about an inflation that was diminishing.
What makes America great? How great is the American heart?
And if heart is lacking, will Americans withstand the economic adversities that the persecution of immigrants will bring? Will Americans themselves be forced to emigrate to survive the coming hardships?
Man barricades against himself.
RABINDRANATH TAGORE
What do you think?
Man barricades himself against himself. That about says it all. The more we make it about our small self, the smaller our world becomes. Thanks for the post.
It truly is Biblical times, Manuel. When will Christians have enough of this. Of course I'm not talking about my many Christian friends who are outraged. The Evangelical extremists are no better than Hamas and ISIS. Thank you for calling them out Manuel.