Word to the Wise
Sunday, October 29, 2023 - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time - A
[Isa 45:1, 4-6; 1 Thess 1:1-5b; Matt 22:15-21]Thus says the Lord: "You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt..[Exodus] "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first commandment. The second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." [Matthew]
President Franklin D. Roosevelt once mightily offended a convention of the Daughters of the American Revolution by beginning his speech with: "My fellow immigrants!" But Jesus and Moses had already made it clear in Exodus and in the Gospel According to Matthew: "You shall not molest or oppress an alien for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt..." and "You shall love your neighbor as yourself..." The Gospel According to Matthew takes it further, later on, in the parable of the Last Judgment when Jesus identifies himself with "a stranger and you welcomed me." [Matt. 25:35].
Immigration may be a hot "political" issue, but politics may not ultimately determine the moral issue. A thousand "what if's" cannot dismiss the challenge posed by Jesus and Moses if we, as faithful Christians, accept the scriptures as God's Word. This applies to all moral issues that get caught up in political debate. What is known, in current cultural language, as the "culture wars" is a deeper debate over ultimate values of human dignity in the light of God's Word. Preachers who dare to mention this challenge are sometimes accused of "preaching politics" but that can be a matter of letting politics taking precedence, which can be ultimately damning. Immigration is just one example that currently challenges our faith and not just our "politics." Abortion, war and peace, death penalty, free speech, gun control, climate change....and others all touch on human dignity and the command to love our neighbor as ourself. The scriptures are not the property of any political party. The Lord will have the last word and we already know what he has asked us to do. AMEN