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Immigration: Faith reflection

A Story of Two Young Immigrants

In January 2004, the Conference Minister Staff of the Pacific Southwest Mennonite Conference participated (through the generous support of West Coast Mennonite Central Committee) in an ecumenical and interfaith tour of the Sonoran Border, south of Tucson, Arizona. The following is a short excerpt from their story, “Two teenagers cross the border.”

We met two teenage boys, ages 14 and 16, from Chiapas State in Southern Mexico. As young boys they lived on their parents’ farm, and their father, like his father before him, raised corn to support his family and care for his wife, an insulin-dependent diabetic. The economic realities of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have made corn produced in the United States cheaper as an import into Mexico than locally produced corn. The agricultural economics of supply and demand, which have helped to make the United States and Canada two of the world’s most well-fed and prosperous nations, have driven many small family farms in Mexico out of production. In the case of these two boys, it meant that every day was a new struggle for their mother to have sufficient insulin and the necessary diabetic supplies to live.

So these two teenagers left school, their village, and the land their father and grandfather farmed, and came north to find work. They were on their way from Altar to Tucson, then by bus to Atlanta, with the promise of work in a poultry production facility. Their goal was to make enough money to send home so their mother would be able to afford insulin.

These two young men know their story – they have left their home to come to the aid of their mother. Willing to risk their lives, they are not seeking U.S. welfare checks; all they want is to be able to afford the insulin their mother needs to survive.

An Immigration Story from the Old Testament

Many years ago, in the city of Ur, in what is now modern day Iraq, a man named Terah left all the security of home and set out as an immigrant. He arrived in the city of Haran, at the northern peak of the Fertile Crescent, and settled there, living a full life as a foreigner in a new place. But his story does not end there. The story continues in Genesis with Terah’s son, the more familiar Abram (later known as Abraham) as the one immigrating.

Abraham’s call to immigrate is a call to go. He is told by God to leave his citizenship, his heritage, and his inheritance behind. Abraham’s journey is far from easy. But through it all – immigration to foreign lands, infertility, family conflict, war and economic troubles – Abraham persisted.

We tend to over-theologize this story. We make Abraham into a pious saint, who from the beginning left Haran on a clear mission from God. But that is not what the text says. The text invites us to consider that Abraham became an immigrant in order to fulfill his aspirations, his hopes for greatness. Yes, God called him, but Abraham became righteous only in the journey.

Most of us are from somewhere else. Most of us are immigrants. We just need to remember our story…

Showing Hospitality to Strangers

The Abraham story also teaches us about hospitality toward strangers in our land. In Genesis, chapter 18, we read that Abraham had an encounter with the Lord. In this encounter Abraham received a confirmation of God’s promise to him and a warning of impending destruction. In verse 1 we find that the Lord appeared to Abraham while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent. The story describes the hospitality that Abraham gave to the three men. He invited the strangers in, gave them water, washed their feet and fed them, as was the custom of that time.

The Scripture is clear about being accountable to God for our treatment of the stranger. God tells us not to mistreat the strangers who are living in our land in Leviticus (19:33-34). In Deuteronomy we read that God defends the cause of the fatherless and the widows and loves the stranger (Deuteronomy 10:18).

Whenever we consider the migration of any people for any reason, the Bible reminds us that the land we inhabit ultimately belongs to God. God’s generous care is constant and universal for all humanity. We are called to extend genuine hospitality toward those who, like us, are strangers and pilgrims on this earth.

Reflection assembled from excerpts of the MCC resource “Loving Strangers as Ourselves: Biblical Reflections."

Additional Reflections