With [our tongues] we bless our Lord and Father, and with them we curse people who are made in the image of God. From the same mouth comes blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this ought not be so.
–James 3:9
And who is my neighbor?
–Luke 10:29
***Note: This is NOT meant to be a political blog about our present immigration policy, though many of the principles will likely be applicable. As a pastor and friend, my primary concern is for the souls of those God has placed within my sphere of influence.
Them.
The most vicious and dehumanizing word in the English language: them.
I am frightened by the abundance of its use over the last few days and weeks. “We have to stop them.” “We’re the only ones with truth, the only ones enlightened, certainly less ignorant than them.” “I am afraid of them.” “If you don’t support us, then you support them.”
Embedded within its normal use “them” implies a heart of war, an “us versus them” mentality. “Them” implies the superiority of one group over another. Inherit in the term, “them,” is the beginning stages nasty tribalism that threatens to rip apart the fabric of our society and souls. Even those who claim to be inclusive, who pride themselves on their “tolerance” are all too ready and willing to judge and look down on those they deem backwards, ignorant, and intolerant. This sneaky brand of elitism has divided the west in two. I believe that this elitism and intolerance of the intolerant is largely responsible for the present populist movement. No one likes to be a “them.” So, the populist movement has gained a following as more and more people feel unaccepted by the intellectual elite.
Yet, Jesus provides us with a way out. A deliverance from our proclivities to judge, to separate, to delineate between those that are in and out, with us or part of them.
Jesus frequently encountered with “us versus them” confrontations. Jesus was often urged to pick a side, “are you with us or them?” Would Jesus become an earthly king, join the zealots, the populists and freedom fighters of their day? Would Jesus join the favorites of the people, the intellectual elite, the Pharisees, who seemed to have answer for everything? Would Jesus be more practical, join the winning side of collaborators along with the Sadducees? Would Jesus join the isolationists, the Essenes, who had given up on the corruption and compromise of Jerusalem and its temple?
Jesus seemed uniquely adept at never joining, but never completely ostracizing any particular group. Even groups He was most critical of, the Pharisees, had members of their ranks that would eventually follow Him, even if their discipleship began as a covert operation in the dark. To the collaborators and those who hated the collaborators, Jesus simply replied, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” To the self-righteous keeper of the law, Jesus questioned His definition of good/perfection and reminded him that his love of money disqualified him from the perfect holiness of God required for salvation. Jesus regularly asked equally hard questions backs to people who attempted to trap Him with their questions, like whose authority does John the Baptist minister under?
This reminds me of a story Jesus told. Jesus told a story about an unspeakable “them,” Samaritans. The genius and surprise of the story is that the Samaritan is the hero, the heralded example of charity, kindness and love in action. Those who were part of the Jewish “us,” a Priest and Levite became passive villains, while the Samaritan (who couldn’t be a more culturally ostracized and hated “them”) saves the day in Jesus’ story.
Remember, Jesus was prompted to tell this story by an “us versus them” question: “who is my neighbor?”
The way we often ask and live out this question is telling. We want our neighbors to look like us, think like us and behave like us. We want do our best to choose our neighbors—those we readily associate with—by using the same demographic and intellectual compatibility rigor that is found in E-Harmony matchmaking algorithms.
Don’t think me immune to this isolationist and tribal disease. I can even apply a heart of war, an us and them mentality to people I normally love and adore. When my spouse lets me down or doesn’t suit my impatient whims, I treat her as less than my neighbor. When my literal neighbor bass shakes my wall, I am quick to be angry and wish he were further away from me (sorry Megan Trainor I am not all about that bass). Like the Rabbi in “Fiddler on the Roof,” I find myself praying that God “bless and keep the Tsar [my enemy] far away from us.”
There’s a wicked simplicity and devilish efficiency to our normal “us versus them” approach.
But, Jesus asks a painfully relevant question: "who proved to be a neighbor" (Luke 19:36)?
