Hard Hearts

He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.

The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him,

How to destroy him.

-Mark 3: 5-6 (NRSV)

Maybe this passage came a couple of weeks too early. This was part of the text from June 3, it's about how Jesus dealt with people who wanted to enforce the letter of the law rather than have compassion on others.  No, I'm not making that up, neither is it a particularly "liberal" interpretation.  You don't have to do any mental gymnastics to see that the clear problem that Jesus has with those who keep the Sabbath is that they do so to the exclusion of being basically decent humans.  The rules have become more important than the people, and that makes Jesus angry and he is "grieved at their hardness of heart."

Now, I understand that there are layers and layers of our psyche that are designed to help us survive and that when we feel threatened some of the more primal instinct kicks in, and I understand that many of you have been hearing for years about what an existential threat that immigrants pose to our society.  I understand that some of you may be frustrated by having to press one for English when you call any big organization.  I know that MS-13 are scary people and none of us want them living on our block, or even in our town, but if you will join me on a spiritual exercise of walking a mile in someone else's shoes I would like to deliberately exercise your compassion muscles.

Imagine for a minute (and maybe this isn't that far of a reach) that the United States has suffered a calamity. Our government is non functional, the rule of law has broken down entirely.  We're in full on Road Warrior territory with gangs of terrifying rapists in metal underwear roving the land in search of plunder and slaves.  There are still good folks around, towns that try to just go about their business and live like they always did, but there is constant danger. You have several small children and have been successfully hiding out in a pocket of relative safety, but the bad stuff is closing in. You have heard that Canada has somehow avoided the wholesale degradation that our nation experienced and you hope that, somehow, if you can just get to the north you can return to something like a normal life.  You will have to give up everything you can't carry and you will have to risk immense danger, but you decide to go.

Along the way there are people who will try to take advantage of you, rape you, steal what little you have, promise you help but then betray you.  The people and communities you pass through along the way will not help you, in fact they will distrust you and despise you, especially if they feel like they're still relatively safe and secure. Your children will be hungry and tired and scared out of their minds, but you as their parents must somehow protect their fragile little lives with your own.

You arrive at the border of your last hope for civilization.  You expect to be able to ask for asylum, for refugee status, for something.  But Canada has been dealing with too many of your ilk, and they're starting to feel the pressure and the fear of too many immigrants taxing their system, so they have instituted a set of policies that they think will make them more secure and deter all these formerly smug Americans who are now beggars at the gates.

You have no connections, you have no money, you are arrested and charged with a minor offense, you will need to go to court and present your case for asylum, but in the meantime your children are taken away, you don't entirely know where.  All this time you have been their strength and their protectors, and you have done your best to keep them sane and hopeful that something better was ahead.  You listen to them screaming and crying for you as they are taken away by Canadian soldiers. Has your heart broken yet?

The only hyperbole in that entire description is metal underwear.  The rest you just need to change Canada to the United States.  You need to understand that the people who are fleeing from Central and South America are not just regular migrants looking for jobs, they are fleeing from cities and places where the rule of law has mostly or completely fallen apart, they are desperate for the security of our borders, even if they would be undocumented and impoverished.

The most basic moral injunction that Jesus gives his disciples is, "Love one another."  Whatever excuse you may use to break that injunction, does not change the immorality of breaking it.  Complicated and difficult situations do not relieve us of our moral duty.  Feeling threatened or frustrated by people who are different than you certainly is no excuse.  In fact, the parable of the Good Samaritan, for which my church is named, makes that point rather specifically.  The Samaritan, a rather despised out group to the Judeans Jesus was talking to, was the one who showed love and care and who was the neighbor of the man in the ditch.

The Bible really is a pretty amazing book, too bad we just swear on it instead of reading it.