Great and Wonderful Aliens: A Lenten Reflection

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me; I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" Emma Lazarus

             So it isn’t located on an island mid-way between New Jersey and New York. It wasn’t a gift by a nation that longed for and admired the freedom of the United States. There is not a ‘lamp beside the golden door’, but there are ‘yearning hearts longing to be free from the wretched conditions of their former land.’ In Genesis, the land of Goshen was the destination of a ‘tired, poor majority yearning to be free.’ Here is a homeless family tempest tossed’ seeking to be free. The goodwill of their land had dried up and their families and their livestock were seeking shelter from a ‘wretched’ condition and so they found their way to a better land – a golden door that invited them to live freely in an alien land. The wretched refuse found their way to Goshen and sought entrance into the land, “We have come to reside as aliens in the land; for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan.” Genesis 47:4.

            This family, Joseph’s family, found their way to Goshen and the only vetting process was a simple question: “What is your occupation?” The response was, “Your servants are shepherds, as our ancestors were.” Genesis 47:3. The Pharaoh did not sign an executive order restricting their travel. There were no armed guards to meet them at the entrance and no wall to keep the alien – the foreigners from the ‘golden door’, the land of Goshen. Instead of mandates, limitations, and rules, the Pharaoh said only this: “Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land; let them live in the land of Goshen; and if you know that there are capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.” Genesis 47:6. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” Proverbs reminds us: “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Proverbs 31:8-9 Great and wonderful aliens are we.

            It was no place for widow whose only male children had died in the midst of a famine. Upon the death of their husbands a mother and daughter-in-law set out to return to another country. Naomi, the mother, and Ruth the daughter-in-law were in ‘wretched way’. Their future in the land of their husbands looked more frightening every day. Together they set out to a land where they were welcomed – ‘send these the homeless, tempest-tossed to me…’ Naomi would set out to a place in the country of Moab where the ‘Lord considered his people and gave them food.’ Ruth 1:6

            When they arrived in the land of Moab there was a man named Boaz who said to the hungry, lonely women, traveling in a foreign land, “Come here, and eat some this bread, and dip your morsel in the sour wine.” The scripture goes on to say, “…They ate until they were satisfied and there was even some left over.” Ruth 2:14 Then Boaz instructed his employees, “Let her glean even among the standing sheaves, and do not reproach her. You must also pull out some handfuls for her from the bundles, and leave them for her to glean, and do not rebuke her…” Ruth 2:15-16. Do not ask questions to determine her immigration status and do not revoke her ‘green card’. Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the right of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy.” Great and wonderful aliens are we.

            It happened. He issued his mandate to his soldiers and  officers, “…kill the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who are two years old and under…” Matthew 2:16. “Give me your tired, poor and your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” The scripture says, “When the magi had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ‘Get up!’, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search the child and kill him. He got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt…” Matthew 2:13-14a. Egypt received the holy family like the lamp beside the golden door…” at one timed received the ‘alien, the foreigner, and the stranger.’ Great and wonderful aliens are we.

            As Christians, we find ourselves at a critical crossroad. A crossroad that demands of us resolve, strength, and courage to stand with the ‘foreigner, the stranger, and the alien.’ The scriptures make it clear what we are to do with the stranger among us. In fact our own Savior and his family were once refugees in search of food, shelter, and security. Our call is clear. We must stand in solidarity with ‘the tired, the poor, and the huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”   We stand as ones whose own families were, at one time, refugees or immigrants to these shores. Today, we must stand with the ‘homeless and the tempest tossed’ to be what we have always been, a lamp beside the golden door – a place where there are no strangers, no aliens, no immigrant, or refugee. Instead, let us stand as one people to welcome all who yearn to be free. For we do not know when the 'lamp may go out for us.'