Today, Governor John Kasich added Ohio to the list
of several other states that are refusing to accept even one refugee from the war
torn areas of Syria and other nations.
This announcement is purely political and is entirely lacking in common
sense and human compassion.
Judging by the Facebook posts I’ve been reading for
two days, I’ve just offended many of my friends.
I don’t care.
Why? Because if you are a follower of Jesus Christ,
you are completely ignoring nearly every instruction that Jesus ever gave.
Let me explain.
It is obviously apparent that terrorists have
infiltrated the flood of refugees landing in Europe and elsewhere. But while estimates of how many terrorists
might be among them range from a few to as many as 15 percent, most estimates
go no higher than 7 percent. Still,
considering that there are hundreds of thousands of refugees, 7 percent is a
lot. Allowing 10,000 refugees into the
United States could mean admitting 700 terrorists.
That is unacceptable.
So why do I think that Governor Kasich and a whole
host of other politicians have it wrong?
Because closing the doors on legal immigrants, even
in the face of this enormous threat, conveniently ignores too much human pain
and suffering. Before I get around to
Jesus, let’s first take a look at who these refugees are and why they are
fleeing to other countries.
The civil war in Syria isn’t just about one group of
radicals who are fighting against the government. We think that way because we think of the
Confederate States fighting against the Union, but that example is just
wrong. In Syria, there are literally
dozens of armed factions that are warring, not only with Syria’s government,
but against one another. And so thinking
that this is like the Rebs against the Yankees doesn’t really do it justice. Instead, imagine that every church that you
passed this week represented the headquarters of a different armed group. Imagine that, in your community, the Baptists
are fighting the Lutherans, the Catholics are killing Pentecostals, and the Republicans
are at war with Democrats. Not only is your
neighborhood a war zone, every week or two, another group tries to capture it
from the group that captured it the last time.
Some towns have been blown up and shot up multiple times, churches have
been burned, women raped, and entire towns lined up in the streets and
murdered.
This is daily life in much of Syria.
And so, not surprisingly, a lot of people, both
Christian and Muslim, have left their homes, their families, and all that they
own, to literally walk across
several entire countries in hope of
finding something better.
Are there “bad guys” mixed in with the “regular”
refugees? Yes.
But those of us who claim to follow Jesus are called
to see the world in a different way. Not
through the lens of Democrat or Republican, but through the lens of the Gospel
message of Jesus Christ.
If we look at what Jesus taught, we won’t find words
like revenge, retaliation, or retribution.
We won’t find instructions to hate our neighbor or to fear the
foreigners. Instead, what we find are
instructions to be merciful, compassionate, loving, and helpful. Our mission is to rescue the lost, heal the
sick, clothe the naked, and help others find hope and a future so that they too
might hear the message of the Prince of Peace.
We have every right to be concerned about the
possibility of allowing hundreds of jihadi terrorists into our country, but
that fear cannot allow us to slam the door on the 93 percent who are only
looking for a place to live that won’t get blown up next week.
It is convenient and easy for politicians to preach
from a pulpit of fear and xenophobia.
But as Christians, we are not called to follow the teachings of John Kasich
or any other politician. We are called
to follow the teachings of Jesus.
Jesus doesn’t expect us to be stupid or act
foolishly.
We remember that Jesus teaches love, mercy, and compassion,
but he also said,
“I
am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes
and as innocent as doves.”
(Matthew 10:16 NIV)
We are called to be merciful, but to be smart about
how we do it.
Governor Kasich and other politicians are looking
for easy, and popular, solutions but in doing so they sell Ohio, and the people
of the United States short.
We are smarter than they give us credit for.
We are more than capable of sorting through the
refugees and discerning which ones can be allowed in safely.
It won’t be easy.
But we can do it.
And it’s the right thing to do.
Not long ago, my wife, Patti, and I visited Caesarea
Maritima in Israel, an ancient ruin of a city built by Herod the Great around
12 B.C.E. Before Herod took control of
it, Caesarea was nothing more than a small fishing village, but he built it
into a center of trade, politics, and power.
Caesarea became the administrative capitol for Pontius Pilate and the home
of the tenth Roman legion. In that
place, Herod managed to build one of the largest man-made sea ports ever built
in a place that had no natural harbor.
Those who know me know that I am not generally a fan of
breakfast. The choices that we have for
breakfast in American culture bore me. I
don’t much like French toast, pancakes are better for lunch or dinner, and
while eggs and bacon and cold cereals are great, I get tired of them. 
