Hello good day. Last week I preached on the Ten Commandments and immigration. I have had a few conversations afterwards and received a suggestion because it does not clarify my point of view. This I am trying to do today.
God’s people walked in the desert according to the book of Numbers chapter twenty-one. They decided to go around the territory of Edom. The journey was difficult and the people spoke badly of Moses and God. As they walked they were attacked by poisonous snakes. Then the people approached Moses, admitted their mistake, and asked for help from God. They asked for help not only because they were afraid of suffering and dying from the snakes, but also because losing so many people does a lot of damage to the people. A people, or a culture of people, is an organism. Each person depends on the other to survive. Losing a person is devastating. Losing several, dozens, hundreds, thousands, or millions makes an incredible devastating impact until it is difficult to understand. Suffice to say that everyday life is even more difficult after a loss of people. Many hands make work light. If you lose hands, it turns out that life’s work is heavier.
We are in a similar situation. We have lost more than five hundred thousand people in the United States and almost three million people around the world. There are no words to describe, nor are we really aware of the trauma we are experiencing. Life will be more difficult. At the beginning of the quarantine there was a hope of a growth of births. But sadly a year later, the situation is exactly the opposite: there are fewer births. Forty years ago in the 1980s there was a concern that the world’s human population was growing at a dangerous and unsustainable level. But they were wrong. The world’s population is going down, and they are possibly going to go much lower.
We are the people of God and like our ancestors we feel the anguish of trying to survive when the people suffer losses. But why were the people walking around Edom and not through? Tradition says that Edom was the descendants of Esau, Jacob’s brother. James was the ancient ancestor of the People of Israel. I imagine there was fear and anger that Israel and Edom would be separated, and above all a lack of confidence. If the people had crossed into the land of Edom there would be no attack by the serpents.
The letter of the Ephesians speaks of this situation. He says that there is an evil spirit that makes us live according to the desires of the flesh or the skin, and that is why we are children of wrath. The people did not want to confront Edom because they had anger and hatred for this people with different flesh and skin. Living according to the flesh means living with prejudice and fear against people with different skin. But while we were dead in sin and anger, Jesus Christ died on the cross to save all mankind. He did not die for the good, but for sinners like us. Jesus said that just the snake had to be lifted up in the desert so that God could save the people who were dying from the poison of the snake, the son of man, Jesus Christ has to be lifted up on the cross to save everyone who he is suffering from the poison of anger and hatred.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save it through him.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that all who believe in him would not perish but have eternal life. God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save it through him.
Jesus does not cause divisions between people, families, or peoples, this is the result of living according to the flesh. Jesus the love of God with flesh heals divisions and makes bridges to overcome divisions. Looking at the cross of our savior heals us and removes the poison of anger from us. This is the grace of God. It was also the grace of God that saved the people in the desert. And it is the grace of God that encouraged scientists to create these wonderful vaccines.
And I believe that it can also be the grace and love of God that is calling and sending thousands of people, immigrants, not to be a threat. No. The other way around. God is sending relief, help, healing, and blessing to us. Precisely at the moment when we are suffering a loss of life God is giving new life.
God is healing the earth. We are the people of God. And it is possible that God is offering new brothers and sisters. New church members. New students. New clients. New doctors. New artists. New friends. Amen.
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