Jesus And 'The Illegals'
Justice In The Lectionary: Fourth Sunday After Pentecost
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The 2 Kings reading is about Naaman - the Syrian army commander with a skin disease. Now, Naaman may seem like a random dude to pop up in the lectionary. But he’s kind of a big deal - big enough to get a mention from Jesus in Jesus’ first recorded sermon.
So follow me as I follow my ADHD brain to another related key text (albeit not in the lectionary for this week):
In Luke 4:18-19, Jesus defines his Gospel (good news) by declaring at his hometown synagogue:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
Now, you’d probably expect Jesus’ audience to push back here and shout, “Jesus, you’re too woke.” Well, not really. Because here are verses 20-22:
“20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?””
They’re still tracking with Jesus. In fact, they’re really into Jesus at this point. Because they’re hyper-individualizing Jesus’ message to themselves and their own community.
“Of course Jesus came to set the poor, oppressed, and captive free - aka US! I don’t really give two hoots about what he says - as long as he delivers results.”
Much like today’s lay evangelical:
“Of course Jesus came to set the poor, oppressed, and captive free - spiritually though. He came to set me free from my sins. I don’t really give two hoots about anything else he says or does in his lifetime - as long as he ultimately dies on the cross for my sin. Because that’s the most important thing here - my soul salvation and the soul salvations of our neighbors. Physical liberation is nice and all but ultimately, not nearly as important as soul salvations.”1
But then, just as they were probably bracing to crown Jesus as their Lord Commander Jon Snow, Jesus shoots his Judean political career in the foot by prophetically poking the bear in verse 27:
“There were also many with a skin disease in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
And here’s how his audience reacts to this in the very next verse (verse 28):
“When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.”
Did you catch that? Jesus’ audience was totally into his sermon. Right up until Jesus mentioned who the good news of his liberation is first and foremost for - ‘the illegals’.
‘The illegals’ back then (and today) are the foreigners. The queer folks. The misfits. The enemies who have harmed us. The people on the Tatooine fringes of Empire that Empire teaches us to hate.
Jesus’ audience was ready to crown him Messiah right up until the moment he defined who his Gospel was really for - ‘the illegals’. Then, his audience wanted to kill him with the 300-styled chant, “This is GALILEIIAAA”.
Friends, if the religious (albeit untransformed) folks tried to kill Jesus for being inclusive of ‘the illegals’ in his liberation agenda, you can be darn sure that they’ll try to do the same to Jesus followers today who follow in their liberator’s footsteps.
Empire conditions us to hate and cancel ‘the illegals’. But Jesus reminds us that ‘the illegals’ are precisely who he came to set free. And ‘the illegals’ are precisely who his liberative Gospel is for. And not just in a narrow, colonialistic “save their souls from a future hell while ignoring the current hells their bodies need to endure” kind of way. But in a holistic, Shalom and liberation kind of way.
Can you imagine a Church (like the early church) that includes ‘the illegals’ and even throws their bodies on the line to shield them from Empire?2
Unless we deprogram ourselves of Empire’s hate manual and reprogram ourselves to look out for ‘the illegals’ around us so that we can stand in solidarity with them, we will never truly understand the depths of goodness of Jesus’ reconciling good news for all of creation.
Because it is in fighting (nonviolently) for the liberation of ‘the illegals’ that we as the Church will find our liberation and raison d'être too.
Drawing from his ancient, St. Thomas Indian Christian roots and a decolonized, justice-centered understanding of Scripture, Joash helps audiences reimagine a faith that unites rather than divides—and that stands firmly with neighbors on the margins. Through speaking engagements, teaching, and advocacy, he calls Christians to a more contemplative yet courageous activism, motivated by the grace-filled, non-violent way of Jesus. To support Joash’s priestly ordination and future education costs, you can upgrade to be a paid Substack subscriber today. We’ll also be launching monthly virtual hangouts as a paid subscriber perk starting July 14! Thank you for your partnership in this work of justice.
Evangelicals are by no means a monolith. So of course not every lay evangelical thinks in this way. This is however in my experience (as someone with two degrees from one of the top evangelical seminaries in the world) the predominant evangelical gospel concern - often stated implicitly and explicitly.
We should all take pointers from the Catholic Church on this: https://thehill.com/opinion/immigration/5374168-trump-immigration-catholic-confrontation/