Loving the Sojourner: Reflecting God’s Heart for Immigrants & Refugees

I recently had the privilege of teaching on a biblical theology of pilgrims, sojourners, and exiles. While my focus was on how Christians are spiritual sojourners as citizens of heaven living on earth, I was struck again by how much the Bible speaks to the situation of sojourners today (immigrants and refugees). Think about how much of the Bible is written about or to people on the move: whether exiles, sojourners, wanderers in the wilderness, or people on a pilgrimage.  This wealth of biblical material provides insight into how we might think about, treat, and care for immigrants and refugees (sojourners) today. (A sojourner in the Bible was one residing in or traveling through a country not their own. This is why some translations use “immigrant” for sojourner.)

Christians can and will disagree on which policies—locally or nationally—best preserve order for its citizens while promoting justice for immigrants and refugees. Christians can disagree on the best ways to welcome and love immigrants and refugees locally through ministries and organizations, churches, and as families and individuals. The issues are complex. But our starting point as Christians must be studying God’s Word and seeking to be faithful to it. We begin with Scriptural principles and move to practices and policies; not vice versa. And the Bible is not silent on how God’s people should view the sojourner, immigrant, or refugee. As I wrote in “‘That’s A Political Issue’ and Other Conversation Killers”, though every issue might relate to politics, that does not make them a “political issue.” The Church cannot hand over such significant matters to politics alone. They are first a moral, biblical issue and then they can be applied at various levels, including the civil realm.

This issue needs studied in much more depth than I can do below. A book like Christians at the Border by Daniel Carroll or Generous Justice by Tim Keller is a good place to start. What I seek to do below is summarize a few over-arching categories for wrestling with the issue and then list some of the related biblical references.

Our heart and treatment of immigrants and refugees is rooted in and reflects God’s heart for the vulnerable.

Scripture describes God’s heart as going out in compassion and help for the weak, lowly, marginalized, and outcast. He loves to help the helpless. He draws near to those who are otherwise neglected, defenseless, or alone. God declares he will be a husband to the widow, a father to the fatherless, a provider to the poor, and a gracious host to the stranger. The most vulnerable in society are often the most prone to ignore, misuse, or abuse, and God will have none of it. As we’ll see, he desires and expects his people to reflect his heart in how they treat others.

While our views on immigration and refugees have social and political consequences, it’s first and foremost a theological and moral issue. Start there. Christians need this to be a personal issue before it’s a political issue. How can my beliefs, actions, attitudes, interactions, and civic involvement best line up with all of these biblical texts about God’s care and concern for the sojourner, the immigrant and refugee? How do I take small steps to reflect God’s heart for the sojourner, not theoretically but in practice?

Let’s pray over your meeting today! May God take over your conversation with your new friend. May the holy spirit guides you, and the control for a productive and meaningful time together.

Feel free to share your reflection with other volunteers.