[I do not know Hebrew, and I am not a Scripture scholar. But I know a little …]
Last night (8/18/14), I was dragged into a debate about immigration. (Dragged? A friend of a friend said that liberal arguments for immigration reform are empty-headed nonsense, and he enjoyed exposing them. I found that nigh on irresistible.) The host to the brawl was Tom Furtado, a good friend from decades ago. Tom and I were arrested and jailed together. And when I wrote my first book about eugenics (Roots of Racism and Abortion, once again available through Amazon or Kindle) Tom got me to write it as a textbook for a one-semester class for high school students. Tom’s a great friend, with a big gentle heart, a beautiful wife, and a million kids.
In the debate last night, I argued that current immigration restrictions are unjust, incompatible with the teaching of the Catholic Church (my opponent was a Catholic), and completely incompatible with the forceful teaching of the Bible. And I noted that the readings this past Sunday (8/17/14) were (in part) about immigrants.
But – today’s readings (8/19/14) at Mass are also about “strangers.” Anyone who followed the debate last night may want a little remedial Hebrew, because the reading today makes “strangers” look awful.
There are four Hebrew words that are translated into English as “stranger.” One does not cause any confusion: TOSHAB or TOWSHAV is generally translated “sojourner,” and it usually appears alongside another word (GER). The other three are GER (a noun – the verb to be a GER is GUWR, and the place where a GER GUWRs is a MAGUR), NEKAR (associated adjective: NOKRI), and ZAR (associated verb: ZUWR). These three words do not have exact English equivalents; they have their own meanings and histories and connotations. But approximately, very roughly, just to clarify the point: GER means foreigner/stranger/guest/immigrant, NEKAR means foreigner/stranger/outsider/weirdo, and ZAR means foreigner/stranger/enemy/invader. The words in Hebrew are clear and not confusing. But translations into English are a mess. The Hebrew words for “guest” and “weirdo” and “invader” are – all three – translated as “stranger” or “foreigner.” So the English is confusing, in ways that the Hebrew is not.
The readings on Sunday were about GER – guests/immigrants/strangers. The readings today were about ZAR – enemies/invaders/strangers.
The Biblical teaching about GER is clear and forceful. A GER is – first and most simply – whatever the Hebrews were when they were in Egypt. That is, a GER is someone who comes from another land and settles in your land for a time. The Lord demands repeatedly that such strangers must be treated with protective respect.
There is zero confusion (zero honest confusion) between GER and ZAR. The latter attacks your country, to ruin and despoil. The fact that both exist does not justify a restrictive border policy, sorting out the wanted and the unwanted arbitrarily. The existence of ZARs does justify (actually demands) a border policy that identifies and excludes criminals. But re-labeling a GER as a ZAR simply because a GER enters the country without documentation is sloppy and unjust. Dealing with a GER in such an arbitrary and inhospitable way is specifically and forcefully condemned throughout the Bible, with shocking vehemence. The crimes that the Lord swore to avenge himself include crimes against widows and orphans and day laborers – and immigrants.
In his description of the Last Judgment, Jesus talks about care for the hungry, the thirsty, and the naked. And he urges that we be pro-active about hospitality, visiting the sick and the imprisoned . In this short list, with just six items, he includes welcoming strangers. To the ear of a modern American, that sounds a little strange, as so we usually skip over that detail, or change it to helping the homeless. But the words in the Gospel are about people from another land who come into your land – strangers or foreigners or immigrants. Why put strangers in that short list? It seems odd, arbitrary. Jesus put strangers in his list partly because he was a good Jew, following Moses. The Biblical teaching about welcoming strangers begins in Genesis, and it is extraordinarily eloquent and forceful right through; if we have overlooked it, that’s our problem. Americans change the verse in the Gospel because our society is drifting away from the society Jesus described. Actually, he demanded it; eternal rewards and punishments apply.