Dairy Mart Road, just north of Tijuana from I-5 to Friendship Park, is not a 'bridge to nowhere.' It is the same length as the road from Jerusalem to Emmaus, where Cleopas and his friend dialogued with anguish just a few days after Jesus' death. Their journey led to a common meal made a bit more extraordinary with a guest appearance by the Crucified One. Our journey to Friendship Park yesterday on World Communion Sunday also ended with with a meal...and yet another guest appearance.
With Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol looking on, United Methodist pastor John Fanestil delivered a bilingual message to both sides of the fence, defiantly proclaiming the absence of borders in God's worldwide kingdom. Brothers and sisters of Christ, from many denominations and ethnicities, both Mexican and American, participated in the Jesus meal, taking the bread and wine together. Sure, the obnoxious fence was a bit of a nuisance, but it didn't stop the body of Christ from being passed back and forth in a minor act of civil disobedience. For the average onlooker, it was just some Americans and Mexicans singing, eating and gazing at each other across through fence, but for those who have 'eyes to see' it was none other than the risen Lord in our midst: 'When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him' [Luke 24:30-31]. We recognized the Crucified One in the solidarity of fellow citizens of God's Reign, in the tears of the daughter in the States who got to see her mother in Mexico through the fence, in subverting the unjust policies of 'border security,' at the finish line of a 700-mile fence poking into the Pacific and in the stories of suburban Christians like me who are dying with the Messiah, in repentance and resistance, to the privilege, entitlement and prejudices of our youth.
'Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the border...'
Luke 24:32
1 comments:
What an incredible experience to get to take part in... I know it has really gotten my wheels spinning and heart aching for how we might be a more prophetic and compassionate advocate for our desperate, suffering and economocally oppressed sisters and brothers to the South... Tom, thank you for your words that put the story of our suffering neighbors into the context of our suffering Lord...
In thinking about how destructive, self-protecting, divisive and Un-Christian the borders we erect are, I came acros this quote from my reading this morning and wanted to share it. I think it very poignantly and profoundly gets at the heart of the problematic divide between rich and poor (both in our own country and within a globalized economy)...
"...we gain new insight when we look at the parable of Lazarus or hear the brilliant words with which Jesus reassured Peter that 'the gates of hell will not prevail against you.' As adolescents, we understood that to mean that the demons and fiery darts of the Devil will not hit us. But lately we've done a little more thinking and praying, and we have a bit more insight on gates. Gates are not offensive weapons. Gates are defensive--walls and fences we build to keep people out. God is not saying the gates of hell will not prevail as they come at us. God is saying that we are in the business of storming the gates of hell, and the gates will not prevail as we crash through them with grace.
People sometimes ask if we are scared of the inner city. We say that... Our Jesus warns that we can fear those things which can hurt our bodies or those things which can destroy our souls, but we should be far more fearful of the latter.... As Shane's mother says, 'Perhaps there is no more dangerous place for a Christian to be than in safety and comfort, detached from the suffering of others.' We're scared of apathy and complacency, of detaching ourselves from the suffering. It's hard to see until our 20/20 hindsight hits us, but every time we lock someone out, we lock ourselves in. Just as we are building walls to keep people out of our comfortable, insulated existence, we are trapping ourselves in a hell of isolation, loneliness, and fear. We have 'gated communities' where rich folks live. We put up picket fences around our suburban homes. We place barbed wire and razor wire around our buildings and churches. We put bars on our windows in the ghettos of fear. We build up walls to keep immigrants from entering our country. We guard our borders with those walls--Berlin, Jerusalem, Jericho. And the more walls and gates and fences we have, the closer we are to hell. We, like the rich man, find ourselves locked into our gated homes and far from the tears of Lazarus outside, far from the tears of God.
Let's pray that God would give us the strength to storm the gates of hell and tear down the walls we have created between us and those whose suffering would disrupt our comfort. May we become familiar with the suffering of the poor outside our gates, know their names and taste the salt in their tears. Then when 'the ones God has rescued,' the Lazaruses of our world--the baby refugees, the mentally ill wanderers, and the homeless outcasts--are seated next to God, we can say, 'We're with them.' Jesus has given them the keys to the kingdom; maybe they will give us a little boost over the gate."
(Shane Claiborne, Jesus for President, p. 292-93)
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