A Theology of Refugees

It seems like refugees (or asylum seekers, if you prefer, but not illegal immigrants, they're different) are never far from the headlines here in Australia.  And discussions about refugees are not only ubiquitous, they’re also polarising. As soon as anybody, no matter how well-intentioned, asks the question ‘what should we do with those who come to Australia seeking asylum?’ it’s only a matter of time before somebody calls somebody else a fascist or a hippy, which is the signal for all participants to abandon reason in favour of insults and raspberries. But how should Christians think about refugees? 

I’d like to (briefly) suggest that Scripture encourages us to treat and accept refugees compassionately and lovingly. What I'm not suggesting is that there is therefore a 'Christian' refugee policy that all Christians should subscribe to; the issue is massively complicated and won't be solved just by being 'compassionate'. All I'm saying is that given the choice between policies that treat refugees like 'us' and policies that treat them like others, Christians should opt for the former. I think there are at least three good, Biblical reasons why Christians should think like this.

1. Jesus was a refugee

I think we tend to forget that two thousand years ago, the mother and father of Jesus Christ were forced to take their newborn baby and flee their country during the night, for fear of persecution, and make their way to a strange land, knowing neither the people nor the language nor how long they would be gone for:

When [the Magi] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod.

Matthew 2: 13-15

Rest on the Flight into Egypt, Luc Olivier Merson, 1880.

Theologically I'm not totally sure what to do with this, but it seems to me that if our Lord and Saviour can identify with refugees, Christians probably should be trying to do so as well.

2. We're to think of ourselves as 'aliens' in the world


Both Hebrews 11:13 and 1 Peter 2:11 refer to God's people as 'aliens and strangers in the world'. Why are we to think of ourselves this way? Well, because as Paul says, 'you are not your own; you were bought at a price' [1 Cor. 6:20], and therefore we are no longer of this world but 'fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household' [Eph. 2:19]. In one sense we're temporary residents in a strange land, stranded far away from Home. I think Christians should be the first to empathise with refugees because of this; after all, we're going through the same thing. (Except we're going through it quite a lot more comfortably than worldly refugees.)

3. God has a special concern for the poor, the vulnerable, and the alien


Trying to exhaustively list all the places where God demonstrates his concern for those least able to look after themselves wouldn't be particularly interesting, but it's obvious to anyone with even a passing familiarity with their Bible. There's a massive thread running through the whole Law of Moses to do with how the Israelites should look after 'the alien'. A large chunk of prophetic doomsaying in the OT is also put down to Israel's failure to look after the poor, struggling and oppressed among them. I just want to share two passages that I found particularly powerful, dealing with God's anger towards those who fail to keep this commandment:

“So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty.

Malachi 3:5

And the doozy:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

  ^[...]

“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

Matthew 25: 31-45

Did you get that? 'Depart from me, you who are cursed... [for] whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' That's scary.

This is just a quick survey, dealing only with some of the theological issues, and none of the very good secular reasons why refugee hysteria should be opposed (e.g. there aren't that many of them, we've got more than enough stuff to share, if a refugee fleeing a war-torn country comes halfway around the world without money or language and gets a job here and you don't, then they deserve that job and you don't). There's lots more stuff to be dug up if you're so inclined. But I think the general thrust of Scripture is clear: Christians can identify with refugees and have a God-given duty to practice mercy towards them. What you do with that is up to you.