With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back; I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble; (Jeremiah 31:9)
Many of us may remember seeing the face of the man desperately gripping his children as he steps out of a small dinghy onto the shore in Kos Greece. His face is contorted with grief. Tears stream down his face. We do not know whether his tears are ones of relief or deep sorrow. They are probably a combination of both and exhaustion. But they are a powerful image of the pain faced by millions of people today as they are forced to leave behind all they know and love to escape lives of unbearable suffering.
The image of Laith Majid was shared by thousands of people on the Internet. Laith, his wife, and their four children had arrived in Kos at dawn on August 18 after being crammed with eight other refugees in a dinghy meant to hold only three people. Far offshore the dinghy had begun to lose air and started taking on water. Now they had arrived safely on the beach. But their odyssey had only begun. Fleeing their home in Syria to escape the constant onslaught of bombs falling first from the Syrian government and then later from rebels and then from ISIS, they would spend their next nights in a make shift tent on the beach hoping for the opportunity to journey into the Greek mainland.
Daily we watch as millions of people run for their lives, leaving behind home, country, and often family. Sometimes they travel in groups and sometimes they travel alone—even young children, seeking life, seeking hope, seeking a chance to live without fear and the constant threat of violence.
During the year, conflict and persecution forced an average of 42,500 persons per day to leave their homes and seek protection elsewhere, either within the borders of their countries or in other countries. The people come from Syria and Iraq. They come from Myanmar and Afghanistan. They come from Central Africa and Southern Sudan. They come from Mexico, Central and South America. And for the first time in more than a decade more than half of these persons who are fleeing war and persecution are under the age of 18 years old.[1]
We hear today in our reading from Matthew’s gospel that the need to flee violence is not a new thing, but one that is as old as time. The story begins with the departure of the wise men who have come from the East to find the baby Jesus.
Rather than returning to report to the Judean King Herod of what they find, they are warned in a dream, to go home by another way. Their actions frustrate Herod’s plans to seek out and destroy the child he fears might challenge his power. In response Herod orders the massacre of all children 2 years of age and younger in and around Bethlehem. Hearing this story some 2000 years later, our hearts break because we know that this unspeakable cruelty to the innocent and vulnerable knows no border or time. Children die daily in war, through famine, and through the ruthless actions of merciless tyrants.
An angel comes to Joseph in a dream and warns him to get up and take Mary and the baby to Egypt where they are to stay to avoid this unspeakable violence. In doing this, he is spared. The little Lord Jesus, from whom we hear no crying, is spirited away while the cries of the families weeping for their children ring out and cannot be consoled. Jesus our Lord knows what it means to flee for your life. He knows what it means to be a refugee forced to get up and go! leaving everything behind to journey to a far off place.
People fleeing today cross borders and seas, taking great risks to protect their families, to seek a life worth living, to find a place of safety where they may simply live without the fear of war, terror, persecution, and crime. For many of these who attempt to escape their suffering, their lives are forever altered and going home becomes an impossible dream.
Who are these people who have become refugees? For every person who has to leave behind all they know and love to preserve their life, there is a heartbreaking story of betrayal, loss, and longing for a place and a time that is now gone. They are the father who carries his daughter on his shoulders as he walks hundreds of miles for the chance to give his child a life of safety. They are the mother with a law degree who cries over the fact that she has left behind members of her family.They are teachers, scientists, students, nurses—all fleeing violence without end. They are children and teenagers who hope to have a future, but have no idea which way that is. Sometimes even to live is an act of courage.
Jesus understands these vulnerable victims of war, violence, political and religious persecution. He knows and hears the cries of those who suffer violence, who live in fear, and who must risk losing their life for the chance of another day of living.
Although Jesus was a small child when his family was forced to flee Bethlehem, he would certainly have heard the stories of that time. And we know that experiencing such a trauma changes people. Things are never the same, even when there is welcome upon entering a new place. They are different people—stronger in some areas and much more tender in others.
In just a few chapters, the baby will be grown up and we will hear him say, “”Foxes have holes, birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” (8:20) Jesus felt such deep connection with the displaced, that he considered welcoming the stranger to be a sign of entering his Kingdom: “I was a stranger and you welcomed me.” (Matthew 25:35).
But even in places where hope seems to be absent, even in the land of the loss, even in far away Egypt or Greece, or Jordan or Germany or Massachusetts, God is already there.
In our reading today from Jeremiah, the people of Israel have suffered mightily in a time of war and destruction. With the fall of Jerusalem, the Jewish people have become fugitives, refugees, and displaced persons all over the world. In this reading from the prophet Jeremiah we hear that God intends to gather them from all parts of the world.
All will be gathered, not only the strong and the well-connected, but the weak and the vulnerable will have dignity and authority over their own lives given to them. The faithfulness of God will make this happen. God does not forget them. God remembers and raises up those whom the world has discarded and devalued. God promises to bring them to a place where they will once again know enough food, water in abundance, a path without roadblocks or barbed wire. God the good shepherd will seek out the lost and bring them to a good land.
And God is at work today in bringing these men, women, and children toward safety and dignity and hope. God is bringing people into their lives who will help them find a place to become whole again. God is calling to people of all skills who are willing to give what they can to care for these children of God who have left everything behind, but long to have a future of life.
God invites us to be a part of this story. What role can we play in helping people fleeing violence and poverty find a safe place to call home? Their plight touches our hearts. We know their hope of breathing freedom, of providing a place where their children can experience a life of hope. We are people who come from refugees and immigrants. Their story is our story. We are people of the Exodus and we trace our heritage back to “a wandering Aramean” who went down into Egypt and lived there as an alien. Their struggle touches a deep place within us because we know that our salvation is bound up with theirs.
Several weeks ago John Cheek along with Steve Abdow met with the people of Ascentria Care Alliance in Worcester. Ascentria, formerly the Lutheran Social Services of New England provides services to refugees from all over the world. They are a welcoming place that helps new arrivals find a safe place to live, receive training they need to find a job, and support them as they try to navigate this new world in which they find themselves. Ascentria has resettled more than 500 refugees in Massachusetts between October 2014 and September of this year. Some are refugees from war, others are fleeing persecution. They’re all starting over.
I will be placing on our website ideas that Steve Abdow and the Diocese of Western Massachusetts has offered for us to consider in helping with this need. In early January, Kathy Clausen, Dindy Anderson and I will visit a center that offers support to immigrants and refugees in Pittsfield. We want to know what we can do.
Laith Majid and his wife Nada Adel, both English teachers, and their four children were welcomed into Berlin, Germany and are starting a new life. Their story has a hopeful end. We pray that others may receive welcome as well.
We know the danger in the world and we know that the crisis of men, women, and children running for their lives is not soon to end. What can each of us do? What can we as a community of Grace Church do? The only wrong response is to turn away. The only wrong response is to do nothing.
As Christians we believe that when we offer welcome, when we do what we can to extend God’s love to those in need, that we are giving to Christ himself. Jesus, whose birth we celebrate, comes to us as one who was forced to flee with his parents from a merciless ruler. And so today we can look in the faces of children who are also fleeing violence and see a glimpse of the Holy One in their eyes. And then walking in company with God who comforts and gives gladness for sorrow may we respond with the compassion and mercy of our Lord.
[1] UNHCR: The United Nations Refugee Agency. http://www.unhcr.org.uk/about-us/key-facts-and-figures.html.