When Your Privilege Hits You in the Face

I’ve been invited to share a word at an immigrant church this weekend. I was already thinking about what kind of message I could bring them given their current state of fear. Should I preach on hope? Should I talk about peace in the midst of the storm? Should I encourage them to not lose heart? But, as always, before I got too far down that road of speculation, I sat down with the lectionary to see what passages it has in store for the week. And this is what I read:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

I almost felt the wind knocked out of my lungs. How do I preach about loving the enemy and turning the cheek to a people who are actively being oppressed, who are fearful of deportation, and for whom the prospect of the government ripping their families apart is a very real reality? How do I preach a message about turning the cheek to a people who suffers from a daily assault of verbal (and sometimes physical) abuse? How can I speak about going the extra mile, when that extra mile may lead them back to countries ripped apart by violence?

Then it dawned on me, it’s to that kind of people that Jesus was teaching in the first place. He wasn’t teaching a group of middle-income, white men who’ve never been oppressed a day of their life. He was teaching a group of people who were suffering on the margins of empire.  For most of my life, while I’ve been aware of the geopolitical realities of the first-century, I’ve still been reading this passage from a position of privilege. Now, faced with the prospect of reading that passage in an immigrant church haunted by rumors of immigration raids and mass deportation, those realities have come to life.

It is to that community, oppressed and marginalized, that Jesus is speaking, asking them to love those people, who often look a lot like me, who are oppressing them. It is to that community that Jesus encourages perfection. And it is through that community, that perhaps, the rest of our salvation may be found. Perhaps their love for us, in spite of our actions, can redeem even the most hardened heart.