If an agency like ICE had existed in first-century Judea, there’s a good chance they would have had a file on the Holy Family.
A brown-skinned baby is born under an occupying empire. Within a couple of years, a paranoid ruler orders the killing of little boys (Matthew 2:16). Joseph wakes from a God-given dream, takes Mary and the Child in the middle of the night, and flees across a border into Egypt (Matthew 2:13–15). No visa. No work permit. Just obedience and survival.
If that story happened today, most of us would call the Holy Family what many call their neighbors: undocumented. The Son of God begins His human life as a refugee. That reality should sober and humble us when we talk about ICE raids and immigration enforcement.
Scripture is painfully clear about how God’s people are supposed to treat the foreigner. “You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself” (Leviticus 19:33–34).
God does not ask first: “Do they have proper paperwork?”
He asks: “Are you loving them as yourself?”
That doesn’t erase every hard policy question. But it absolutely sets the tone and the priority for the people of God.
Jesus pushes this even further. He identifies Himself directly with those on the margins: the hungry, the prisoner, the stranger (Matthew 25:35–40). When we welcome or reject them, He says, we welcome or reject Him.
So when we talk about migrants and refugees, we are never just talking about “them.” We are, in some mysterious way, talking about Him.
When we say “Jesus Was Woke,” we’re not saying He posted hot takes on Twitter or lined up with a political party. We’re saying He was wide awake to who was being harmed and left out, and He ordered His life around healing them—even when it made the respectable, religious people of His day deeply uncomfortable.
For Christians who care about Scripture, holiness, and truth, that should matter more than any party platform.
“Law and Order” and the Law of Love
Many of us who lean conservative instinctively think of Romans 13:1—“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities”—as soon as immigration comes up. Respect for authority and the rule of law is a good instinct. Scripture affirms that God uses governing authorities to restrain evil and maintain order.
But even Paul, who wrote Romans 13, refused to obey authorities when their demands clashed with God’s call (Acts 16:37–39; Acts 17:6–7). The apostles say it plainly: “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).
Romans 13 does not mean that any government action is automatically holy.
Scripture is full of moments when rulers are rebuked, resisted, or overruled by God for unjust laws and policies:
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Pharaoh’s policies in Exodus are “legal,” but God confronts and breaks them open (Exodus 1–12).
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Herod’s infanticide order is “legal,” but the Holy Family flees it (Matthew 2:13–16).
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The crucifixion of Jesus is “legal” under Rome and the religious council, but it remains the greatest injustice in history (Luke 23:13–24).
“Legal” is not the same as “just” in God’s eyes.
None of this means we ignore real questions about security, law, and governance. Nations do have a right—and a responsibility—to order their borders and protect their people. Scripture doesn’t deny that.
But for Christians, those concerns cannot be the starting point or the final word. They are important, but they are secondary.
The first question for a follower of Jesus is not, “What does this mean for our party, our elections, or our national security?”
The first question is, “What does faithfulness to Jesus require of me in how I see and treat this person in front of me?”
When love of neighbor and love of country feel like they pull in different directions, the cross reminds us which love is eternal.
Seeing Jesus at the Border
That’s why Jesus’ words in Matthew 25 are so unsettling:
“I was a stranger and you welcomed me” (Matthew 25:35).
He does not add: “…assuming their paperwork was in order,” or “…as long as it didn’t cost you politically.”
He simply identifies Himself with the stranger.
So we have to ask some hard questions of ourselves:
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When we see a family fleeing violence, do we see a political problem, or do we at least try to see the Holy Family running for their lives?
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When we talk about “illegals,” are we remembering that the Lord of glory once crossed a border with no documents, carried in the arms of a frightened mother?
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When we hear about raids and deportations, do we rush to defend the system first—or do we first ask, “Are there brothers and sisters in Christ, image-bearers of God, being crushed here?”
Good, sincere Christians can and will disagree about the best immigration policies. That’s okay. The Bible doesn’t give us a step-by-step legislative blueprint.
But it does give us a clear posture:
Love the stranger as yourself.
Treat them as if they were native-born.
Remember that you, too, were once strangers.
(Leviticus 19:33–34; Deuteronomy 10:19).
In the end, every nation’s immigration policy will pass away. Every border will fade. But how we treated the stranger in our midst will echo into eternity.
When Jesus says, “I was a stranger and you welcomed Me,” will we recognize Him—or will we call Him “illegal” and hand Him over?
For followers of Christ, that’s not a left or right question. It’s a Lordship question.
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