Let me tell you a story.

It’s a long story, but I will tell it quickly.

Once upon a time, in the year 1050 B.C. there lived a nation known as Israel. The Israelites were a small group of people that had just managed to attain a kingdom. They had that kingdom for a short bit of time until the kingdom split into two groups. The northern groups, made up of ten out of the twelve tribes of Israel, were conquered and lost from history. The other two southern tribes of Israel made up a tiny kingdom known as Judah. Judah was eventually conquered by the Babylonians and these Israelites were sent into exile…

But, the story doesn’t end there.

You have to understand that it was very common for kingdoms to rise and fall and completely dissolve from history. This had a lot to do with the polytheistic religions during the time. If your people were conquered, you just took up the god of the people that conquered you and assimilated into the culture that overtook you.

But, this small group of Israelites believed in a different God, one unique to all of the land. They believed in a singular God that was God of the Earth and the Cosmos. The Israelites believed that no matter where they rested their head this God was for them.

The Hebrews survived their 70 years of captivity with the Babylonians and they survived much more after too. They survived much oppression because they believed their God was for the oppressor. The Hebrews shared stories with one another of God rescuing the little guy and tearing down the big guy. They shared stories of a mighty savior coming one day to conquer the oppressors for good.

Fast-forward hundreds of years and a homeless man comes claiming to be the Son of God. During this time the early Hebrew tradition had taken the form of an oppressive government and much of this homeless man’s teachings were rebuking that government. Eventually that homeless man was crucified, a political symbol that meant you were cursed of God and no longer a political citizen.

Fast-forward to today.

There is a nation that follows this homeless man’s teachings and whispers His name before they go to sleep at night.

This nation elected a man who won’t allow refugees within their country because of the dangers they could pose. They elected a man who has called for a ban on Muslim immigrants. They elected a man who wants to deport the men, women, and children that were so desperate for a better home they swam across seas that wouldn’t part for them.

This nation has the biggest military in the history of the world This nation puts more of its people in prison than any other nation in the world. This nation has a bigger gap between its poorest and richest people than any other nation in the world.

If the biblical story were rewritten we wouldn’t be the protagonists of this story. We’d be the antagonists. We’d be Rome. We’d be Babylon. You want to know who would be the protagonists? Syrian Refugees. Illegal Immigrants. Muslims.

The Christian narrative has always been the story of the oppressed. Jesus came and refuted those that used it as a vehicle for their oppression.

We cannot quote scripture and then turn our nose at an immigrant. This is a religion born from captivity, scribbled with the blood of a crucified homeless, heretical, pacifist, radical teacher whose followers were sick, lame, sinful and forgotten.

Christianity is a home for the oppressed. If we want to participate in this tradition we cannot use it to make our voices louder, we must use it to give a voice to those that can’t speak. We’re the ones with shoes on our feet, we should be walking the long walk to get water for those with blisters on theirs. We’re the ones with calories, we should be burning ours feeding the ones without. We’re the one with the microphone, we should be using it to share the stories of those without one.

If you have to start somewhere, start by listening. Start by not picturing yourself in the shoes of scriptural protagonists, but rather by picturing the refugees and homeless in the shoes of the protagonists.