The Black writer, theologian, and mystic Howard Thurman (1899-1981) was a mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr and had a major impact on the spiritual foundation of the modern Civil Rights Movement. In his classic book Jesus and the Disinherited, Dr. Thurman emphasized that the message and ministry of Jesus focused on people who were oppressed and marginalized by those in political power. In fact Jesus was one of those people, a Jewish man living in a nation occupied by Roman political and military authorities. Dr. Thurman clearly articulated Jesus’ status in the following quote:
Now Jesus was not a Roman citizen. He was not protected by the normal guarantees of citizenship—that quiet sense of security which comes from knowing that you belong and the general climate of confidence which it inspires. If a Roman soldier pushed Jesus into a ditch, he could not appeal to Caesar; he would be just another Jew in the ditch. Standing always beyond the reach of citizen security, he was perpetually exposed to all the “arrows of outrageous fortune…” (Jesus and the Disinherited p. 23).
These powerful words written in the 1940’s are just as powerful in 2020’s. The horrific scenes of innocent immigrants being suddenly confronted, abducted, detained, and even killed by ICE are contemporary examples of what it meant for Jesus to live without the security of citizenship and subject to the fickleness of government policies. Jesus’ wrongful arrest, trial, torture, and execution were directly related to his lack of citizenship. Yet God redeemed this evil and injustice through Jesus’ resurrection three days after his execution by the state.
Instead of giving into this administration’s stereotypes of immigrants as “illegal menacing criminals,” the words of Dr. Thurman challenge us to see our immigrant neighbors in the light of Jesus’ life. Jesus was not a citizen according to the authorities in his day. Especially for those of us who follow Jesus, this is a vivid reminder that citizenship is not a prerequisite for human dignity and honoring the image of God in each person. We are called to challenge any policies or actions that dishonor the image of God in anyone, citizen or noncitizen. In addition to clarifying Jesus’ status as a noncitizen, Dr. Thurman went on to emphasize that Jesus’ life and message embodied an alternative that includes all people – the Kingdom of God:
Living in a climate of deep insecurity, Jesus, faced with so narrow a margin of civil guarantees, had to find some other basis upon which to establish a sense of well-being. He knew that the goals of religion as he understood them could never be worked out within the then-established order. Deep from within that order he projected a dream, the logic of which would give to all the needful security. There would be room for all, and no man would be a threat to his brother. “The kingdom of God is within.” “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.”
(Jesus and the Disinherited (pp. 24-25).
Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Amen
The video posted below is a brief introduction to the life and work of Howard Thurman. The complete documentary is also available on YouTube.