Migrant Jesus Was No Tourist or Mooch

Letter to Romans: Trump’s latest EO trying to curb citizenship tourism specifically & birthright citizenship generally could use a Biblical justification when it goes to the Supremes. Sneaking into USA for a better life is one thing, but migrant Jesus never expected free stuff.

Trying to skirt the Highest Court in the Land’s recent broad interpretation of the 14 Amendment addressing birthright citizenship is a tough hike along the Road to Emmaus to begin with. Legally speaking, that is. But where No. 47’s DOJ could gain some new traction when it goes before the Justices next time around is to remind them Jesus Christ Himself took the commonsense Smith Barney route when preaching His Kingdom, i.e., He “EARNED” his way, every day. Literally. True, the Gospel of Mark (6:3) notes now folks in Nazareth asked, “Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary?” Yet, in identifying Jesus so, the ancient text used the Greek word “tekton,” which suggests a much broader meaning; indeed, it includes a craftsman, builder or even skilled artisan who knows how to work with wood, stone & other building materials. The early episodes of The Chosen particularly did a fine job of capturing this notion of Jesus “working & paying for” His daily bread by trading either His labor or the wood items He skillfully crafted in return for the locals’ food stuff.

We could say this “quid pro quo” approach to entering a new land & respecting its customs as well as laws was one “rock” if not “cornerstone” of Jesus’ Divine Law. That mandate was expressed in Jesus's later edict to “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” It was His way of respectfully assimilating into even foreign places like Samaria. Jesus would keep the faith even tho He would become, as said in Matthew 21:42, “The cornerstone that the builders rejected.” Isn’t our Founding Fathers & the Constitution they gave us similarly our nation’s cornerstone; one that demanded from the get go a fundamental commons sense respect for citizenship; which, btw, has always been a privilege to foreigners, not a human right? Might then it be argued: “Justices, reject THIS cornerstone by blindly giving citizenship to the babies of cynical tourists and you reject the very idea of our “nation,” which cannot stand?

Davd Soul