It’s been a tough few days hasn’t it? Lots of feelings on the latest news coming out of the state to the south of us (Minnesota). We’ve all likely seen at least a few clips and although I know there are absolutely awful, atrocious injustices and heartbreaking events taking place all around the world—Iran, Ukraine, Gaza, etc.—all of this ICE vs. civilian stuff has been hitting in a different way. At least for me.

Yesterday I watched a clip of a woman on the ground with five ICE agents surrounding her in the middle of a busy street. She was crying, in vain, exclaiming that she wanted to show her ID but she couldn’t because the agents were literally sitting on top of her. There was something about the tone of the woman’s cry, the desperation or defeat in her voice perhaps, that struck me. It hit different than other footage I’ve watched to date. As I listened, I couldn’t help but picture my wife in the throes of that moment, filled with pure fear and terror, completely helpless and unaware of what horrors might come next. I was caught off guard with a wave of anger that came over me. It was so unexpected and bizarre but after the immediate rush I stopped to collect myself and reflect as to why this response over others.

Now, there were some obvious reasons that surfaced. I was angry at how this woman, her citizenship status aside, was being treated so harshly and so publicly and with virtually no way of defending herself. I was angry at the arrogance of the ICE agents. Angry at the circumstances that have led to this response in the first place. Angry at how, presumably, little accountability there will be for any of this inexcusable behaviour on behalf of law enforcement. And just angry at how unimaginative and neanderthal-bound our world remains in addressing real challenges in society; I get that immigration is a serious and complex concern but the best way to confront it, according to the most advanced society in the history of the world, is through violence? Intimidation? Aggression? Might makes right? And yes, I know these tactics have always been part of societies built on perceived military, economic and cultural entitlement. Still, that doesn’t make them any less infuriating when we watch them played out again and again.

But ultimately, here’s what angered me most: witnessing people—specifically those within the Church—taking in what’s happening and somehow walking away with anything other than utter revulsion and outright condemnation for the whole of it. You can blame right-wing media or left-wing media or social media algorithms for constructing contradictory narratives that fly in the face of whatever the other side is trying to espouse. There absolutely is lots of justified finger pointing toward this. No question.

But also, let’s be real.

None of this footage is implicitly “right” or “left” – it’s just phone-recorded video capturing what is transpiring before our eyes. Regardless of what ideological spin might eventually be layered upon it, what simply cannot be denied when everything is stripped away is that the most vulnerable of society are being harassed and victimized and abused and abducted by some of the most powerful in society. Listen: you do not have to be a Bible scholar to know Jesus has always and will always be found on the side of the vulnerable and oppressed, not towering over them with a boot on their neck. This is not liberal “wokeism” nor is it religious fundamentalism. This is just basic, Jesus-centered gospel-touting Christianity. And if we can’t agree on these fundamentals of the faith, what are we even doing!?

As a pastor representing a church community, in Canada at that, I have no interest in getting into worldly politics nor do I have any desire to recruit you into my own personal politics (despite what it might sound like so far). My job is to call us back to Jesus and to remind us of our primary allegiance to His Kingdom. And within this Kingdom, we don’t see a Jesus who sanctions dehumanization as long as it happens to “the other side.” We don’t see a Jesus who blesses cruelty or prioritizes one race or nationality or any of this nonsense. No, this King denounces cruelty, speaks truth, defends the helpless and practises costly love. And then he says to his Kingdom subjects, “Follow me.” Friends, this isn’t a left or right issue. It’s a what-do-I-actually-believe issue. It’s a Kingdom of God allegiance issue. It’s every Christ-professing man and woman asking, in the quiet and in the public: does the King Jesus gospel I confess actually have weight? Does it inform where I put my energies and direct my loyalties, does it cause conviction to well up in this particular moment… or is it merely a set of beliefs that leaves me unchanged while my neighbour gets taken away? And hey, at least I’ll get to heaven when I die.

When we take his name on, we are meant to take his way on. And his way is not cruelty. Not fear. Not domination. Not violence. None of this. His way is self-giving love. This means that it’s just not an option for anyone calling themselves a Christian to turn a blind eye to the suffering of those we see on the news, regardless of the story that led them to this moment. We don’t get to decide if someone’s dignity has an expiry date because their paperwork is missing or they don’t have their ID on them. We don’t get to watch human beings terrified in the street and simply wash our hands of it because it’s “just enforcing the law” as if there is not a greater law of love that the New Testament calls us to.

This is where the wave of anger is primarily anchored for me. As I watched that clip of the helpless woman try in vain to defend herself, I knew in my gut there are Christians I know who can watch moments like that and feel no conflict with their faith. The compassion needle barely moves. And that infuriates me. Because it isn’t a small disagreement about strategy or doctrine, it is a blatant contradiction of the Jesus way in its entirety and yet we still find ways to bless it, justify it, excuse it, even endorse it. All in the name of law and order, national interest or worst of all, in the name of Jesus himself. I’m tired of the whataboutisms and the “yeah, but…” and the Bible proof-texting that tries to make cruelty sound righteous. Just simply look at Jesus.

If following Jesus doesn’t lead us toward protecting the least of these, then we are not following Jesus. Period. It’s really that simple. You can follow Jesus as a weird Fundy or a woke Progressive but if you can’t agree with the most basic assertion that protecting the vulnerable is at the heart of what it means to be a Christian—no buts about it—then we are deceiving ourselves and Jesus has nothing to do with us. There, I said it.

Lord, make us the kind of people who hear the cry and don’t look away. Give us courage to tell the truth, compassion that crosses borders and the imagination to resist evil without becoming it.