Andrew Carreon

Fr. Groody

Theology

8 February 2011

Liberation: an oppressor’s spiritual obligation

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its

creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal’… a dream that one

day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough

places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; ‘and the glory of the

Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together’”(MLK Jr.). On that glorious summer

day in 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. went to Washington D.C to deliver one of the most famous

speeches in history on liberation; his goal: to free his people. The sad truth is that his people

were “freed” one hundred years before that day with the passage of the 13th amendment to the

U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery. Dr. King’s dream was for true liberation from oppression

for his people realized by recognizing and accepting the innate equality of all human beings.

Throughout the Bible, and even in today’s society, we see many situations where people

live in dire oppression. Definitely the most famous Biblical story comes in the book of Exodus

where Moses, with the help of the Lord, leads the Hebrews out of slavery in Egypt and towards

the Promised Land. In present day, we see the struggles of immigrants trying to enter our country

to escape oppression. I believe that today, even though the position of the Pharaoh is non-

existent and slavery has been outlawed, the problems of a man-made hierarchy resulting in
oppression are as severe as they have ever been. True liberation, as Dr. King dreamed back in

1963, entails working to correct the poverty, vulnerability, and disregard that continues to drive

desperate people to take dangerous risks such as illegal immigration into the United States.

In both the story of the Exodus and in contemporary immigration issues, one common

factor is the presence of a large gap in the distribution of wealth. In the beginning of

Globalization, Spirituality, and Justice, some shocking statistics are given on the distribution of

wealth today in our world: nineteen percent of the world lives on less than one dollar per day,

forty-eight percent lives on less than two dollars, and seventy-five percent lives on less than ten

dollars. Meanwhile, half of all wealth is owned by only two percent of the world’s adults, and the

three richest persons have more assets than the poorest forty-eight nations combined. I would

certainly qualify this as a large disparity in the distribution of wealth in our global economy.

Similarly, in ancient Egypt, back when the story of the Exodus was taking place, some like the

Pharaoh lived like kings and were even seen as Gods, while others like the Hebrews often did not

even have the basic needs for survival. In Exodus 3:7, the Lord said, “I have indeed seen the

misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I

am concerned about their suffering”. After studying the bible as a whole, the reasons for God’s

concern become clear. In Exodus 22: 21-22 God says, “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner,

for you were foreigners in Egypt. Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless”. Also in

the Gospels, one out of every ten verses is concerning the poor. Today, we have the issue facing

our nation of controlling illegal immigration – primarily regarding our neighbors in Mexico. The

economic disparity that exists between the United States and Mexico is vast, despite our physical

proximity and shared borders spanning many states. Although the reasons are undoubtedly

multi-faceted, the primary motivator that likely encourages Mexican citizens to accept the risks
of illegal immigration are as immediate as a concern for survival, with the possible rewards of

better economic opportunity for themselves and their families a real but secondary consideration.

The common aspect among these people is that they are in need; God reaches out to those in

need because God is good. We as His people are expected to live by this example and also reach

out to those in need.

Another problem found in both the story of the Exodus and in contemporary immigration

is that the vulnerable are taken advantage of and often treated as less than human beings. In

Exodus, the Hebrews were foreigners in the land of Egypt and were eventually forced into

slavery and held captive. Similarly, in today’s society, we see that many immigrants are forcibly

held in oppression by being imprisoned in a place and to a life that cannot even provide for them

their basic needs despite their willingness and desire to work. Today, we reduce immigrants to

simply a name or a statistic. We see them as “aliens” and “illegals” or a number or a statistic that

merely represents a problem or a threat to our society. In Genesis, God tells us that we are all

“created in the image of God” and in Galatians that we are “neither slave nor free, nor is there

male and female, for [we] are all one in Christ Jesus”. The problem occurring today, and that was

present in the story of the Exodus, is that the human identity is being taken away from these

people; this in turn allows for problems and situations to arise which never would have been

possible had the value and sanctity of human life been kept in place. For example, today often

when countries are deciding on border control options, the financial costs of security options are

weighed while the implications to the immigrants are often not even taken into account, because

they are dehumanized in the process. Similarly with the enslavement of the Hebrews in Egypt,

the detriment felt by the long hard days of toil were not even considered by the Egyptians,
because they were not seen as valued people, they were simply workers. By holding these people

as lesser than us, we not only disgrace their image, but also the image of God.

Finally, a less pronounced but common aspect among the Hebrews of the Exodus and in

the situation of contemporary immigrants is the issue of being forgotten. In Exodus 1:8 it says

“Then a new King, who did not know about Joseph, came to power,” and this was the beginning

of the oppression of the Israelites. These people were descendants of Joseph who had saved

Egypt from famine years earlier, and now because he was forgotten, his people were seen as a

threat and put into slavery. Similarly, all too often today, many of us forget that our ancestors

were once immigrants and that these immigrants today, desperately seeking a new life in our

country, are no different than our ancestors. In Genesis 1:29-30, God said “I give you every

seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it.

They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all

the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give

every green plant for food”. We all too often forget that we are all immigrants in this world that

God created, and that we are in no position to exclude anyone from the land God has given to us.

In the end, for both the Hebrews and the contemporary immigrants, the ultimate goal is

the liberation that Dr. Martin Luther King dreamed of. However, for this issue to be fully

resolved in the eyes of God, I believe the immigrants are not the ones that need to be liberated;

by holding these people in oppression I believe we enslave ourselves. For years, we have silently

watched the oppression of immigrants, but all along we have been doing something far worse to

ourselves. Our inaction has no doubt broken countless people physically but at the same time,

our failure to act has broken us spiritually. In Mathew 10:28 Jesus says, “Do not be afraid of
those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy

both soul and body in hell”. By oppressing these people, we may destroy their bodies but we end

up destroying our souls. Truly, it seems that oppressor’s fate is far worse than any place they can

keep an immigrant imprisoned in this world, because their fate will be spent in the eternities of

hell. As Dr. King so famously dreamed, there remains an urgent need for liberation, but it is not

for the oppressed, it is for the oppressor. If the oppressor could be liberated from greed, hatred,

and self-absorption, then they would gain the freedom of love and the freedom of their souls.
 Works Cited

Groody, Daniel. Globalization, Spirituality, and Justice. 5th. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis

Books, 2009. Print.

King, Martin. "I have a Dream." March on Washington. Washington D.C., 28 August 1963.

Address.

New International Version. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005