How much less?

I was reflecting the other day on how we cannot really empathize with the oppressed unless we ourselves have been oppressed.
 
God took this concept seriously enough that he taught the Israelites in the Old Testament to suffer through oppression under the Egyptians. Why would he do this? They were his chosen people. They had not wronged him greatly at that point and it was not a punishment for anything that they had done (as the exile was punishment later for their disobedience).
 
Apparently the desired end was to teach them compassion for the downtrodden. After their deliverance from Israel, in preparation for their nationhood, God gives them the precepts that he wants them to follow in order to show the world who he is and what he is like. In the books of the law, God showers Israel with commands on how they are to be kind and hospitable to others:

• Do not oppress a foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt. (Exodus 23:9)
• The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. (Leviticus 19:34)

 
God tells them that because of their experience as an oppressed people, they should know how it feels and avoid wielding their new power to oppress others. Outsiders are to be treated equally, helped and loved with generosity:

• You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. (Leviticus 24:22)
• If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and are unable to support themselves among you, help them as you would a foreigner and stranger, so they can continue to live among you. (Leviticus 25:35)
• He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. (Deuteronomy 10:18)

 
Proverbs teaches us how God feels about the oppressed and their oppressors, always showing favor to the underdog:

• He mocks proud mockers but shows favor to the humble and oppressed. (Proverbs 3:34)
• Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud. (Proverbs 16:19)

 
The Psalms tell us that God is FOR the oppressed:

• The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. (Psalm 103:6)
• The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. (Psalm 9:9)

 
The prophets warned Israel that their oppression of others would result in punishment, and they were to turn to justice and righteousness instead:

• They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed.(Amos 2:7)
• They have oppressed the foreigner and mistreated the fatherless and the widow. (Ezekiel 22:7)
• Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees, to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,
  making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless. (Isaiah 10:1-2)
• “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?...  if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. (Isaiah 58:6, 10)

 
And when Jesus identified himself as the Messiah in public ministry, he quoted Isaiah, saying:

• “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

 
God (through his Word) has so much to say about oppression and justice. He went to great (and painful) lengths to teach the Israelites about justice by subjecting them to injustice, so that they would remember how much they hated it when they were on the receiving end. And yet, as the generations wore on, they forgot, because the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren had not personally experienced it. The carnal desire for power overcame them, and they ended up oppressing their vulnerable just as much as their ancestors had been oppressed under Egypt. Their punishment was the loss of their privilege, nation, and power in exile.
 
Today we find American Christianity mired in arguments about whether social justice is worth pursuing, and more politically divided than ever. Frankly, the fact that we can even debate it is surprising given God’s unequivocal position outlined above. Could it be that we are so far removed from being oppressed ourselves (and so comfortable) that we have lost our compassion for the marginalized? And if we cannot find it again, what will God need to do to humble and remind us? 
 
If even the Israelites lost their way and became oppressors after centuries of slavery in Egypt, how much less can we understand the oppressed as wealthy and free Americans? How much easier is it for us to become hardened to others and grab whatever power we can get, forgetting that the oppressed are made in God’s image just as much as we are? May God have mercy on us and show us the way back to him. ​Jesus came to set the oppressed free. If he lives inside of us, we should too.