A Christmas Story...
The Night of the Bounty Hunters
by Carl Mazza
I wonder as I wander
out under the sky
How Jesus the Savior
did come for to die...
And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route - Matthew 2:12

In the dead of night, a truck with monster tires barreled into Clairvaux Farm. Two large men, bearded and roughly dressed, identified themselves as "law enforcement officers" and demanded access to one of our residents. They weren't there to make an arrest, they declared, only to get information as to the whereabouts of a fugitive they were pursuing. It was easy to see from their demeanor and lack of credible identification that they were not what they claimed to be.

Their weapon was fast-paced intimidation. They didn't ask, they demanded - asserting their "right" to remain on our premises without permission and even to search without a warrant. The sheriff was called, and quickly arrived.
When did homeless persons become fair game for everyone who views "enforcement" as an ordinary social tool? One only has to imagine these bounty hunters at their own front door some night - demanding, cursing, and forcing - to get a ready picture of our ordeal.
Even more frightening, when the deputy arrived he matter-of-factly stated that there was nothing he could do. The intruders were within their rights, he quietly informed us, and, furthermore, had greater powers of search and seizure than he did!
Their motivation is, of course, money. They are paid handsomely for reeling in law breakers and bail jumpers. I suppose there is some tradition in our violent society which would place these offenders outside the law, persons without ordinary rights. Perhaps, we may conclude, these of all souls are, after all, fair game.

Yet, no such person was at Clairvaux Farm that night. Even the bounty hunters said that. They were only looking for information based on a tip they had received. Yet, the whole episode was so unnerving that one homeless woman packed up and left and we haven't seen her since. No one was left untouched by the incident, and these enforcement people left behind a shambles of anger, anxiety, fear, and frustration as they drove their big truck back into the night from whence they had come.

They aren't the only ones who feel a community of homeless persons as wide open for intrusion at any time. We have even heard of "shelters" that routinely run police checks on all who come for help, others who perform routine luggage inspections. Some homeless "refuges" are rife with surveillance cameras and security patrol stand guards- not to protect from outsiders, but to regulate the behavior and activity of legitimate residents. Providers ask the most intrusive questions on intake forms, and routinely report private information to government authorities, sometimes even without the person's permission or knowledge.

The daily lives of homeless persons and families are tightly examined: individual habits, behavior of children, personal appearance, and even religious beliefs are scrutinized and judged.
I was once at a planning meeting for a new homeless shelter, when someone said, in a most satisfied way, that it would be a real plus if we could locate the facility next to a police station. His words were followed by a big smile and a number of approving laughs from others around the table. When I countered, "why so?," there was a quick red-faced pullback but, I thought, not a real change of heart. Why do even the best of us so thoughtlessly identify homeless persons with fugitives and criminals?

I remember another such bleak night many years ago. A nervous man with motives as obscure as the night itself met with the high priests of law enforcement and agreed on a price for information on the whereabouts of a homeless man. Easy money, and fair game. There was really no place he could hide, as his life was, in fact, an open book. It is even little consolation that after this, the most infamous bounty hunt of all, Judas became deathly sorry for what he had done.
In this season of Advent and Nativity it may be said that the long-expected one was also the long-hunted one. After a short life, pursued to the death at every turn by all manner of law enforcement, he was finally hunted down and executed. It was all so carefully legal, and all so profoundly wrong. In the end he was "fair game" only and solely because his person was so publicly exposed and vulnerable. Homeless, without cover, his sole protection was the refuge of his friends. As Pontius Pilate so easily assumed, because he was laid so naked to the world there was no political or social cost to just assume he had no rights as a person at all.

Jesus was born homeless. Even hisentrance into earth life was on public display. The magi were ordered by the chief magistrate to report back any and all information as to the whereabouts of the child. It was couched as a courteous request, but its sinister intent was well grasped by the travelers who decided it was best to sneak quietly out of the country.

The State's thirst for information is unquenchable. After they departed, Mary and Joseph readily perceived that their infant son was being pursued, and they also quietly left the country. Only a few years later, a party of armor-clad police and vestment-clad priests surrounded this same Jesus in a garden and finally had their way with him.

And so... Bounty Hunters, even at the blessed Nativity? Yes, sadly true. May we have the grace to remember this when we are tempted to think all is well in our "Christian" world. If they could come for Jesus, the distance to our front door cannot be very far. If we make room to violate the homeless ones of our world, will the earth ever be safe, even for the presence of God?