There is a saying: “Good fences make good neighbours.” Next to our home boundary, the neighbour has a tree which has pushed the wall to lean and break. My communication requesting that he address the tree and repair the wall has yielded no response.
The above saying, which came into wider view in 1914 through Robert Frost’s poem "Mending Wall," makes good sense to me.
Of
course, it is not only fences that are involved for neighbours. Love is integral to the Bible: “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18), which Jesus regarded as being in tandem with loving God with all that we are (Mark 12:29-31), needs to be kept in mind.
Being neighbourly, including maintaining certain
boundaries, is a complex situation. The complexity multiplies when we consider issues that have been highlighted in South Africa of late regarding immigration, foreigners, refugees and the law.
This multifaceted issue involves action and responses with grace and law. This is apart from the thuggery, prejudice and cruelty that
have come to light. Of course, the situation is more complex than an individual interacting with another person when we consider foreigners, some of whom have entered the country illegally. When the grace of God impacts us, and we desire to express grace, we see people as beloved bearers of God’s image, as human beings who may be very different from us but who are precious to God.
Laws are often drawn up or brought about because of two issues: boundaries and matters that have gone wrong. In church life, I don’t even look at church laws unless a boundary needs clarification or something goes wrong. This is because grace is the general principle that underlies relationships among disciples of Jesus and the functioning of the church.
With illegal immigration being in the headlines, there is a highlighting of boundaries (why are the country’s borders so porous?) and law (many immigrants are not here legally). As followers of Jesus, we are deeply impacted by God’s love, and we want to live motivated by it. Also, in this macro-situation, it is vital to have helpful laws and to apply them. This application needs to be
made with compassion. Actions of care that go beyond any legislation are vital in addressing illegal immigration. We are thus drawn into a balancing act between grace and law in social issues, including those concerning foreigners in South Africa.
I am concerned about a recent tendency in church and society: whenever a
problem arises, the common response is to draft legislation, assuming it is a solution. Laws are not “the” solution. Laws delineate boundaries and help us determine what to do when matters go awry. However, they do not necessarily improve our relationships or fix problems
Good laws can help make good neighbours, but we need to know their limitations. No law makes anyone do what the law states. Laws show
wrongdoing. No law makes someone love. We need to recognise how weak laws are: they do not create caring or compassionate people. Yet, we need laws, including the love of God and neighbour.
We discover, when grace really impacts us, that we don’t love and even can’t love because of laws, but God enables us to love.
Then, sometimes, despite the laws, we are living by grace.
