Pastor should speak to important issues Pt. 4

   I did not necessarily mean for this series on illegal immigration to go this long. However, as I have indicated these past several weeks, this is a complex issue requiring a lot of thought, energy, patience and humility. So let me offer some more thoughts for you to consider on this topic.
   I mentioned last week that the Pharisees were constantly trying to "catch" Jesus with some kind of moral dilemma. In John 8, He tells the Pharisees to step forward to cast a stone at an adulterous woman if they have never sinned. No one was obviously in a position to do so.
   This did not negate the rule of law. In fact He tells the woman to go and sin no more. The Law mattered to Jesus.
   But one thing Jesus was fond of communicating was that we, as humans, think that we are in a position of being judge and jury. But He says that in order to be effective in this position, and in order to best balance justice and mercy, we need to check ourselves first.
   In Matthew 7:3-5 He says, "And why do you look at the speck in your brother's eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me remove the speck from your eye'; and look, a plank is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
   Let me share a parable that I wrote that I think illustrates this lack of first looking to ourselves in this issue of illegal immigration.
   There once was a town called, Acme Air. The town had changed its name to take on the name of the largest employer in the town. It was a delivery company. The town had struggled financially and this company had been this little town’s savior.
   Acme Air began through the hard work of a few families that started small with just a handful of trucks. These trucks were bright purple and everyone recognized these trucks when they went through town.
   In fact, in order for this little company to compete and succeed, there was sort of an unstated agreement that the local police would allow these bright purple trucks to exceed the speed limit so as to be able to compete better with the larger delivery companies from the surrounding areas.
   This little help and a few other little cases of oversight let this company grow and grow. In fact, at one point, this company employed a large portion of the population of this little town. So the town began to thrive.
   Now from time to time some people would start to feel somewhat uneasy about the fact that for years these trucks were allowed to break the law. In fact, as they looked back over the years, Acme Air and its employees had broken the law so often that they could be considered felons. If the city would actually look back over the years and tabulate all of the infractions, the fines would be enormous.
   So one day a group of people thought, "Hey, we don’t care if we have been looking the other way all these years, Acme Air has broken the law. Therefore, we are going to fine the company all that they owe us; prosecute everyone who has ever been involved in the speeding; make sure they are all fired; and close down the company. The law is the law and we must be a law-abiding town or we are nothing."
   So they followed through with their plan, shut down the company, put many in jail and left the rest without work and a way to provide for their families. The town has since become a ghost town of sorts and is simply known as "Air" now because that is almost all that is left of this once thriving town.
   Who is culpable in this story? I think you would agree that the speeders and the town who looked the other way brought all of this upon themselves. They are all culpable. However, the proposed solution may have seemed to be a just and admirable solution on the surface-because the rule of law must prevail!
   But does it actually prevail in this instance? What about the consequences of looking the other way and enabling the speeding? Because the ones overlooking the speeding are the same ones who can now enforce the law, they are not dealt with themselves. Justice is only being served in one direction.
   However, the consequences of this decision certainly affected this little town in the long run.
   You may have realized that Acme Air is merely an anagram of America. We have looked the other way for so many years and allowed immigrants to come here to live and to work and to build a livelihood.
   Then at times in our nation’s history, people begin to say with a loud enough voice, ""Hey, we don’t care if we have been looking the other way, you have broken the law. We will prosecute you and take away your livelihood now because the law is the law and we must be a law-abiding nation or we are nothing."
   Again, I am not encouraging the breaking of law. I am saying that in honestly looking at the rule of law, we need to acknowledge our culpability and seek to make things right.


Wall helped found and is the current pastor of Magnolia Bible Church which currently meets in the West Montgomery County Community Development Center. Send comments to ConsiderThis@magnoliabible.org.