Context:
I have been passionate about defending Judaism ever since I learned about the Holocaust in elementary school. This path twisted and turned, leading to studying Genocide and the Holocaust in college. I rounded out this education with "Fundamentals of Islam" in Seminary. All of this came in handy when I learned about the Forbes Just Peace prize (info at https://catoctinucc.org/forbes-award/). This sermon was the culmination of passion and everything I had learned in college and seminary. Every time I come back to this piece; I am glad it holds up well. I still believe the true path to peace in the Middle East is having the powers that be examine their complicity in creating the current conditions. America and European powers created this problem. Now they have to solve it.
Writing Prompt:
2. We affirm that the biblical narrative beginning with creation and extending through the 187 calling of the Israelites, the corrective admonitions of the prophets, the incarnation and 188 ministry of Jesus and the witness of the apostles to the “ends of the earth” . . . speaks of 189 God's blessing extending to “all the families of the earth.” (Genesis 12.3) 190 Therefore, we reject any theology or ideology including Christian Zionism, 191 Supercessionism, antisemitism or anti-Islam bias that would privilege or exclude 192 any one nation, race, culture, or religion within God’s universal economy of grace.
Sermon:
I have long suspected the tension between Palestine and Israel is a human, rather than a religious problem. There is no denying much of the suffering of Israelites and Palestinians has been justified along religious grounds, specifically conflicting claims over who has rights to the Holy Land and beyond. However, the fine focus on Israel and Palestine overlooks the complicity of America and European nations, specifically Great Britain after WW1 and WW2, who have all benefited from dividing up land without consideration of ethnic and religious differences. As Christians, we are complicit in using our Jewish brothers and sisters to ensure our access to the Holy Land. Although we have hidden behind the shield of “foreign policy” how can we call ourselves allies of Judaism when we have been its primary persecutors for centuries?
I feel it is fair to paint with a broad brush, because for most of history, Christianity has been horrible to Judaism. It was less than a century ago Christians in Germany enabled the rise of Adolf Hitler and aided the near-complete cleansing of all Jews in Europe. While many know the Holocaust, the horror of destroying six million Jews, this hatred and violence go back much further. If we ask ourselves how the Palestine/Israel conflict has become so intense, we need only look back in history to find a pattern of abuse that has rarely left God’s chosen a place of their own. As such, we must ask, where else can they go?
In 1492 Spain exiled all its Jewish citizens, a total of more than 300,000 souls. In 1290, Britain exiled all its Jewish citizens and did not allow them to return until 1656. France, Hungary, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, and Germany all had cities that expelled Jews even before state-backed antisemitism, such as the injustice of the Dreyfus affair, ran rampant in the 19th and 20th centuries. Then there were the horrors of the pogroms of Russia, famously captured by the musical Fiddler on the Roof, in which millions of Russian Jews were forced into exile, with many ending up in America. And all of this is overlooking the lazy, loaded antisemitism that has been interwoven among the story of Christianity.
Whether it be the horrible remarks found in Martin Luther's later works, or the tendency for Christians to be more sympathetic with Pontius Pilate, the man, and empire that killed our savior, than with Jesus's people, who have often been falsely called "Christ-killers." When so many sowed seeds of violence and discord, how can any expect to reap a healthy crop? Does not this seem biblical? When a people have faced scorn, suspicion, violence, and hatred from the world at large, just as the ancient Jews did when enslaved by Egypt, how can we, in our safe castle of America, condemn those who yearn for a home, for shelter, for guarantees against annihilation? I know we cannot excuse the violence that has been inflicted on Palestine, but where are our hands in this?
While Christian and Muslim nations have thrived for centuries, gaining the benefits of theocracies and the spoils of conquest, Judaism has been left out in the cold, forgotten, and abused by those who owe everything to the bravery and resilience of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants. So, are we surprised that when the world has chosen to be horrible to God's chosen, they would re-establish a stronghold reminiscent of that rare blip in history when Jews were not a conquered, colonized people? It is hard to stomach the tragic irony that the story of Palestine and Israel has become two groups of people whose knowledge of being scorned, exiled, and used as political pieces, should have them be friends. These masses of God’s children were not made to be enemies. If only they could see the machinations of outside powers, those countries, and peoples who have never been exiles, or the hated "other," who willed this clash in the holy land.
It is not a coincidence Zionism and Arab nationalism did not become forces until Great Britain destabilized Palestine in the 1920s. We live in the aftermath of the recklessness of colonial powers who held no regard for Islam and plundered the remains of the Ottoman Empire. By itself, that is a tragedy. However, unlike other destabilized former colonies, Britain, America, Germany, Russia, and France added to the horrors by encouraging Jews to seek it as their last haven. These countries followed the example of the antebellum back to Africa movement, sending their shame elsewhere so they would not have to come to terms with the injustices of embedded antisemitism.
Where can God’s chosen go? Have we already forgotten the fate of the MS St. Louis, that ship full of Jewish refugees fleeing from the Nazis, denied entry to the US, and forced back to Europe, where 250 of its 900 passengers were murdered by the Nazis? Maybe our ports have been more welcoming to Jews, but what about Palestinians? It has only been a few years since former President Donald Trump’s executive order 13769 made it clear Muslim refugees would not be welcome to our shores. Maybe countries should finally be honest with themselves and admit we have chosen sides for too long. America’s blindness to the plight of Palestinians enabled the destruction and mass exodus of Palestinians in 1967, as well as constant harassment of innocent civilians for the off-chance of hurting Hamas. What does it say about our faith when the promised land has become the furthest thing from God’s Kingdom? Where is God in this?
Ishmael and Isaac were both beloved children of God. When Hagar wandered in the wilderness, God did not let her die and watched over her and Ishmael, the father of Islam. When Issacs’s and Jacob's descendants cried out for deliverance, God showed up. So where is God in this? The better question is, why are we asking God to choose sides? As Christians, we got our answer in the ministry of God's Son, a perfect soul who said “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28). Just as Christ came at a time when his people hoped for restoration of their lands and freedom from oppression, we are invited to step into this moment as messengers of peace and love.
As followers of Christ, we are called to bring Jesus’s ministry to every corner of the globe. Not as conquerors or missionaries, but as ambassadors of the kingdom that can be. Instead of focusing on Hamas or the government of Israel, we can show up to the masses, those millions of souls who have long languished under the threat of missile strikes, home seizures, or wars. Just as Jesus showed up to the poor, lowly, and ignored, rather than marching to Rome and overthrowing the powers of the world, we are tasked with showing up for the oppressed, rather than playing court with oppressors.
Before we go forth and do Christ’s work, let us take this moment to pause and hold the pain of the world in our hearts. So much pain has been caused by rash action and retaliation. Before we do Christ’s work, we must acknowledge any hatred, anger, bias, or ignorance that has been ignored and hold it up to God so we might look at any who bear the title “enemy” and see them as a child of God. Come to the altar and join this offering of pain, so we might take in millennia of trauma and lay it to rest through God’s infinite capacity for healing and restoration. It is not our concern to find who cast the first stone or to march and cast down the next Jericho. Our world is already weary from the millions lost to stones, bullets, and words cast in anger and outrage. The rising and falling of empires have done little to change the state of humanity. It is not our place to come to Palestine and Israel and reallocate land or choose a victor. To do so would just fuel this bitter cycle of hatred. While there are biblical claims to land, what use are claims if their legacy is soil soaked with blood and littered with bomb craters?
Rise children of God! It is time to wash away the sins of this world with a wave of mercy, love, and compassion. Let us open our hearts to our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters so we might see them as equally deserving of kindness and dignity. Let our hands be soft and vision long-seeing so we may do good works in the present, without forgetting all the events that have created this tragedy. If we had lived in a gentler world this might never have come to be. If Christians had been quicker to heed calls to love our neighbors and had been less cruel to our Muslim and Jewish brothers and sisters, we might have inherited more peaceful times. However, the mistakes of the past are not permanent.
We cannot go back and prevent the Holocaust, pogroms, popular antisemitism and supersessionism or anti-Muslim legislation and hate crimes in America. However, we can turn our churches and countries into fortresses against hatred. If we cannot change Israel and Palestine overnight, let us start at home. If America and Europe come to terms with the antisemitism and anti-Muslim sentiments that have long been embedded in their cultures, we can lessen tensions between the West and the Middle East. If we realize the taint of oil, and its role in exacerbating power struggles and religious unrest in the Middle East, we can lobby for alternative energy, and take away the fangs from bad actors who have grown rich off discord. If, as Christians, we come to appreciate Judaism and Islam as paths to better appreciating God and our faith, we might quell deep-rooted Christian insecurity that has long fueled chaos. Let this be the day that heralds the arrival of God’s kingdom on Earth for all Their children; both Jew, Christian, and Muslims.
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