Gaza and Israel, justice and peace

Transcription

1 Gaza and Israel, justice and peace T. Michael Hartfield, Sermon at St Hilda s, 10 August 2014 Psalm 16 :1-11 and Romans 8: and In Matthew s Gospel (10:29-31) Jesus says this: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. And even the very hairs of your head are numbered. So don t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. A month ago 298 sparrows fell to the ground in Eastern Ukraine, including 80 children and 3 baby sparrows. While I am used to seeing the impact and result of natural disasters because that is part of my job - I found this tragedy particularly desperate because rather than natural forces at work, this incident was the result of evil: a situation where power is placed into the wrong hands. I woke at 5am the morning the plane was shot down and turned on the news and National Radio was streaming a direct commentary from CNN. I lay in bed listening and I couldn t help but wonder how the passengers had died: hoping and praying that the first impact of the missile would have instantly killed all those on board. The thought of them falling to earth and smashing into those fields was just too desperate to think about. But I don t know if they died instantly. And then we have the latest tragedy in the sad story called Gaza: this tiny strip of land over which so much blood has been poured over the past 70 years. Since 7 July (just over one month ago), 1,869 Palestinians have been killed, mainly civilians, of whom 423 are children. 67 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the conflict. 65,000 people have had their homes destroyed or damaged beyond repair and 202,000 Palestinians are now living in emergency shelters. The cost of immediate repairs to buildings and infrastructure is estimated at over US$5 billion. It is estimated that 373,000 children require direct psycho-social support as they are showing symptoms of increasing distress, including bed wetting, clinging to parents and nightmares. What can you say or do? Both Israel and Palestine are saying God is on their side. Which side do you think God is on? God is on the side of those working for peace. While we may take sides, God does not. This is not a football match with teams that need cheering on, but an appalling and shocking tragedy which has already given rise to an enormous amount of human misery and will generate even more. We need to speak out without any favouritism. We need to take to heart Christ's words to be peacemakers. This is particularly relevant as this week we remembered the start of the First World War: the war that was supposed to 1 / 5

2 end all wars. We need to take to heart Christ's words to be peacemakers. And to make peace it is not enough to simply utter soothing words. It means we have to back those words with action. The best sort of peace-making is not the kind that just ends wars (good though as that is) but the less dramatic pre-emptive kind which stops wars before they even begin. This is what should have been done in Gaza, and when the bombing and the rocketlaunching ends, it will need to be done. If it is not done, the history of the last 70 years tells us that it will only be a matter of time before the conflict starts up all over again. Jesus demonstrated that it is love that will let the past die. Love moves us on and enables us to leave the past behind. Love lets us move on to new beginnings. From Orthodox Jewish Rabbis to Christian Palestinian scholars to Muslim Palestinian leaders who are teaching the way of nonviolence, there are initiatives going on in Palestine and in Israel that we rarely if ever hear about through the mainstream media. Initiatives where Jews, Christians and Muslims are living and working together to try and demonstrate that it can be done. Christian, Muslim and Jewish mothers who have all lost children who are working together to try and bring reconciliation to a land torn apart by hatred, mistrust, misunderstanding and poverty. And those people who are tirelessly working for justice, who are putting their own lives and reputations at risk for the sake of forgiveness and love, must be watching what is going on as their home, their country is torn apart and seeing the seeds of violence being sown in the soil that they have tirelessly turned over for the sake of reconciliation. Was all their work worth it or does this mean it was all-pointless and that there really is no hope? And the bombing and the rocket attacks are entering our living rooms and I think western countries are taking more notice than perhaps they have in the past. But while this is going on, I am shocked and dismayed at just how much hateful stereotyping and racism and even at times a violent response is being disseminated by some Christians as they watch the news unfold and enter the discussion. I went online this week to see what some Christian web sites are saying. And I found it a dispiriting and disappointing experience. As followers of Jesus, is this the best we can do? Is this a reflection of the Christian hope that was brought about by and through the acts of the Suffering Servant? Is this sort of a response really what Jesus lived and died for? In situations like this, I think we as Christians can either be part of the problem - Friends, we can do better. We must do better. How can we respond? Well I ve pulled or we can be part of the restoration. together a few ideas which I hope will help: not just in coping with the tragedy of the Malaysian flight or with the conflict in Gaza: but with tensions closer to home: with our countries problem with substance abuse and suicide and domestic violence. Pray This is a critical time to pray. We know that prayer works. We must pray for the healing of others. And that s not just people in New Zealand but for people in all nations and other religions. We must pray for peace in places of conflict. We must pray for forgiveness for our prejudices. We must ask for courage for those who promote peace and the values that 2 / 5

3 Jesus stands for. Pray for new friendships to be cultivated among former enemies. Pray for your enemies. Grieve the Loss of Life It is easy to look at the escalating death tolls as numbers that are simply a consequence of war rather than as the tragic loss of a precious life. Someone s mother. Someone s daughter. Someone s best friend. Whether Israeli or Palestinian, each person who has been killed is part of the human family and made in the Image of God. Each life is a sparrow. We cannot become numb to the things that should bring us to our knees. It can be hard when all we see is what is on the TV and we can head out of church and enjoy the quiet and the beauty of Island Bay. But allow yourself to feel pain on behalf of the mothers who have lost their children and the children who have lost their parents. Listen, Learn and Be Still We would do well to slow down and listen to the stories of others. It s easy to find fault and to lay blame. It s easy to have preconceived solutions. But slow down, listen, learn and be still before jumping to words or actions that may do more harm than good. Become more informed Another thing we can do is to become more informed and seek to understand. The situation in Gaza is a divisive issue. Look at the so called celebrities who have posted inane comments on their Twittter accounts and started a war amongst their followers. Lots of us in the West think we know a lot about it, and sometimes we can approach situations like this from a very pro-israel or a very pro-palestinian point of view. But the reality is, it s hard to know exactly what is going on. So seek to learn more, and approach it with a bit of humility. See Common Humanity, Before Political and Religious Differences We all inherently know that the diversity of humanity isn t going to allow for us all to perfectly agree on politics and religion. Rather than look at people through the lens of politics or religion, look at them through the lens of a shared humanity. All of us are made in the image of God. When we see Jesus in the eyes of the other it is much harder to hate, hurt and demean. As you know I have a certain interest in the lives and works of a band called U2 and one of my favourite songs, One is about exactly that. In Gods eyes we are One: and we need to look at those around us and those on the other side of the world as being the same as us: made in the likeness of God. Ask Hard Questions How might have my political or social involvement perpetuated or sparked damaging consequences in thought or action? Am I an objective observer or are there ways I can be part of the problem or part of the restoration? Is the form of Islam or Judaism that is being portrayed in the media an accurate form of faithful Islam/Judaism or a simply an ideological counterfeit? 3 / 5

4 Expand Your News Sources It s not the distance that keeps us in the West from objective news coverage, it s polarizing political, social and financial realities that surround this region. There is no more critical time to be savvy in how you listen and learn from the media. Do not listen to only one source, but tune into multiple sources for various perspectives. Build relationships Where we can, it s good to make friends with people from other cultures and faiths. St Hilda s has a well-earned reputation for being very open. If appropriate and possible, share a meal with someone from a totally different perspective and that may provide new insight into what s going on there. If you can, support financially those who are helping Agencies like the Red Cross, World Vision, Oxfam and Tear Fund are all working in Gaza. Many of those helping are Christian charities. Others are Muslim. But these agencies are working hard to bring food, shelter, water, medicines and hope to those in distress. If you can, support an agency that you trust and that you have faith in. Live Compassion To better understand the experience of what these people are going through, we need to walk the talk. We must learn how to have the heart of Jesus, which means caring for those who are hurting. That means looking after those in our families, in our church, in our community who are struggling and hurting. But it also means we can hurt for those in the Ukraine and in Gaza. Geographical distance is not an excuse for us to not have compassion for those suffering there. Christ asks us to be in the business of healing and renewing and rebuilding our broken communities and broken world. Rather than just fatalistically assuming war is just inevitable, let s find ways that we might make a difference. Think about and wrestle with what Jesus meant when He said Blessed are the peacemakers. That s a really hard thing to take on. What does it mean for us as Christians to engage in situations like this? In conclusion. I confess that my trust in God is a bit childlike. I trust God rather in the same way that small children who have been injured or who have had an accident trust a parent, even as the pain that stabs into them threatens to take away their trust. I m not sure what the theological basis for what I am about to say is but I believe that those innocent victims of the Malaysian airliner those little sparrows will have a second landing. I believe that those innocent children killed in Gaza will have a second chance. And this time the landing will be a safe and joyful one. Jelaluddin Rumi, a thirteenth century poet wrote: Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing - and rightdoing, there is a field, - and I ll meet you there. 4 / 5

5 I don t know if Jesus said something like this to Peter before he was taken away. But I have a feeling he might have said something like: Beyond my crucifixion. Beyond my feeling of being betrayed; once all this has past, there is a site on the lakeside. And I d like to meet you there for breakfast And Jesus himself, having gone through the hideous experience of believing that his father had forsaken him, must have been very pleased to go to that spot on the shore of Galilee. It was going to be alright. Everything was going to be all right. Breakfast with his friends. I would settle for something like that - breakfast with Jesus and lots of old friends. Yes, like a child in pain I trust God, and I trust that the sparrows travelling in Flight MH17 and the sparrows caught up in the cross-fire in Gaza will have a second, gentle landing, a second safe opportunity and that will be in a field, on a beach, by a river, or in a garden. And I believe that it will be all right this time. That s what I am praying for. Amen 5 / 5