A sermon (2020)
by Samia Khoury
November 29, 2020
Isaiah 64:1-9 Mark 13:24-37
As I reflect on the first verse from Isaiah 64:
“Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down”
I feel it is the cry of the believers; those who are helpless, powerless, deprived, poor and sick. It is a cry from the heart to God in the highest, God omnipotent in whom we have always believed to be our savior and who would not abandon us in our difficult times. 2020 has been a specially hard time for the whole world, but more so for an oppressed people living under a military occupation and deprived of their basic human rights. Let alone for those Palestinians who have been under siege for fourteen years in Gaza in an area that amounts to 365 km² with a population of around 2 million, recently plagued with Covid 19 . Let us not forget that 50% of the Palestinian people are refugees outside their own country; some of them had fled for the second or third time from their country of refuge.
Under the guise of the Corona pandemic, just as under the guise of a peace process, our rights as Palestinian have been doubly abused and violated. Every day we watch our young people getting killed, or incarcerated, our homes demolished and families separated due to absurd residency regulations. Every family has a story. How many parents and grand parents have passed while waiting for the release of their children and grandchildren from prison, many of whom have been under an administrative detention for years without charge or trial.
Although our faith has sustained us throughout those long years of an ongoing dispossession, yet so very often we cry out until when O Lord until when?. But then once again the words that we read in Mark give us hope. But in those days, following that distress the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory. Will we ever see that day?
Is our Faith sufficient? According to St. James, faith alone without deeds is dead. So what is it that every believer needs to do to maintain one’s faith. As I was writing this I received a short clip that a friend sent me of a young girl who was asked what the greatest Miracle of Jesus was, and her answer was turning water into wine. But when she was asked what that miracle teaches us, she answered: “When you are out of wine, get on your knees and pray.”
We have certainly been on our knees praying for more important miracles. Wine is the least of our worries these days, especially that it is probably more available than water itself with so much of our water resources being diverted into the Israeli settlements mushrooming all over the occupied Palestinian territories. I often wondered why none of those miracles that we read about in the Bible, ever happen in our life time. Is it our lack of faith, or is it the lack of our deeds. Or do they actually happen but we do not see them or admit them as miracles? How often when we see a terrible accident and the driver comes out of it safely we say that there must have been a guardian angel taking care of that driver. The Lord does indeed work in mysterious ways.
We have been brought up to believe in a God of love, in a God of Justice and in a God who would want to see Justice and peace reign over this universe. But when we see what goes on around the world and especially in the Holy Land, can we really hold on to our faith? Jesus reminds us according to Mathew 17:20 that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed we can tell a mountain to move from here to there, and it will move. Unfortunately we have not been able to move a stone or a tree. It is only with force that the military occupation has changed the scene and moved mountains to open new roads and build new settlements.
It is actually very sad to watch young people and even older ones losing their faith these days. But it is not surprising. Holding on to one’s faith is quite a challenge when all moral values have been trampled upon. Power, greed, and domination seem to be the norm. What is our role and responsibility as true Christians and true believers? I still remember the first time my father introduced us to the Golden Rule “Do unto others as you would want them do to you.” It seemed the logical basis for justice and peace. If only it could be applied, how much better the world would be. Many years ago I wrote an article for the Witness Magazine on the subject. And as I was doing some research I found out that in practically every faith there was a similar rule written in one way or another.
Judaism: “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow men. That is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary.” (The Talmud)
Islam: “No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself.” (Hadith)
Buddhism: “Hurt not others with that which pains yourself.”
(Udana-Varga)
Hinduism: “This is the sum of duty: do naught to other which if done to thee would cause thee pain.” (The Mahabharata)
Zoroastrianism: “Whatever is disagreeable to yourself do not do unto others.” (Shayast-na-Shayast 13:29)
Baha’i: “And if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbour that which though choosest for thyself.” (Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, 30)
Unfortunately, the rule that seems to prevail is not the Golden Rule. It is the rule that stipulates “what is good enough for me is not good enough for you.” And that is the root cause of all wars and conflicts. All along history, religion has very often been used and abused to justify the power of domination and collaboration against the poor and the powerless. Every religion has had its ugly history at one time or another, and we cannot point a finger at the other when we have been guilty ourselves of racism, and genocide, all in the name of God. No wonder liberation theology started in countries like Latin America, South Africa and recently a few decades ago, in Palestine. Unfortunately the land which is home for Judaism, Christianity and Islam has become a land of conflict and dispossession all in the name of the Bible. Even the American elections are swayed by the agenda of the Christian Zionists and the end-time theology
November 29 is not only the beginning of advent, when we lift our prayers and get ready spiritually for Christmas, but it is also the International Solidarity day with the Palestinians. On this day in 1947 Palestine was partitioned by the United Nations between the indigenous Palestinians and the Jews who have immigrated to Palestine during the British Mandate, most of them illegally, and were around one third of the total population of Palestine and owned only 7% of the land at that time. However the Partition scheme allocated 56% of the land to the Jewish population and 43 % to the Palestinians, while Jerusalem and Bethlehem were considered Corpas Separatum. Ever since, the Palestinians have been blamed for refusing the partition scheme. How could they have accepted it? A grave injustice indeed, and up to this day, it has been the root cause of all the unrest in the Middle East region. Does this not remind us of the two mothers who approached King Solomon, known for his wisdom, to determine who the disputed child belonged to. He was able to determine who the genuine mother was upon the reaction of both women when he suggested that they cut the child into two. The genuine mother accepted to give up her child to the other woman rather than see him killed. whereas the fake mother accepted to divide the child rather than have him go to the other woman.
As we gather in our different churches today we lift our prayers for the end of violence everywhere. We pray for justice to prevail for there can be no peace without Justice. How appropriate was the title of Rev. Naim Ateek’s book, the founder of Palestinian Liberation Theology, Justice and Only Justice.
During this Holy season, we seize this opportunity to pray that world leaders would be humbled to reset their priorities towards humanity and the planet we share, and may all this advanced technology be used for the common good, and may the guns be silenced to spare our planet and its inhabitants further suffering.