The disciples said to
him,
“Rabbi, the Judeans were just now trying to stone you,
“Rabbi, the Judeans were just now trying to stone you,
And are you going
there again?” John 11.8
The more time I spend in Palestine, or listening to Israelis
and Palestinians who are working bring peace to the land, the more I hear
familiar bible stories in a new way. We hear these same texts every three
years, but today, the words that struck me were words I’d never paid attention
to before.
People who work to bring peace always put themselves in
great danger, because the powerful do not want peace. They want
power/money/land. Jesus, the peacemaker, was crucified because he was a greater
threat to the Roman Empire and their Judean collaborators than armed terrorists
like Barabbas.
Every Friday in the West Bank village of Bil’in, after
noontime prayers, the residents—fathers, mothers, children, babies, young men
and women, old men and women—take to the streets to protest the Israeli wall
that is still being built around their homes, a wall built on their farmland.
They carry Palestinian flags and chant, “Free, free,
Palestine!” and other rallying cries. They wear keffiyehs, as a sign of
solidarity with all the Palestinians who have lost their lands. They also wear the keffiyeh to protect themselves from the tear gas.
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| Children protesting the wall, Bi'lin, 2014 |
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| Tree-planting on Land Day, 2014, Bi'lin |
The Israeli soldiers are always patrolling the wall—day and
night, every day. But on Fridays, the soldiers drive into the village in their
armored jeeps, AK-47s in hand. They set off percussion bombs, which make a
powerful, ear-splitting noise, designed to disperse crowds. They throw tear gas
canisters, or shoot them from launchers/guns. They fire live ammunition,
killing and wounding protesters.
Almost five years ago, on April 17, 2009, Bassem Abu Rahma
was killed by a tear gas canister projectile, which hit him in the chest. The
tear gas canister was manufactured in Pennsylvania.
Bassem, age 30 when he died, was a kind and gentle man,
beloved by his friends and family. He knew the danger of joining in the
demonstrations every week, but he was not deterred. He flew kites and
participated in theater that showed the absurdity of the wall. He marched in
the weekly protests, knowing that the soldiers would try to injure or maybe
arrest and torture him. But he went anyway.
Gracious God, your son
taught us the way of peace, a path fraught with danger. Give us courage to be
your peacemakers wherever we find ourselves today. Amen.
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