“By chance a priest was going down that road…he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite….But a [Palestinian], as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, and went to him and bound up his wounds” (Luke 10:31).
The Holy Land is where a horrible war rages on. It appears there is no way to attain peace between Arabs and Israelis. No plan is offered, no nation including our own is able to help. Killings are a daily phenomenon. We might ask the famous question worn on many Christian children’s bracelets: WWJD. What Would Jesus Do?
We know already from what He has told us the course He would pursue. He’s told us in several places in the gospel; for example, in the famous parable of the Good Samaritan. Above is a quotation from that tale, only updated to fit modern times. Change Samaritan to Palestinian, and the Lord’s teachings come alive. Jews and Palestinians have shared the same parcel of land for many centuries, and despite the fantasies of both sides to drive the others out, they will go on living together—if not in peace, then at least in some mutually agreed upon division of the territory acceptable to both sides.
Nobody expects that to come about easily. Delusions and illusions must first be played out. For instance, the Sharon government is abetted by the encouragement from wrongheaded American Evangelists who promote the theory that God’s plan for that land is to restore Israel to the days of King David, then to build the third Temple on Mt. Zion. This is worse than heresy: It is plain genocide. The Muslims in turn shout their vow to “Drive the Jews into the sea,” certainly not helpful in peace making.
Again, let’s return to Christ. His fellow Jews in His day were divided into various religious groups: Pharisees who understood salvation to be found by obeying the letter of the Law and Sadducees, who believed that Messiah would come when Israel just once would perform the rituals of sacrifice perfectly on the altars of the Temple. There were Zealots carrying concealed weapons and vowing to eradicate the hated Romans by force, and Essenes praying and fasting near the Dead Sea, fed up with the false priests in the Temple, believing themselves to be the people with the Word and Light opposed to the illiterate people of darkness. They all were in opposition to one another. They all agreed, however, that Jesus of Nazareth was not their idea of Messiah. Each had a draconian measure that they applied to Jesus, and He broke through, or rather transcended the limits of them all.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came into the world to offer humanity a way to the Kingdom of heaven. He preached a message of peace on earth and good will to all mankind. It’s more than a slogan for Christmas time. It’s the message the world needs to hear. America is founded on freedom and dignity for people of all races, nations, faiths, and ethnic backgrounds. How ironic that our Statue of Liberty with the glorious invitation: “Give me your tired, huddled masses yearning to be free” could never find a place in Jerusalem, city of peace, because neither Jew nor Moslem believes in its message. The second irony: How is it that a democracy such as ours is the major support and provider of weapons for a nation such as Israel, bent upon eradicating Arabs from their territory?
As we have discovered to our anguish, some Muslims hate us with a passion, and even those “on our side” in the Afghan war permitted al Qaida terrorists to escape from our forces, since for them Muslim lives are of more value than American lives.
Yet we, adopted children of the Father of Jesus Christ, have the duty to proclaim peace for all human beings, opposing the parochialism of Jew and Muslim.