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There's Nothing Christian about Zionism
On
March 20, 2006, I traveled
from the Little Town of Bethlehem: Occupied Territory to the Mount of
Beatitudes in Israel. This awe inspiring site sits above the shimmering
Sea of
Galilee where Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, and I ended up
delivering
my own Sermon on that Mount!
Four Franciscan Sisters, one each from Syria, Jordan, Malta and Italy
care for
the shrine and the pilgrim guests at the Hospice Center where I spent
two
nights and a day of silent reflection after nine days on a Sabeel
Reality tour through
occupied Palestine.
At dinner a Catholic Pentecostal from Scotland introduced himself and
asked me
why I was there and what church I was from.
I responded that I have
Irish Roman Catholic, Polish Jew, Russian
Orthodox DNA, but my rock is The Beatitudes.
He looked even more perplexed when I told him I had come to the Mount of
Beatitudes to decompress and reflect upon my nine days in Occupied
Territory. I
asked him if he were aware of the work of Sabeel, the Palestinian
Christian liberation
theology organization founded by a 1948 refugee, which promotes a
theology of
liberation, based on justice, peace, non-violence and reconciliation
with all
people regardless of faith path or nationality.
He sternly admonished me; "God gave this land to the Jews! The Bible
never
mentions Palestine, and that is that! God gave this land to the Jews and
that
is that!"
I responded just as fervently that the Palestinian Christians are the
descendants of those who first followed Jesus and they have been denied
inalienable human rights by the Israeli government. I told him the
Christians
in the Holy Land have shrunk from 20% of the total population to less
than 1.3%
since 1948 and if things don't change soon, there will be no Christians
left in
the land where Christ promised that it is the peacemakers who are the
children
of God.
He sputtered, "But the Jews have suffered! God gave this land to the
Jews and
that is that!"
This really got my Irish up and I retorted, "Yes they did because good
people
did nothing for far too long, and now the oppressed have become the
oppressors.
In the 21st century good people are unaware, ignoring or are in total
denial of
the injustices Israel gets away with in the so called Holy Land. And the
Hebrew
prophets, such as Micah reminded the people of what the Lord requires:
To be
just, to be merciful and to walk humbly with your God!"
I could NOT shut up although I knew that that Scotsman was trying to get
away
from me, but, I was on a tear and barely took a breath as I told him
that
instead of staying in Israel for his entire visit, he should go and
witness
life in the occupied territories; go and see the effects of The Wall on
his spirit
and see what it has done to the Palestinian economy. I told him he
should go
and tour some of the Bethlehem refugee camps and see the ruins of all
the
uncompensated home demolitions. I brought it on home by telling him that
I also
doubt that God was ever in the real estate business!
His eyes had bugged out and his mouth had dropped open while the torrent
of
words spewed out of me. After I finally shut up, he stammered, "But
there is
suffering everywhere!"
"Yes there is and Christ always stood up for the poor and the oppressed.
And he
told us what ever we do or do not do for the least and the outcast; we
do it or
not unto God."
He shook his head and turned and walked quickly away and never again
looked my
way.
