Copyright © 2012
by Chris R. Glaser. All rights reserved. Permission granted for non-profit use
in public gatherings with attribution of author and blog site.
In the 84th and
final year of her life, my fundamentalist mother surprised me by saying wistfully, “I thought I would live long
enough to see Jesus return.”
I must confess to
more modest goals. I thought for sure I would live long enough to see peace
come to Israel.
Maybe my mother
was the more realistic one!
A year or two ago
I stopped reading news stories about Israel and the would-be state of Palestine
when the latest hopeful peace talks stalled. After more than 45 years following
events there, I was fed up with both sides.
Why did I feel I
had a right to be fed up? Because of the amount of U.S. tax dollars that have
gone to support that region, the political and emotional and even spiritual
capital that has been wasted, all the media time spent on a relentless conflict
and the additional conflicts with Arab states created for the West—not to
mention all the suffering of the people there with whom I have identified, on
both sides.
I was in high
school when the Six Day War of 1967 occurred, 45 years ago this June. My
teacher of International Relations, himself Jewish, explained that the first
strike mentality of Israel was like the survival response of a man about to be
pushed off a cliff. Our student body president, a young Jewish woman, cried
that first day of the war. As I recall, the tears came because she felt so
conflicted between her ideals and her hope for Israel. When I took her to our
senior prom, I met her father, who showed me the tattooed numbers on his arm
and explained his camp was liberated by Eisenhower himself, who openly cried to
see the condition of the prisoners. The parents of a close friend explained
divisions over Israel in the Jewish community—some thought as they did that
they were Americans first, while others thought of themselves as Jewish first
whose first allegiance was to Israel.
None other than
the Mahatma Gandhi himself expressed reservations about the establishment of
Israel, implying that it would be far better for Europeans to overcome their
anti-semitism than be in the business of nation-building.
Why do I write of
this now? Because in the past few days I’ve been reading and re-reading the
final chapters of Isaiah, using the New Jerusalem Bible, pondering how the
texts might give rise to both the Zionist desire to reclaim the land of
Palestine as well as the hope of moderate Israelis who pray and work for peace.
They
will rebuild the ancient ruins,
they
will raise what has long lain waste,
they
will restore the ruined cities,
all
that has lain waste for ages past. (61:4)
No
more will you be known as “Forsaken”
or
your country be known as “Desolation”;
instead,
you will be called “My Delight is in her”
and
your country “The Wedded”… (62:4)
These are just
two excerpts lauding the restoration of a Jewish nation that could instill zeal
in those who apply it to the present state of Israel.
But there are
other examples of what peacemakers in Israel consider Israel’s higher calling:
The
nations will come to your light
and
kings to your dawning brightness. (60:3)
I
shall make Peace your administration
and
Saving Justice your government.
Violence
will no longer be heard of in your country,
nor
devastation and ruin within your frontiers. (60:17c & 18a)
On a Fordham
University religious studies tour of the Middle East long ago, I visited Egypt,
Jordan, the West Bank, and Israel. We heard from a lot of displaced
Palestinians, and saw firsthand an abandoned camp for Palestinian refugees. It
was on the Sea of Galilee (actually, a lake) that we were reminded of the
collusion of fundamentalist American Christians with Zionist claims, as the
leader of another group on board our boat offered a prayer over the P.A. system
for the full flowering of the State of Israel so that Jesus could return. This
is a dangerous alliance for Israelis, because these Christians believe that
when Jesus returns, Jews will be smited!
I wished Jesus
had returned in that moment to shut off the preacher’s storm of words with
“Peace! Be still!”
How I wish I
could live to see the day when Isaiah’s vision is fulfilled:
As
a mother comforts her child,
so
I shall comfort you;
you
will be comforted in Jerusalem. (66:13)
And that of
Jesus, weeping over Jerusalem:
“Would
that even today you knew the things that make for peace.”
+++
Readers are the
sole source of support for this blog as an MCC Emerging Ministry.
Tax-deductible contributions may be made on line through the blogsite
www.chrisglaser.blogspot.com or mailed to MCC, P.O. Box 50488, Sarasota, FL
34232, noting “For Progressive Christian Reflections” in the memo area. Thanks!
No comments:
Post a Comment