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Jerusalem and
Christianity |
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Homily at Midnight
Mass, Bethlehem University
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Christmas 1996
Reverend Professor Michael Prior, C.M.
People who live at a distance from Bethlehem would love to be here
tonight. A privileged few can come for these days of celebration, to
commemorate the birth of Light, and the end of darkness; the birth
of Life and the end of death. Everyone longs to see something of the
Glory of God in the highest heaven, and to taste on earth the peace
which God gives those whom he favors! We wish to taste, see and
celebrate God’s glory while on earth, even in a preliminary fashion,
and to experience some of God’s peace on earth, as we await the
flowering of God’s glory at the end of time.
But the reality of Bethlehem brings one down to earth rather
quickly. Since September, I have been completing my study of The
Bible and Colonialism: A Moral Critique, and have been immersed in
reflection upon the way colonialism, often propelled by religion and
the Bible, has carried out its work of plunder. At a practical
level, as I pass by the checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem
twice a day, with all of the privileges of being a foreigner, I boil
with anger at the humiliation, degradation, and oppression which the
colonizing enterprise of Zionism has inflicted on the people of this
region. I wonder to myself how long this tyranny is going to last.
Where is the Glory of God in all of this, and where does one taste
some of God’s peace? I am afraid I have no easy answer to this
question. In fact I find it personally very distressing to attempt
to address words of Christian hope to a people who have received
such a battering from the Israelis. Be patient with me as I attempt
this very difficult task. Let us name the distress.
In the strange thinking of many religious Jews, their coming to this
land and establishing a Jewish state will speed up the redemption of
the whole world and the coming of the Messiah. The State of Israel,
according to that mindset, is the agent of the reconciliation of
Jews, Christians, and Muslims, of the sacred and the profane, and of
Jews who differ in their messianic expectations. The reconciliatory
impact of the return-to-Zion enterprise does not appear quite so
sanguine from my perspective as I overlook the check-point,
surrounded by so many signs of colonial plunder, as well as
witnessing the daily humiliation of the Palestinian population which
is made to experience alienation and exile within its own homeland.
The rhetoric of the sacral discourse of Zionism is undermined by the
reality of the catastrophe for the indigenous population in the
past, and in the present. The daily humiliation of the people and
the litany of other atrocities casts a dark cloud over the
achievement of the ethnocentric dream of nineteenth century Jewish
nationalist colonialists. What is most distressing from a moral and
religious perspective is that the major ideological support for
Zionist imperialism and the principal obstacle against treating the
Palestinian people with respect come from religious circles. Already
in 1913, the bad behavior of Zionists towards the Palestinians made
Ahad Ha’am fear for the future if Jews ever came to power: ‘If this
be the “Messiah”; I do not wish to see his coming.’
Uniquely in the discourse of colonialist enterprises, Zionists not
only protest their innocence, but even while perpetrating the
comprehensive oppression of another people they retain the
psychology of victims, and even blame the victims. No less uniquely,
Zionism has managed to retain the support of much of the West, at
least until recently. Instead of engaging in an ongoing critique of
Zionism’s reduction of the ideals of Judaism to those portions of
its tradition which betray a narrow and exclusionist concept of a
tribal god, some Christian support unconditionally an unrestrained
and militant Zionism, as if it were the sole authentic expression of
Judaism. Meanwhile, without the critical solidarity of the Western
“Christian” world, whose conscience has been crippled in the wake of
the Holocaust, the behavior of the State of Israel towards the
Palestinians has earned widespread international criticism, and is a
cause of great distress among many people, including of course many
Jews, albeit virtually entirely from the secular camp. Torah-driven
zealotry is at the forefront of the oppression of the indigenous
Palestinians.
Where can we find hope in all of this? At Christmas we celebrate the
liberation which the Christ-child brings. In the historical event of
the birth of Jesus, God was beginning to free the people from
domination and exploitation by the powerful. Part of this domination
and exploitation came from outside, and part from closer to hand--
some came from the Roman rulers and some from their own rulers, in
particular the tyrannical King Herod. Bit this liberation was merely
the beginning of freedom from tyranny. Liberation remained at the
level of potential, pointing to a series of possibilities, rather
than to what is already achieved.
Most people who are dominated and exploited feel themselves to be
powerless in the face of oppression. They easily assume an attitude
of fatality. They are victims of fate. However, the narratives of
Christmas challenge this attitude of fatality. The Christmas stories
do not promote a sense of hopelessness in the face of domination and
exploitation, but that we are under the light of a God who is acting
to save us. The emperor and local rulers are not divine. Their
empire, like all tyrannies will collapse. History is our sure
support in this judgement. The peace message of Christmas is not the
peace of tranquility and prosperity of the privileged and powerful,
at the expense of the weak. One of the clear messages of the
Christmas accounts is that the mighty will be cast down. Those who
dominate and exploit the weak are the enemies whom God is
overthrowing. In the Christmas stories the ordinary people are the
heroes, and the rulers are the anti-heroes. The ordinary people are
represented by Mary and the child to whom she gave birth, and the
shepherds, and Zechariah and Elizabeth, and Simeon and Anna. Herod,
on the other hand, is the enemy of the people, and kills the
children. These familiar stories from our history invite us to
interpret our lives as we live them today.
Recalling the events of Christmas is never simply an act of
remembering the past. It is not to assure us that God was alive and
active in favor of the exploited and the dispossessed in the past.
The Good News of Christmas is that God is alive and active and
working for our freedom today. The story of the Christ-child invites
us to participate in God’s liberation of us in the present
circumstances in which we find ourselves. Ultimately, and probably
soon, the tyranny which began to reign over this land 50 years ago
does not replace another. God is on the side of the oppressed. But
we cannot leave the solution to Him alone. We must work diligently
every day, to resist our oppression by retaining a pride in
ourselves. We remind ourselves that we are patient in our suffering,
and in every way possible speed on the day of our deliverance, when
we, a people who walked in darkness will see a great light; when on
us who have lived in a land of deep darkness light will shine. For
the grace of God will appear, bringing salvation to all. Then we
shall sing to Yahwh, bless his name; tell of his salvation from day
to day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works
among all the peoples. When our deliverance comes, there will be
“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those
whom he favors!”
Reverend Professor Michael Prior, C.M. is Principal Lecturer at the
Department of Theology and Religious Studies in St. Mary's
University College, University of Surrey, England and was Visiting
Professor in Bethlehem University, and Scholar-in-Residence at
Tantur Ecumenical Institute, Jerusalem (1996-1997). He is a graduate
in Experimental Physics and Mathematics (Dublin), and in Divinity
(Rome). He did postgraduate biblical study in University College
(Dublin), the Pontifical Biblical Institute (Rome), King's College
(London), and Ecole Biblique et Archeologique de Jerusalem. He is
author of Paul the Letter Writer and the Second Letter to Timothy
(Sheffield Academic Press, 1989), Jesus the Liberator: Nazareth
Liberation Theology (Luke 4.16-30) (Sheffield Academic Press, 1995),
The Bible and Colonialism. A Moral Critique (Sheffield Academic
Press, 1997), and was co-editor of Christians in the Holy Land
(London: WIFT/Scorpion, 1994).
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