R-O is for
Rocky Occupation
In so many ways, when one visits "the Holy Land" one visits a land of stones. They lie all over the ground, on the surface and just beneath. They can be used to kill, control, or defy, as well as to shelter or to mark a site. Jerusalemites are required to use local limestone in their buildings. Only Yad Vashem (the Holocaust museum) and the 30-foot wall surrounding Palestinian urban centers near Jerusalem are not stone; they are concrete. Palestinian farmers use stones to build terraces and retaining walls on their sloped fields in the hill country. Young Palestinian boys sometimes throw stones at the Israeli soldiers stationed in their midst. David threw a stone at Goliath. Stephen was stoned to death on charges of speaking against the temple, some of the magnificent stones of which are still visible at the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
A few weeks ago a group of Americans delivered two big stones to the Old City. Imprinted on them was the message that they were intended to be the foundation stones of a new Jewish temple on the site of the old one. They were not allowed to lay the stones. The local Palestinian Christians call themselves "living stones," a reference to 1 Peter 2:4-5, "Come to [Christ], a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God's sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
As I walk to the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer along the stone-covered passageways of the Old City of Jerusalem, which are cold and slick in the winter, I often feel bewildered by my surroundings and by the political realities that stamp everything with their image here. A Muslim friend recently told me that she had become disgusted by all this fighting over nothing but stones. She asked me what I thought God was doing in all of this, and I told her that I did not know. Now I will try to see through to an answer.
The problem is that God is continually brought in as a reason for fighting here. Last week at a conference in Bethlehem, Rev. Mitri Raheb of Christmas Lutheran Church noted that many countries in the Middle East are experiencing conflict because of oil, "but our land is not oily, only holy. Sometimes I wish it were oily instead." Political and sometimes military battles are fought for control over this land and its heritage. The war is fought from every angle: archaeology, history, education, civil law, building permits, social services, language, physical infrastructure, travel restrictions, licensing, budgets, official paperwork, you name it. Although Israel occupies the Palestinian Territories (including East Jerusalem) illegally by international law, it is winning this war by sheer overwhelming power. It has the United States, the world's only superpower, blocking any attempts at deterrence, either by the international community or by the Palestinians themselves. Many who support or even participate in the current U.S. administration believe that God's kingdom will come when the ancient kingdom of David has been re-established over all of historic Palestine in the form of an expanded modern state of Israel. If the Palestinians are visible in this picture at all it is as a conquered minority. But they are usually not visible, since they are to be "transferred" to the surrounding Arab countries by a slow, nearly imperceptible, process; thus, when life in their land has become too unbearable, their decision to leave can be called "voluntary."
The first to leave are the people of the middle class, professionals who want their children to have a decent, dignified life with the opportunities for a good education, a house, and a job. Almost all Palestinian Christians fit this description. Their numbers are declining rapidly. Their pastors and bishops worry and wonder what kind of kingdom of God it will be here when the only native Christian presence is the memory of 2,000 years encased in the old stone church buildings like a tomb.
