S is for Sepulchre

That brings me to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, built over the stone of Golgotha on which Jesus died and over the stone tomb in which he was laid and from which he was raised. The fear all around is the fear of death. Israelis and Palestinians alike are afraid of the extinguishing of their own communities. Therefore it "was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children [of Abraham] to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. ...Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death" (Hebrews 2:10, 14-15).

Jews, Christians, and Muslims sharing the same small space in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories make a common claim to Abraham as their ancestor in faith. It seems that they (and all of us) also share a common enemy: death. But how often we mistake each other for the enemy! Fear blinds its slaves and makes us think that we can somehow evade death by getting rid of each other. However, to "make a covenant with death" so that "the overwhelming scourge...will not come to us" is to make "lies our refuge" (Isaiah 28:15).

As long as we are slaves of the fear of death, we cannot trust God and love our neighbors with our whole heart. So how can God reach us? God could not reach us in a way that we would not reject. Nevertheless, God came to us in flesh and blood, knowing that we would perceive God as an enemy. Jesus was born as a specific person living in a specific time and place: in Bethlehem, Nazareth, Capernaum, Jerusalem, all under Roman occupation. There he was indeed perceived as a threat to the survival of his own beleaguered people because he acted with an authority independent of the leadership, the temple, and the legal traditions that gave his people their identity in the face of occupation. Like the prophet Jeremiah from the old days, Jesus seemed to be pulling the rug out from under his own people in front of their enemies. So one of his own followers initiated his handover to the enemy. We do that to those who threaten what gives us identity, meaning, and security. As Jesus was a crowd-raiser not under their control, the Romans, too, were uneasy with him alive and so they crucified him as a public example to deter others from creating similar challenges to their control and security.