Merry Christmas. This year for Christmas Eve in Jordan, we watched the message from Reverend Munther Isaac in Bethlehem. It is perhaps the most powerful, prophetic message any of us will ever hear on any Christmas. In the Middle East, I have discovered a much different form of Christianity that unfortunately I cannot find in the US. Perhaps it is because of the empire. I continue to stand with my Muslim and Christian brothers and sisters in P*lest*ne who are deeply suffering today. For far too long, Western Christianity has been part of the problem in the Holy Land rather than the solution. So let this pastor’s words on Christmas be a wake-up call to all of us.
(If you prefer you can watch the service online, the sermon is in English.)
Christ in the Rubble: A Liturgy of Lament
We are angry. We are broken. This would have been a time of joy. Instead, we are mourning. We are fearful.
More than 20,000 killed and thousands are still under the rubble. Close to 9,000 children killed in the most brutal ways. 1.9 million displaced. 100’s of thousands of homes destroyed. G.az.a as we know it, no longer exists. This is an annihilation; this is a genocide. The world is watching. Churches are watching. The people of G.az.a are sending live images of their own execution. Maybe the world cares, but it goes on.
We are asking could this be our fate here in Bethlehem? In Ramallah? In Jenin? Is this our destiny to?
We are tormented by the silence of the world. Leaders of the so- called free world, lined up one after another to give a green light for this genocide against a captive population. They gave the cover. Not only did they make sure to pay the bill in advance, they veiled the truth and context, providing the political cover.
And yet another layer has been added, the theological cover with the Western Church stepping into the spotlight. Our dear friends in South Africa taught us the concept of the State Theology, defined as theological justification of the status quo with its racism, capitalism, and totalitarianism. Using theological concepts and biblical texts for its own political purposes.
Here in Pa.lesti.ne, our Bible is weaponized against us, our very own sacred texts. In our terminology in Pa.lesti.ne we speak of the empire. Here, we confront the theology of the empire. It is disguised for superiority, supremacy, chosenness and entitlement. It is sometimes given a nice cover using words like, mission, evangelism, fulfillment of prophecy, and spreading freedom and liberty. The theology of the empire becomes a powerful tool to mask oppression. It calls for us to go to Egypt or Jordan. Why not just the sea?
I think of the words of the disciples of Jesus as he was about to entire Samaria. “Lord, do you want to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” they said of the Samaritans. This is the theology of the empire and this is what they are saying to us today.
This war has confirmed to us that the world does not see us as equal. Mayve it is the color of our skin. Maybe it is because we are on the wrong side of a political equation. Even our kinship in Christ did not shield us. So, they say if it takes killing 100 Palestinians to get a single Hamas militant then so be it. We are not humans in their eyes. But in God’s eyes no one can tell us that.
The hypocrisy and racism of the Western World is transparent and appalling. They always take the word of Pa.lesti.nians with suspicion and qualification; we are not treated equally. Yet on the other side, despite a clear record of misinformation and lies, their words are almost always deemed infallible.
To our European friends, I never ever want to hear you lecture us on human rights or international law ever again. And I mean it. We are not white I guess; it does not apply to us according to your own logic.
In this war, the many Christians in the Western world made sure the empire has the theology needed. It is their self-defense we were told. And I continue to ask, how is the killing of 9,000 children self-defense? How is the displacement of 1.9 million Pa.lesti.nians self-defense?
In the shadow of the empire, they turn the colonizer into the victim and colonized into the aggressor. Have we forgotten that state was built on the ruins of the towns and villages of the those very same Ga.za.ns? Have they forgot that?
We are outraged by the complicity of the church. Let it be clear friends, silence is complicity. And the empty calls for peace without a ceasefire and an end to the occupation, and the shallow words of empathy without action, all are the words of complicity.
So here is my message, Gaza today has become the moral compass of the world. Ga.z.a was hell before Oct 7 and the world was silent. Should we be surprised at their silence now? If you are not appalled by what is happening in Gaza, if you are not shaken to your core, there is something wrong with your humanity. And if we as Christians are not outraged by the genocide, by the weaponization of the Bible to justify it, there is something wrong with our Christian witness and we are compromising the credibility of our gospel message.
If you fail to call this a genocide, it is on you. It is a sin and a darkness that you embrace. Some have not even called for a ceasefire; I’m talking about churches. I feel sorry for you. We will be ok, despite the immense blow we have received. We the Pa.lestin.ians will recover. We will rise, we will stand up again from the midst of destruction as we always have as Pa.lestin.ians. Although this is by the far maybe the biggest blow we have received in a long time, but we will be ok.
But for those who are complicit, I feel sorry for you, will you ever recover from this? Your charity and your words of shock after the genocide will not make a difference. And I know these words of shock are coming and I know people will give generously for charity. But your words won’t make a difference. Words of regret will not satisfy you and let me say it, we will not accept your apology after the genocide.
What has been done has been done. I want you to look in the mirror and ask, “Where was I when Ga.z.a was going through a genocide?”
To my friends who are here with us, you have left your families and churches to be with us. You embody the term accompaniment, costly solidarity. I think of the words of Jesus, “We were in prison and you visited us.” What a stark difference from the siilence and complicity of others that you are here. Your presence here is the meaning of solidarity. And your visit has already left an impression that will never be taken from us. Through you, God has spoken to us that we are not forsaken. As Father Rami of the Catholic church said this morning, “You have come to Bethlehem and like the magi, you have brought gifts with you that are more precious than gold, frankincense and mire. You brought the gift of life and solidarity.”
We feel it. We needed this. For this season maybe more than anything, we were troubled by the silence of God. These last 2 months, the songs of lament have become a precious companion to us. We cried out, “My God My God, why have you forsaken Ga.z.a? Why do you hide your face from G.az.a.” In our pain anguish and lament, we have searched for God and found him under the rubble in Ga.z.a.
Jesus himself became the victim of the very same empire when he was in our land. He was tortured, he was crucified, he bled out as others watched. He was killed and cried out in pain, “My God where are you?” In Ga.z.a today, God is under the rubble and in this Christmas season as we search for Jesus, he is not to be found on the side of Rome, but on our side of the wall. He’s in a cave with a simple family, an occupied family. He is vulnerable. Barely and miraculously surviving a massacre himself. He’s among the refugees, among a refugee family, this is where Jesus is to be found today.
If Jesus were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble in Ga.z.a. When we glorify pride and richness, Jesus is under the rubble. When we rely on power, might and weapons, Jesus is under the rubble. When we justify, rationalize and THEOLOGIZE the bombing of children, Jesus is under the rubble. Jesus is under the rubble, this is his manger, and he is at home with the marginalized, the suffering, the oppressed, and the displaced. This is his manger.
And I have been looking and contemplating on this iconic image; God with us, precisely this is the incarnation, messy, bloody, and poverty. This is the incarnation. And this child is our hope and inspiration. We look and see him in every child killed and pulled under the rubble. While the world continues to reject the children of Ga.z.a, Jesus says, just as you did to one of the least of one of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did to me. You did it to me. Jesus not only calls them his own, He is them. He is the children of G.az.a.
We look at the Holy Family and see them in every family displaced and wandering, now homeless and in despair. The world discusses the fate of Gaza as if they are an unwanted box in the garage, God in the Christmas narrative shares their fate. He walks with them and calls them his own. So, this manger is about resilience and the resilience of Jesus is in his meekness and his weakness. As in his vulnerability. The majesty of his incarnation, lies in solidarity with the marginalized. Resilience because this is the very same child who rose up in the midst of pain, destruction, darkness and death to challenge empires, to speak truth to power and deliver an everlasting victory over death and darkness. This very same child accomplished this. This is Christmas today in Pa.lesti.ne and this is Christmas message.
Christmas is not about Santa, and gifts, and trees, and lights. My goodness how we have twisted the meaning of Christmas. How we have commercialized it. By the way, in the USA last month on the Monday after Thanksgiving….I was amazed by the amount of Christmas decorations and lights and all the commercial goods. And I couldn’t help but think, they send us bombs while celebrating Christmas in their lands. They sing about the Prince of Peace in their land, while playing the drum of war in our land.
Christmas in Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus is this manger, this is our message to the world today. It is a gospel message. It is a true and authentic Christmas message about the God who did not stay silent, but sent his Word and his Word was Jesus. Born among the empire and marginalized, he is with us in our pain and brokenness. This message is our message to the world today and it is simply this, genocide must stop now. Why don’t you repeat it? Stop this genocide now.
This is our call. This is our plea. This is our prayer. Here oh God, Amen.