How could a person living under military occupation, experiencing first-hand suffering and humiliation, even think about loving the enemy, let alone urge family, friends and neighbors to do the same? This challenging message came from a young rabbi named Jesus in his "Sermon on the Mount."
Of course, Jesus could have suggested we make peace with our enemies or negotiate peace agreements or peacefully resolve conflict; those statements would have been as shocking to the suffering Jews of that time. Instead, he entreated them to go further: to "love" them. This was the word he chose -- a command to all those who seek to follow him.
I studied history to better understand what life in my homeland was like under Roman occupation. The Jewish people had been displaced and lost their property. Many had been tortured, enslaved and imprisoned. Numerous had died at the hands of their oppressors. Sadly, many Jewish religious and political leaders even compromised and corrupted themselves by their Roman superiors.
In a way, my own history seems to parallel what happened more than 2,000 years ago. Like those hearing Jesus' words for the first time, I too have grown up living under military occupation. I have witnessed suffering and the loss it brings. As a Palestinian, I could share countless stories of brutality and abuse. I could explain how fear and grief can quickly turn into anger and resentment.
However, it may surprise some in the West that I am an Arab who was born into an evangelical Christian family. I expect that my family's "conversion" to Christianity happened thousands of years ago on the day of Pentecost, not through mission work. As a boy growing up in Bethlehem, I went to church every Sunday and to Sunday school every Friday, fully immersed in a faith-based culture no different than a Christian family in Bethlehem, Pa., or Palestine, Texas.
As I was learning Bible stories, my day-to-day reality and experiences were teaching me to become bitter and hateful of Israeli soldiers and all they represented. I knew this was not what my faith, schooling or my family had instructed, but these were the life lessons I was learning.
Everything changed for me in the early 1980s when my uncle returned from the United States to establish the Palestinian Center for the Study of Nonviolence in Bethlehem. Now I found a place to address my resentment and vent my anger. I began participating in many nonviolent activities to protest the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands -- from planting olive trees in threatened areas to participating in children's street festivals with balloons colored like the Palestinian flag. When the Israeli government deported my uncle for his nonviolence efforts, I committed myself to engaging in this important work. I was 16 at the time.
For more than 20 years, I have been studying, practicing and teaching nonviolence both inside and outside of Palestine. I started Holy Land Trust in 1998 to promote the idea that nonviolence can be a path toward peace and a greater humanity in this land we all call Holy. Our organization is made up of Palestinians -- both Christians and Muslims -- who work together to develop awareness campaigns, provide training, organize demonstrations, etc. Our efforts often receive the support of internationals, including a growing number of Israeli Jews.
So while I had grown up knowing about the Sermon on the Mount, living it creates a different meaning and purpose. The first step in loving the enemy is to love and honor myself as a person loved by God, to break free from the fear and hatred within me, and to no longer claim victimization and seek pity as a result of the oppressive forces around me. This takes creating a deep distinction between those who stand before me and their behaviors and recognizing that every human being is created in the image of God. It requires acknowledging that conditions, traditions, experiences, traumas and assumptions can shape who we have become but are not who we truly are and, more importantly, who we can be. It's understanding that our core common identity is in our humanity and not in political, ideological or even religious associations.
As a follower of Jesus, I am compelled to promote a process of healing and liberation for those being oppressed as well as for their oppressors. Loving the enemy means you ultimately eliminate the label of "enemy" and engage in loving action to help them recognize and acknowledge your humanity. This is how to love your enemy, to really love them.
WATCH:
Sami Awad is a Palestinian Christian active in the nonviolence movement. He is the Executive Director of Holy Land Trust in Bethlehem. His story is told in the film 'Little Town of Bethlehem.'
Rabbi Sid Schwarz: 'One Jewish People' Takes Work
Katherine Marshall: In Fes, Seeking Sacred Wisdom, Grappling with Governance and Democracy
Mr. Yorke is correct that the major monotheistic religions have regarded God and man as separate and unequal. But there is a strong inner teaching present in each religion which suggests that that "inequality" is merely the inequality between a world of illusion and a Reality of Light and that both exist within the human heart. Even the Qur'an describes God as "blowing His Breath into 'sounding clay' to give life to Adam, which is an assertion that God placed Himself within Adam.
A religious and spiritual foundation for nonviolence requires that believers accept "God within" and trust that "Mercy and Compassion" are pre-eminent names for this Living Presence.
Throughout all major monotheistic religions of the world, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, interaction between God and Man is never seen as that of equals. It is more a parent-child relationship where the deity offers advice and guidance but, like the majority of parents, assumes some reinterpretation will occur as actual events unfold. Not to allow this would remove all chance of choice and maturity from His creation; God would be turning out only inferior carbon-copies of Himself. What would be the point?
Life is more likely to be a test, a way of exceeding the sum of our parts and, perhaps, surprising God in ways all parents like to be surprised by their children. In developing beyond the normal barriers of our existence, we transcend what is around us, growing into something better than we are and more than what we were.
How we respond to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict might present just such an opportunity.
So far, Mankind hasn't done very well in the region; events there constantly tend to inform us of that fact.
Then let's surprise God by tackling the matter from a less than obvious standpoint. In fact, let's surprise even ourselves while we do so.
http://yorketowers.blogspot.com
Well, how hard could it be? Once we've all got over the shock of actually finding an answer to this situation, the rest of it should be child's play.
The book Mathew, the history lineage of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:
1. Abraham
2. became father to Isaac
3. Isaac father to Jacob
4. Jacob father to Judah
5. Judah father to Pe′rez;
6. Pe′rez became father to Hez′ron
7. Hez′ron father to Ram
8. Ram father to Am·min′a·dab
9. Am·min′a·dab father to Nah′shon
10. Nah′shon father to Sal′mon;
11. Sal′mon father to Bo′az by Ra′hab;
12. Bo′az father to O′bed by Ruth;
13. O′bed father to Jes′se;
14. Jes′se to David the king.
15. David father to Sol′o·mon by the wife of U·ri′ah;
16. Sol′o·mon father to Re·ho·bo′am;
17. Re·ho·bo′am father to A·bi′jah;
18. A·bi′jah father to A′sa;
19. A′sa father to Je·hosh′a·phat;
20. Je·hosh′a·phat father to Je·ho′ram;
21. Je·ho′ram father to Uz·zi′ah;
22. Uz·zi′ah father to Jo′tham;
23. Jo′tham father to A′haz;
24. A′haz father to Hez·e·ki′ah;
25. Hez·e·ki′ah father to Ma·nas′seh;
26. Ma·nas′seh father to A′mon;
27. A′mon father to Jo·si′ah;
28. Jo·si′ah father to Jec·o·ni′ah
29. Jec·o·ni′ah father to She·al′ti·el;
30. She·al′ti·el father to Ze·rub′ba·bel;
31. Ze·rub′ba·bel father to A·bi′ud;
32. A·bi′ud father to E·li′a·kim;
33. E·li′a·kim father to A′zor;
34. A′zor father to Za′dok;
35. Za′dok father to A′chim;
36. A′chim father to E·li′ud;
37. E·li′ud father to El·e·a′zar;
38. El·e·a′zar father to Mat′than;
39. Mat′than father to Jacob;
40. Jacob father to Joseph the husband of Mary,
41 Mary Mother of Jesus, who is called Christ.
than hawaiians
mexicans
russians in latvia....
I told him. "Hey Netanyahu you little Kaballah demi-god STEAL SOME PALESTINE WATER AND DRINK IT IN A PAPER CUP TO-GO!!
and no facts.
And Justice can only be founded on the Truth.
Thus, if there is to be any Peaceful resolution of the conflict over Jerusalem, it must START with the Truth about the Doctrine of "resurrection" being taught by Isaiah, Daniel, Jesus and Mohammed as a Doctrine of 'Rebirth'.
It was for teaching such a Doctrine that Jesus was opposed by the Jewish priesthood in the first place, after all.
they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith.
Jesus has already done that: go against the god of the Hebrews and was crucified for it.
He opposed the setting of a 'chosen people only' interpretation of mossaic law done by the Pharisees, and preached a gospel of universal benevolence and human redemption.
calling them 'hypocrites', who were holding the law for themselves, 'neglecting the poor and downtrodden'.
Jesus of Nazareth, died a martyr two thousand years ago (and incidentally, Mary, his mother loved him very much).
i love our country and
our soldiers of all religions.
And anyway, didn't he also say:
Matthew 10:45
I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.