Read Matthew 24.36-44
“Therefore you also must be ready,
For the Son-of-Man is coming at an unexpected hour.” (Matt 24.44)
When Americans “discover” that there actually are Palestinians who are Christian, our first impulse is to ask, “How did your family become Christian?” We assume that these Arabs must have converted from Islam, perhaps in the last century when the European colonizers were busy staking out their claims to the Holy Land.
How did your family become Christian? They answer: “Well, you’ve read about us in the book of Acts.” Remember? When the Holy Spirit came in the wind? And the tongues of fire that rested on each of them, and the people of Jerusalem came and heard the disciples speaking in their own languages? The ancestors of the Palestinians were there; they heard Peter’s sermon and were baptized.
In recent weeks, watching the frantic efforts to keep the “peace talks” moving—or, more accurately, getting them started— it has felt a lot like the chaotic scenarios the writer describes in Matthew’s gospel. No one knows about “that day and the hour,” so diplomats and special envoys and presidents and prime ministers and secretaries of state fly back and forth—Jerusalem to Washington and back again. The news we hear is as capricious as the fate of the two men in the field—there seems to be no rhyme or reason to offers made to get the talks started. The situation seems totally out of control.
Everyone is talking, but no one seems to be listening and, despite all the talk, nothing has changed for the Palestinians, who are still waiting for hours at the checkpoint to get to work. Nothing had changed for Izz Ad-Din Al-Kawazba who was killed October 3, by Israeli soldiers’ bullets on his daily commute to work—as he sneaked past the wall to work illegally in Jerusalem (read the news account from Ma’an News).
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So, what are we to do? Strap bombs to our chests and board a bus in Jerusalem? Go Christmas shopping so we don’t have to think about it? Do we boycott Israeli goods made in the occupied territories, or do we wait, trusting that President Obama’s plan will bring justice for Palestinians?
Like the Palestinians, the disciples who heard Jesus’ words were living under an occupying army. Their daily reality was uncertainty—like the two women grinding meal, they never knew when they might be snatched away by Rome’s soldiers. Like the writer of Matthew’s gospel, we know what the disciples listening to Jesus did not know—that two chapters ahead, this is what will happen to Jesus.
So, what are we to do? Jesus encourages his disciples with his vision of the future—a future when God’s way will reign. A future when they will no longer suffer Rome’s abuse. To prepare for God’s future, Jesus tells them, be watchful.
Palestinian Christians have taken to heart what Jesus teaches here. Rather than being distracted by the chaos, they hold God’s purposes in front of them as they build for the future of their country. They do not waste time sitting around lamenting their plight. Instead, next Tuesday Christians in Bethlehem are dedicating the first buildings of a new college, Dar al-Kalima—the first Lutheran college in the Middle East. Although the wall surrounds Bethlehem, these descendents of
the early followers of Jesus know this is not the future God has planned for them. And so they live into a barely-imaginable future, preparing leaders for a time when there will be a Palestinian State. Photo: middle school students I met at Dar al-Kalima School in 2009.We do not know the future. We do not know when God will make all things new. But Jesus assures us all that God’s future WILL come. And while we wait, Jesus tells us, our job is to be ready.
Gracious God, you created us for good things. Your abundance fills the world. Help us to stay awake so that we can be your faithful stewards, assuring that your good creation is shared among all. Amen.
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