I Give Them the Courage of Love, Not to Hate

Advent 2 – Isaiah
Isaiah 1.1-10

“A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse….He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear…”

Isaiah cries out for a wise ruler who will bring peace. His cry touches my heart because I, too, long for such a leader, a president with the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of knowledge. In these days when we long for our sons and husbands and fathers to return from Iraq and Afghanistan and Korea, we pray for wise leaders to make the world a safer place for us and for our children and grandchildren. We say—if only we had the right leaders, we could live in peace.

In his description of the ideal king, Isaiah touches on a key principle held by the Palestinians I have met who have not given up in their struggle for human rights. Time and again I have heard these tireless leaders echo Isaiah’s words, saying: We do not focus on the way things are for us here in Palestine. We do not dwell on the injustices of the past; we choose to focus on the future, on the way we believe things should be.

Instead of bemoaning the difficulties of life under occupation—the endless lines at the checkpoint in Bethlehem, the humiliation of the soldiers’ guns pointing at shoppers in the market in Hebron, the demolition orders on so many of their homes—these leaders focus instead on the future. They build schools and health clinics; they start a business exporting olive oil or beer. These leaders have made a choice. Each one has refused to “judge by what his (her) eyes see.” Instead, they choose to judge by the life they can imagine for their children. They judge by what will surely come…..someday.

These Palestinians have learned well from their ancestors—prophets like Isaiah, who lived in their land centuries ago. They are patient, willing to wait for the change they know will come. They have waited sixty years for justice following forced removal from their towns and villages by Jewish paramilitaries. They have waited in prison for charges to be brought, for trials to begin and for sentences to be finished. They have waited in line for building permits that are never issued.

In the West Bank village of Beit Ummar, I met Farhan Alqam, who was elected mayor of the town in 2006, but never got to serve because he was jailed, along with most of the officials elected on the Hamas ticket. He is an engineer and a poet, and the people of Beit Ummar thought he was the one with the wisdom to be their leader when they elected him mayor in 2006. Israel has confiscated the land on three sides of the town for its settlements and Israeli soldiers have built a guard tower on the one road into Beit Ummar that is still open. Each day, Israeli soldiers decide whether to open the only entrance into Beit Ummar, or not.

Farhan, who was eventually released from prison, is a gentle man with an engaging smile. Sitting in his mother’s home, with his youngest son, Salah Ad-Din, on his lap, he told us, “The human feelings will have the victory.” Salah Ad-Din was five the last time his father was arrested. Farhan’s mother smiled proudly as he said he believes “in the power of people to give human rights for all the humans.” He has been arrested three times for resisting Israel’s building of the wall, the confiscation of Beit Ummar’s land, and the building of settlements around the town, cutting it off from the rest of the West Bank.

Where does he find hope? “Every good action, even if very small, gives me more hope—a hole for the light to pass through.” This Hamas leader told us, “I teach my sons and daughters to love, not hate; I give them the courage of love, not to hate. Love needs courage; hate does not.” But, he says, “love is stronger than hate.” He tells us this is what the prophet Mohammad taught: “Hate is very dangerous for the human being. War is easy; peace is hard.”

“When we change, the leaders will be changed.” As the prophet Mohammad said, “As the people are, the leaders will be.”

O God of wisdom and understanding, we thank you for prophets who do not see only with the eye and hear only with the ear, but see your good creation and declare your way of peace for the world. Give us discerning hearts and the courage to proclaim your ways in the political marketplace. Help us become people who raise up wise leaders and support them in their efforts for peacemaking. Amen.