Isaiah 9.2-7
"For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders,
The rod of the oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian." (Is 9.4)
Isaiah’s message addresses a particular historical situation. The words of the prophets, in fact are messages from God addressed to a particular people in a particular time. When Isaiah spoke, the people of Israel were living under military oppression and his words address specific suffering human beings. They were threatened from the north by the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III, who had already conquered the northern kingdom (732 BCE).
On Christmas Eve we will each hear these words in our own context. If you live in Bethlehem and are sitting in the pews at the Christmas Lutheran Church Bethlehem, you will hear these words and quickly identify with your long-ago ancestors, fearful of an attack by the Assyrian armies. Because the people of Bethlehem know how it feels to be threatened by foreign armies. On Christmas Eve, Israeli soldiers are patrolling the roads of Bethlehem near the settlements of Har Homa and Gilo, which have been built on Bethlehem’s land. On Christmas Eve, Israel’s army stands at the entrances to their town and decides who will enter and leave.
Christians in Jerusalem and the West Bank have been accustomed to traveling to Bethlehem to worship at the Church of the Nativity or Christmas Lutheran Church on Christmas Eve. Both churches were built to commemorate Christ’s birth—the Church of the Nativity was first dedicated on May 31, 339. Both churches, along with many of the buildings in the old part of Bethlehem, were built over caves, where people had once lived. Jerome writes from Bethlehem in AD 395, about “the cave where the infant Messiah once cried…” He lived and wrote in Bethlehem for many years; this is where he made a new translation of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament—the Vulgate, which was the authoritative translation for Catholics until the 20th century. Thus we know that Bethlehem was an important center for Christian pilgrims, at least from the fourth century.
Christians today still come to Bethlehem. So, if you were coming from Ramallah to Bethlehem, even though both are cities within the West Bank nominally under Palestinian governance, you would have to go through several Israeli checkpoints. If you are a Palestinian living five miles away in Jerusalem, you would have to enter Bethlehem through the checkpoint, where the soldiers have the authority to permit or deny you entry. If you live in Bethlehem and want to visit your family in Jerusalem, you would need a permit; most permit applications are refused.
The people of Bethlehem also live in daily fear that Israel’s armies will enter their town with their tanks and machine guns and grenades, as they did in 2002. Palestinians have no army; they have only the police who are ineffective to protect them from tanks and mortars.
So Christmas Eve’s lesson from Isaiah is very good news for the people of Bethlehem and for all of us:
“For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire.” The end of the bloodshed and fighting. This is what the Lutherans living in Bethlehem long for—an end to Israel’s occupation, an end to the bloodshed, peace in their land.
Take a look at the Bethlehem checkpoint: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5is-SAPSrQ&NR=1
Lord of light in the darkness, Prince of Peace, fill us with your presence this Christmas. Like the babe born in the stable, we are your body in the world. Give us strength and courage to be your coworkers for peace and justice, bringing good news to those who suffer under the burden of oppression and fear. Amen.
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