All I Can Think About is Peace

Some thoughts on Israel, Palestine, and the kingdom of heaven

I’ve had this article in drafts for some time ready to go, but I’ve neglected to post it. This particular conflict has weighed so heavily on my heart. I’ve been waiting to post it until I did the VoiceOver, but I haven’t been able to bring myself to do it yet.

It’s almost impossible to not know about the conflict in and around the Gaza Strip. Whether you’ve been subjected to the endless stream of horrific images, videos, and testimonies from both Israelis and Palestinians, or if you’ve simply heard some of the death tolls, I’m sure this conflict has been weighing on you over the past few weeks as well.

While I’d like to explore some topics I’ve got written down in my various notebooks and recorded in the notes app in my phone, I keep coming back to this subject of peace in the Middle East. Perhaps my thoughts here will be beneficial to you as you contemplate the events of the last few weeks which are the latest in an ever-escalating cycle of violence.

First, A Disclaimer

I’m not a political scientist. I took only has many history classes as were needed for my degree: technology and civilization 1 and 2, American history 1 and 2, and multiple church history and religious history classes. I find it irresponsible and potentially harmful for preachers and pastors to weigh in on conflicts like this from a political or historical standpoint if they do not have the proper background, so I will not be attempting to do any of that today.

Instead, I’ll be responding to this conflict as a privileged, white, thirty-year-old, civilian who has never, and will never, participate in armed conflict. I add the last part because I do not feel that I could ever, even in wartime, take up arms to defend my country or attack another. While I have respect for those who do, including one of my sisters and others in my family, I personally never could because of my views on violence, just war theory, and what it means to love one’s enemies.

But the last thing you need to know about me is that I am an American. I was born and raised within the United States. In other words, I was born and raised on a land previously lived on, celebrated, and loved by indigenous people who lived here long before I ever did. While I could make claims to Native American heritage (don’t we all have that great-great-grandma who was half Cherokee, daughter of the chief, exiled for marrying our great-great-grandpa?), to do so would be to overstate my case. The truth is, the majority of my ancestors came over from Europe. Unlike Michael Scott, I won’t claim to be 2/15’s Native American.

All of this said, I currently live on and enjoy a land that was stolen from an ancient people. I benefit from the violence towards and the exile of men, women, and children who lived here before me. This puts me in an awkward position because the conflict in Israel is about… land. So on one hand, who am I to talk? But on the other hand, I pledge my allegiance to the nonviolent, heavenly kingdom of Jesus, and so I am compelled to write something about peace.

Blessed are the Peacemakers

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God” (Matthew 5:9). Jesus’s famous words spoken during his Sermon on the Mount have been quoted a lot recently. But in order to be a peacemaker, we need to know something about peace, and how we define peace makes all the difference.

What do you think of when you think of peace in the Middle East?

Or, what do you think is the path to peace in the Middle East?

Personally, I think of speeches given during my middle school years about boots on the ground, drone strikes, and the “war on terror.” I think about the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. And most recently, I think about ISIL and Hamas.

After billions of dollars spent and innumerable lives lost to violence, PTSD, and other long-term health problems, what has been accomplished? Is the world a better place?

I’m skeptical to say the least.

So what’s the deal? How can the wealthiest nations in the world with the largest militaries not bring peace to “developing nations?”

Could it be that we are chasing after the wrong version of peace? Might we need to rethink what it means to be a peacemaker?

And an even more critical question, if peace means we have to kill people who are made in the image of God, is it even worth it? And another question, if someone really believes that everyone who doesn’t believe in Jesus is going to burn in hell for an eternity, is expediting their arrival in Hell through violence worth the trade-off?

Peace I Leave With You

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. John 14:27

That second sentence is so telling. The peace Jesus gives is not like the peace the world offers. Armed conflict may produce peace for the victor, but it is hell for the loser (or worse). And armed conflict may produce peace for a season, but it only lasts until the next uprising. But the peace Jesus gives is eternal, and the path to peace, as John goes on to show, is through death and resurrection.

The peace that Jesus gives is not dependent upon experiencing the conventional definitions of peace: “I have said this to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you face persecution, but take courage: I have conquered the world!” (John 16:33). It is a peace that transcends having the appearance of comfort in this world. Jesus’s disciples could have peace despite Roman occupation. They could have peace despite persecution, captivity, and even death.

In Revelation, John describes the victory of the saints:

But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they did not cling to life even in the face of death. Revelation 12:11

Let anyone who has an ear listen: If you are to be taken captive, into captivity you go; if you kill with the sword, with the sword you must be killed. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints. Revelation 13:9–10

Peace comes through dependence on Jesus’s intentional non-violent death and modeling this non-violence in our lives. It is a peace that may seem odd to the world (or to Christians who depend upon conventional wisdom), but this is to be expected. Paul called it a peace that “surpasses all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).

How are we to be peacemakers? We become peacemakers through speaking out against violence of all kinds a willingly submitting to captivity or to the sword in the name of Jesus, trusting in the testimony of his blood. I understand how easy it is for someone like me to say this, someone who has never seen the heat of battle or had to defend their life, but I hope that if the time comes for me to make that decision, I will choose the path of the cross.

As I wrote in my article on Hebrews 4, the current disputes about land are not worth the blood that is shed. There is no special land given by God to a particular race of people. Americans were wrong when we used Manifest Destiny to justify displacing Native Americans. The conquistadors were wrong when they used the Doctrine of Discovery to justify similar acts of violence and land-theft. And the church was wrong when it began a series of military exhibitions called the crusades to rid the Holy Land of “infidels.”

As Christians, who worship in Spirit and in Truth (and not on any particular mountain), let’s plead with our fellow humans to follow God regardless of where they might be. Let’s show them that there is enough world to go around, and while it is sad to lose our ancestral homes, we can move forward together in solidarity without the need for endless bloodshed.

The only land that is holy today is the land where God dwells. So we should all take off our shoes because we all stand on holy ground since the whole earth is filled with God’s glory and no mountain, building, or borders could possibly contain the Most High.

Love your enemies. Leave the vengeance to God (judgment triumphs over mercy). If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. This is the way to peace.