Sabeel 2014

The Prophets and the Gospels:
Christian Responsibility for Palestinian Justice

slides will be available:
www.brianmclaren.net
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Plymouth Brethren
Dispensationalism

Jesus Movement -
Charismatic
Dispensationalism

questioning:
ecclesiology -
men/women - science -
biblical authority - hell -
gospel - violence -
atonement ...

At Greenbelt Festival ... a
meeting waiting for a bus

A visit ...
(thanks, Jeff & Janet Wright)

Christian Responsibility for Current Palestinian In-
Justice

deuteronomy 7
When the Lord your God brings you into the land that
you are about to enter and occupy, and he clears
away many nations before you—the Hittites, the
Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the
Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven
nations mightier and more numerous than you— 2and
when the Lord your God gives them over to you and
you defeat them, then you must utterly destroy
them. Make no covenant with them and show them
no mercy. 3Do not intermarry with them, giving your
daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for
your sons, 4for that would turn away your children
from following me, to serve other gods. Then the
anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and
he would destroy you quickly.

Leviticus 25:
Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou
shalt have, shall be of the heathen that are round
about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and
bondmaids. Moreover of the children of the
strangers that do sojourn among you, of them
shall ye buy, and of their families that are with
you, which they begat in your land; and they
shall be your possession. And ye shall take them
as an inheritance for your children after you, to
inherit them for a possession; they shall be your
bondmen for ever.

1 Samuel 15
Samuel said to Saul, „The Lord sent me to
anoint you king over his people Israel; now
therefore listen to the words of the Lord. 2Thus
says the Lord of hosts, “I will punish the
Amalekites for what they did in opposing the
Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.
3Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly
destroy all that they have; do not spare them,
but kill both man and woman, child and infant,
ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” ‟

Revelation 19:11 ff
Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse!
Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he
judges and makes war. 12His eyes are like a flame of fire,
and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name
inscribed that no one knows but himself. 13He is clothed in
a robe dipped in* blood, and his name is called The Word of
God. 14And the armies of heaven, wearing fine linen, white
and pure, were following him on white horses. 15From his
mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the
nations, and he will rule* them with a rod of iron; he will
tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the
Almighty. 16On his robe and on his thigh he has a name
inscribed, „King of kings and Lord of lords‟.
... And the rest were killed by the sword of the rider on the
horse, the sword that came from his mouth; and all the
birds were gorged with their flesh.

First, Christians turned
the texts of terror upon
the Jews.
A brief history of
Christian anti-semitism

c. 240
Origen of Alexandria writes that the Jews "have
committed the most abominable of crimes" in
conspiring against Christ, and for that reason "the
Jewish nation was driven from its country, and
another people was called by God to the blessed
election"
248
St. Cyprian writes that the Jews have fallen under the
heavy wrath of God, because they have departed
from the Lord, and have followed idols
306
The Council of Elvira decrees that Christians and
Jews cannot intermarry, have sexual intercourse, or
eat together

325
Conversation and fellowship with Jews is forbidden to the clergy by the Council
of Nicaea
4th century
Christian emperors of Rome decree that Christians converting to Judaism, and
Jews obstructing the conversion of other Jews to Christianity, will incur the death
penalty; Jews can not marry Christians, or hold public office, or own slaves
c. 380
St. Gregory of Nyssa refers to the Jews as "murderers of the Lord, assassins of
the prophets, rebels and detesters of God,... companions of the devil, race of
vipers, informers, calumniators, darkeners of the mind, pharisaic leaven,
Sanhedrin of demons, accursed, detested,... enemies of all that is beautiful"
c. 380
St. Ambrose calls the synagogue "a place of unbelief, a home of impiety, a
refuge of insanity, damned by God Himself"
388
A mob of Christians, at the instigation of their bishop, looted and burned the
synagogue in Callinicum, a town on the Euphrates. The Emperor Theodosius
wants those responsible punished and the synagogue rebuilt at the expense of
the bishop, but St. Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, pressures him to relent and
condone the action

325
Conversation and fellowship with Jews is forbidden to the clergy by the Council
of Nicaea
4th century
Christian emperors of Rome decree that Christians converting to Judaism, and
Jews obstructing the 400
St. Augustine writes: "the Church admits and avows the Jewish people to be
cursed, because after killing Christ they continue to till the ground of an earthly
circumcision, an earthly Sabbath, an earthly passover, while the hidden strength
or virtue of making known Christ, which this tilling contains, is not yielded to the
Jews while they continue in impiety and unbelief, for it is revealed in the New
Testament. While they will not turn to God, the veil which is on their minds in
reading the Old Testament is not taken away... the Jewish people, like Cain,
continue tilling the ground, in the carnal observance of the law, which does not
yield to them its strength, because they do not perceive in it the grace of Christ"
c. 400
Calling the synagogue "brothel and theater" and "a cave of pirates and the lair of
wild beasts," St. John Chrysostom writes that "the Jews behave no better than
hogs and goats in their lewd grossness and the excesses of their gluttony"

413
A group of monks sweep through Palestine, destroying synagogues and massacring Jews
at the Western Wall
414
St. Cyril of Alexandria expels Jews from his city
425
Jews are required by law to observe Christian feasts and fasts and to listen to sermons
designed to persuade them to convert
442
The synagogue in Constantinople is turned into a church
529-553
The Code of the emperor Justinian decrees that in Christian Byzantine society Jews cannot
read their sacred books in Hebrew in their synagogues, and the Mishnah and other
rabbinic interpretations are banned
538
The Third Synod of Orléans decrees that Jews cannot show themselves in the streets
during Passover Week
591
Pope St. Gregory the Great decrees that Jews are not to be forced into baptism "lest they
return to their former superstition and die the worse for having been born again"
600
Pope St. Gregory the Great decrees that Jews should not have excessive freedom, but
also "in no way should they suffer a violation of their rights"

681
The Synod of Toledo orders the burning of the Talmud and other books
768
Pope Stephen IV decries ownership of hereditary estates by "the Jewish people, ever
rebellious against God and derogatory of our rites"
c. 830
Agobard, Archbishop of Lyons, writes anti-Jewish pamphlets in which he refers to Jews as
"sons of darkness"
c. 937
Pope Leo VII encourages his newly appointed archbishop of Mainz to expel all Jews who
refuse to be baptized
c. 1010-1020
In Rouen, Orléans, Limoges, Mainz, and probably also in Rome, Jews are converted by
force, massacred, or expelled
1050
The Synod of Narbonne decrees that Christians are not permitted to live in Jewish homes
c. 1070
Pope Alexander II warns the bishops of Spain to prevent violence against the Jews
because, unlike the Saracens, they "are prepared to live in servitude"
1078
The Synod of Gerona decrees that Jews must pay the same taxes as Christians to support
the church
1081
Pope Gregory VII writes to King Alphonso of Spain telling him that if he allows Jews to be
lords over Christians, he is oppressing the Church and exalting "the Synagogue of Satan"

1096
Massacres of Jews takes place in the First Crusade, destroying entire Jewish communities
in Mainz, Speyer, Worms, Cologne and other cities. The Jewish chronicler reports: "The
enemies stripped them naked and dragged them off, granting quarter to none, save those
few who accepted baptism. The number of the slain was eight hundred in these two days."
The chronicler Guibert de Nogent reports that the Rouen Crusaders said: "We desire to go
and fight God's enemies in the East; but we have before our eyes certain Jews, a race
more inimical to God than any other"
1182
Jews are expelled from France, all their property is confiscated, and Christians' debts to
them are cancelled with the payment of one-fifth of their value to the treasury
1190
The Third Crusade, led by Richard the Lion-Heart, stirs anti-Jewish fervor and results in the
mass suicide of the York Jews in Clifford's Tower on March 16
1198
Jews are allowed to return to France
1199
Pope Innocent III decrees that Jews are to be allowed to worship in their synagogues, they
are not to be coerced into baptism, and that Jewish cemeteries are not to be mutilated
1215
The Fourth Lateran Council decrees that Jews are to wear distinctive clothing, and on the
three days before Easter they are not to go out in public
1222
The Council of Oxford prohibits the construction of new synagogues

1227
The Council of Narbonne orders Jews to wear a round patch
1230
Jews in France are forbidden to lend money on interest
1234
The Council of Arles orders Jews to wear a round patch
1235
Thirty-four Jews are burned to death in Fulda on a blood-libel charge
1246
The Council of Béziers orders Jews to wear a round patch
1247
Pope Innocent IV defends the Jews: "they are wrongly accused of partaking of the heart of
a murdered child at the Passover... Whenever a corpse is found somewhere, it is to the
Jews that the murder is wickedly imputed. They are persecuted on the pretext of such
fables... they are deprived of trial and of regular judgment; in mockery of all justice, they
are stripped of their belongings, starved, imprisoned and tortured"
1254
The Council of Albi orders Jews to wear a round patch
1260
The Council of Arles orders Jews to wear a round patch, but not when traveling
1267
The Synod of Vienna decrees that Christians cannot attend Jewish ceremonies, and Jews
cannot dispute with simple Christian people about the Catholic religion

1267
The Synod of Breslau decrees compulsory ghettos for Jews
1267
Pope Clement IV instructs the Franciscans and Dominicans to deal with the "new
Christians" who had reverted to Judaism
c. 1270
St. Thomas Aquinas writes that the Jews sin more in their unbelief than do pagans
because they have abandoned the way of justice "after knowing it in some way"
1272
Pope Gregory X defends the Jews: "It happens sometimes that Christians lose their
children and that the enemies of the Jews accuse them of having kidnaped and killed these
children in order to offer sacrifices with their heart and blood, and it also happens that the
parents themselves, or other Christians who are enemies to the Jews, hide the children
and attack the Jews, demanding of them, as ransom, a certain sum of money, on the
entirely false pretext that these children had been kidnaped and killed by the Jews"
1275
Jews in England are forbidden to lend money on interest
1279
The Synod of Ofen decrees that Christians cannot sell or rent real estate to Jews
1283
Jews in France are forbidden to live in the countryside
1284
The Council of Nîmes orders Jews to wear a round patch

1289
The Council of Vienna orders Jews to wear a round patch
1290
Jews are expelled from England and southern Italy
1294
Jews in France are restricted to special quarters of the cities
1294
Jews are expelled from Bern
1298
The Jews of Röttingen, charged with profaning the Host, are massacred and burned down
to the last one
1320
The "Shepherds' Crusade." A Christian chronicler records: "The shepherds laid siege to all
the Jews who had come from all sides to take refuge... the Jews defended themselves
heroically... but their resistance served no purpose, for the shepherds slaughtered a great
number of the besieged Jews by smoke and by fire... The Jews, realizing that they would
not escape alive, preferred to kill themselves... They chose one of their number (and) this
man put some five hundred of them to death, with their consent. He then descended from
the castle tower with the few Jewish children who still remained alive... They killed him by
quartering. They spared the children, whom they made Catholics by baptism"

1326
The Council of Avignon orders Jews to wear a round patch, but not when traveling
1345
King John authorizes his subjects in Liegnitz and Breslau to destroy the Jewish cemeteries
in order to use the tombstones to repair the city walls
1347-1350
During the Black Death, Jews are accused of poisoning wells in order to overthrow
Christendom, and many thousands of Jews are killed. Pope Clement VI defends the Jews
against these charges

1350
Jews are expelled from many parts of Germany
1367
Jews are expelled from Hungary
1368
The Council of Vabres orders Jews to wear a round patch
1381
Jews are expelled from Strasbourg
1394
The expulsion of Jews from France, begun in 1306, is completed with an edict promulgated
on the Jewish Day of Atonement
1420
Jews are expelled from Mainz by the archbishop
1421
Jews are expelled from Austria
1424
Jews are expelled from Fribourg and Zurich
c. 1425
Pope Martin V denounces anti-Jewish preaching and forbids the forced baptism of Jewish
children under the age of twelve

1426
Jews are expelled from Cologne
1432
Jews are expelled from Saxony
1434
The Council of Basel decrees that Jews cannot obtain academic degrees
1435
King Alfonso orders the Jews of Sicily to attach a round patch to their clothing and over
their shops
1438
Jews are expelled from Mainz by the town councilors
1439
Jews are expelled from Augsburg
1453
Jews are expelled from Wurzburg
1454
Jews are expelled from Breslau
1456
Pope Callistus III bans all social communication between Christians and Jews
1462
Jews are expelled from Mainz following a conflict between two candidates for the
archepiscopal seat
1467
Jews are expelled from Tlemcen
1471
Jews are expelled from Mainz by the archbishop

Martin Luther, “The Jews and Their Lies” (1543)
I had made up my mind to write no more either about the Jews or against them. But
since I learned that these miserable and accursed people do not cease to lure to
themselves even us, that is, the Christians, I have published this little book, so that I
might be found among those who opposed such poisonous activities of the Jews who
warned the Christians to be on their guard against them. I would not have believed
that a Christian could be duped by the Jews into taking their exile and wretchedness
upon himself. However, the devil is the god of the world, and wherever God's word is
absent he has an easy task, not only with the weak but also with the strong. May
God help us. Amen.
* * *
He did not call them Abraham's children, but a "brood of vipers" [Matt. 3:7]. Oh, that
was too insulting for the noble blood and race of Israel, and they declared, "He has a
demon' [Matt 11:18]. Our Lord also calls them a "brood of vipers"; furthermore in
John 8 [:39,44] he states: "If you were Abraham's children ye would do what
Abraham did.... You are of your father the devil. It was intolerable to them to hear
that they were not Abraham's but the devil's children, nor can they bear to hear this
today.

First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever
will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be
done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are
Christians, and do not condone or knowingly tolerate such public lying, cursing, and
blaspheming of his Son and of his Christians. For whatever we tolerated in the past
unknowingly - and I myself was unaware of it - will be pardoned by God. But if we, now
that we are informed, were to protect and shield such a house for the Jews, existing right
before our very nose, in which they lie about, blaspheme, curse, vilify, and defame Christ
and us (as was heard above), it would be the same as if we were doing all this and even
worse ourselves, as we very well know.
Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. For they pursue in them
the same aims as in their synagogues. Instead they might be lodged under a roof or in a
barn, like the gypsies. This will bring home to them that they are not masters in our
country, as they boast, but that they are living in exile and in captivity, as they
incessantly wail and lament about us before God.
Third, I advise that all their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry,
lies, cursing and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them. (remainder omitted)

Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life
and limb. For they have justly forfeited the right to such an office by holding the poor
Jews captive with the saying of Moses (Deuteronomy 17 [:10 ff.]) in which he commands
them to obey their teachers on penalty of death, although Moses clearly adds: "what they
teach you in accord with the law of the Lord." Those villains ignore that. They wantonly
employ the poor people's obedience contrary to the law of the Lord and infuse them with
this poison, cursing, and blasphemy. In the same way the pope also held us captive with
the declaration in Matthew 16 {:18], "You are Peter," etc, inducing us to believe all the
lies and deceptions that issued from his devilish mind. He did not teach in accord with
the word of God, and therefore he forfeited the right to teach.
Fifth, I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews.
For they have no business in the countryside, since they are not lords, officials,
tradesmen, or the like. Let they stay at home. (...remainder omitted).
Sixth, I advise that usury be prohibited to them, and that all cash and treasure of silver
and gold be taken from them and put aside for safekeeping. The reason for such a
measure is that, as said above, they have no other means of earning a livelihood than
usury, and by it they have stolen and robbed from us all they possess. Such money
should now be used in no other way than the following: Whenever a Jew is sincerely
converted, he should be handed one hundred, two hundred, or three hundred florins, as
personal circumstances may suggest. With this he could set himself up in some
occupation for the support of his poor wife and children, and the maintenance of the old
or feeble. For such evil gains are cursed if they are not put to use with God's blessing in
a good and worthy cause.

Seventh, I commend putting a flail, an ax, a hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle into the
hands of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the
sweat of their brow, as was imposed on the children of Adam (Gen 3[:19]}. For it is not
fitting that they should let us accursed Goyim toil in the sweat of our faces while they, the
holy people, idle away their time behind the stove, feasting and farting, and on top of all,
boasting blasphemously of their lordship over the Christians by means of our sweat. No,
one should toss out these lazy rogues by the seat of their pants.

First, Christians turned
the texts of terror upon
the Jews.

Then our ancestors applied
the texts of terror elsewhere:
Africa

Texts of Terror:
South America

Texts of Terror:
North America

Land theft, occupation, genocide,
trails of tears, concentration camps,
disappearance from history

Nellie Norton: or, Southern
Slavery and the Bible: A
Scriptural Refutation of
the Principal Arguments
Upon Which the
Abolitionists Rely: A
Vindication of Southern
Slavery From the Old and
New Testaments, (1864)
by Ebenezer Willis Warren, an
obscure 44-year old
Protestant clergyman from
Macon, GA. Last major
defense of slavery in the
U.S.

Nellie Norton:
“… the Bible is a pro-slavery Bible,
and God is a pro-slavery God,”
“… the North must give up the Bible
and religion, or adopt our views of
slavery.”

51
Texts of Terror:
still in use today

A well-known American Christian pastor
recently said:
In Revelation, Jesus is a prize fighter with
a tattoo down His leg, a sword in His hand
and the commitment to make someone
bleed. That is the guy I can worship. I
cannot worship ... a guy I can beat up.

From Left Behind: “The Glorious Appearing”:
[When Jesus spoke] ”… bodies ripped
open, blood pooling in great masses …
Men and women and soldiers and
horses seemed to explode where they
stood." [Jesus walked through the
battlefield] “… the hem of his robe
turning red in the blood of the enemy."

Last fall, the Family Research Council's
Jerry Boykin spoke at the WallBuilders'
Pro-Family Legislators Conference
where he declared that when Jesus
comes back, he'll do so carrying an AR-
15 assault rifle.
As Boykin explained once before, Jesus
was a tough guy and real "man's man,"
and that is because he is a warrior who
will come back covered in the blood of
his enemies and carrying an assault rifle
... which is why every Bible believing
Christian must own one as well:
- See more at:
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/bo
ykin-when-jesus-comes-back-hell-be-
carrying-ar-15-assault-
rifle#sthash.E5gl5jrr.dpuf

The Lord is a warrior and in Revelation 19 is says when he comes back, he's
coming back as what? A warrior. A might warrior leading a mighty army, riding a
white horse with a blood-stained white robe ... I believe that blood on that robe is
the blood of his enemies 'cause he's coming back as a warrior carrying a sword.
And I believe now - I've checked this out - I believe that sword he'll be carrying
when he comes back is an AR-15.
Now I want you to think about this: where did the Second Amendment come from?
... From the Founding Fathers, it's in the Constitution. Well, yeah, I know that. But
where did the whole concept come from? It came from Jesus when he said to his
disciples 'now, if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.'
I know, everybody says that was a metaphor. IT WAS NOT A METAPHOR! He
was saying in building my kingdom, you're going to have to fight at times. You
won't build my kingdom with a sword, but you're going to have to defend
yourself. And that was the beginning of the Second Amendment, that's where the
whole thing came from. I can't prove that historically and David [Barton] will
counsel me when this is over, but I know that's where it came from.
And the sword today is an AR-15, so if you don't have one, go get one. You're
supposed to have one. It's biblical.
- Jeremy Boykin

From 2nd Lesson, Child Evangelism Fellowship, Good News
Club, present in 3200 US public schools in Fall 2012:
"You are to go and completely destroy the Amalekites (AM-uh-leck-ites)
– people, animals, every living thing. Nothing shall be left."
"That was pretty clear, wasn't it?"
"The Amalekites had heard about Israel's true and living God many
years before, but they refused to believe in him. The Amalekites
refused to believe in God and God had promised punishment."
"If you are asked to do something, how much of it do you need to do
before you can say, 'I did it!'?"
"If only Saul had been willing to seek God for strength to obey!"
"How did King Saul only partly obey God when he attacked the
Amalekites? (He did not completely destroy as God had commanded,
he kept the king and some of the animals alive.)"
(from The Guardian, 30 May 2012)

Through its
appropriation of “texts of
terror,” and especially
through its application of
those texts to the Jews,
the Christian religion
created the conditions
for the oppression of
Palestinians.

How do we respond?

I believe we have a
systemic problem with
the overarching story of
modern/Western/colonia
l Christianity ...
The pre-critical framing story we
bring to the biblical text ...

Hell
Salvation
Fallen
History/
Fallen
world
Fall
HeavenEden

Hades
Philosophic
enlightenment
Aristotelian
Real
Fall
Into
Aristotelian
Real
Platonic IdealPlatonic Ideal

Destruction,
defeat
Civilization,
development,
colonialism
assimilationBarbarian/
pagan
world
Rebellion
into
barbarism
Pax RomanaPax Romana

Who is
God
in this storyline?
“If your vision of God if flawed, the more
devoted you are, the worse off you will
be.”

Is there an
alternative/subversiv
e understanding of
the biblical
narrative?

the danger of a single
story
chimamanda adichie

There is a word, an Igbo word, that I think
about whenever I think about the power
structures of the world, and it is "nkali." It's a
noun that loosely translates to "to be greater
than another."

Like our economic and political worlds, stories
too are defined by the principle of nkali: How
they are told, who tells them, when they're
told, how many stories are told, are really
dependent on power.
Power is the ability not just to tell the story of
another person, but to make it the definitive
story of that person. The Palestinian poet
Mourid Barghouti writes that if you want to
dispossess a people, the simplest way to do it is
to tell their story and to start with, "secondly."

73
Start the story with the arrows of the Native
Americans, and not with the arrival of the
British, and you have an entirely different
story. Start the story with the failure of the
African state, and not with the colonial
creation of the African state, and you have an
entirely different story.

sdrawkcab gnidaer
Rick Warren, Billy Graham, Charles Finney, John Wesley (or Calvin), Luther,
Aquinas, Augustine, Paul, Jesus
reading forwards
Adam, Eve, Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Moses, David, Isaiah, Elizabeth, John
the Baptist, Mary, Jesus ----- >

Exodus: Liberation & Formation

Genesis: Creation and Reconciliation

Genesis: Creation and Reconciliation
Isaiah: Peaceable Kingdom - Justice and
Mercy

Not a single “totalizing metanarrative” -
an us-them story that legitimates
domination and purification
(scapegoating).
But a “multi-narrative” that
creates a story-space (not a
story-line) in which many
stories can emerge and
interact.

G
e
n
e
s
i
s
Mercy
c
r
e
a
t
i
o
n

G
e
n
e
s
i
s
Mercy
DESTRUCTION
VIOLENCE
DOMINATION
c
r
e
a
t
i
o
n

G
e
n
e
s
i
s
Mercy
New Creation
Reconciliation
Liberation
c
r
e
a
t
i
o
n

“There is no need to be worried by
facetious people who try to make the
Christian hope of „Heaven‟ ridiculous
by saying they do not want „to spend
eternity playing harps‟. The answer to
such people is that if they cannot
understand books written for grown-
ups, they should not talk about
them. All the scriptural imagery
(harps, crowns, gold, etc.) is, of course,
a merely symbolical attempt to express
the inexpressible... People who take
these symbols literally might as well
think that when Christ told us to be
like doves, He meant that we were to
lay eggs.” - C.S. Lewis

6 When he came to Nazareth, where he had
been brought up, he went to the synagogue
on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He
stood up to read, 17and the scroll of the
prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled
the scroll and found the place where it was
written:
18 „The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the
captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord‟s favour.‟

20And he rolled up the scroll, gave
it back to the attendant, and sat
down. The eyes of all in the
synagogue were fixed on him.
21Then he began to say to them,
„Today this scripture has been
fulfilled in your hearing.‟

22All spoke well of him and were
amazed at the gracious words that
came from his mouth. They said, „Is
not this Joseph‟s son?‟ 23He said to
them, „Doubtless you will quote to
me this proverb, “Doctor, cure
yourself!” And you will say, “Do here
also in your home town the things
that we have heard you did at
Capernaum.” ‟

24And he said, „Truly I tell you, no prophet
is accepted in the prophet‟s home town.
25But the truth is, there were many
widows in Israel in the time of Elijah,
when the heaven was shut up for three
years and six months, and there was a
severe famine over all the land; 26yet
Elijah was sent to none of them except to
a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27There
were also many lepers* in Israel in the
time of the prophet Elisha, and none of
them was cleansed except Naaman the
Syrian.‟

Jesus, in the tradition of the Hebrew
prophets, refused to limit the scope
of God‟s care to an elite or elect
“us.”
So must we.

We might say it is time for the
Christian faith to be born again.

It is time to acknowledge our past.
It is time for a radical rethinking of
our whole understanding of the
Biblical story, the gospel, and what it
means to be Christians.
It is time to join with Jews, Muslims,
and others who seek peace, justice,
and the common good.

It is time to reclaim the Bible as “a
book for grown-ups.”

It is time to create
safe spaces where
new ways of
seeing, speaking,
and being Christian
can be practiced.

We cannot be naive about the possible subconscious
motivations for maintaining the status quo:
- Doctrinal statements and job security - the biblical
inerrancy/authority/violence/domination package
- Economic bullying - remember World Vision
- Fundraising via fear (Religious Broadcasting Industry)
- Shame over the Holocaust & historic anti-Semitism
- Innocence by association with a victim
- Incorporation/assimilation (and subtle elimination) of the
other
- Legitimization for a new scapegoat: Islam
- Perpetuation of the idea of an “elect” elite -
American/Israeli exceptionalism.
- Military proxy in the oil-rich Middle East

We must trust the
power of a better
story (good news)
to bring a better
day.

The costs
may be
high, and
we may
suffer ...
but the costs
of inaction are
higher still.

Thank you, Sabeel,
for your
courageous
leadership in this
journey.

Thanks to each of
you, advocates for
justice,
compassion, and
peace.

Sabeel 2014

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