As a heads up since I don’t normally talk about recent events, this post is a discussion about the recent conflict in Israel and Gaza. I won’t get into details of the recent or historical events, and I won’t make any declarations about the morality of either or both sides.
I write from the incredibly privileged position of being unemployed, which means the consequences of most of my decisions are limited in scope to people whose faces and names I know. That gives me the ability to reframe a lot of things in that light and extrapolate the principles with which I live my life (or try to anyway) to other situations.
Where this runs into trouble is situations I have no experience in which are fundamentally different from mine. It’s easy for me to be principled or stay silent on a topic when it doesn’t affect me or I’m still wrestling with it, but that strategy falls flat in positions of leadership. Leaders aren’t supposed to be reactive, but proactive – they aren’t simply solving problems, but guiding others in their ways. In many ways, a church pastor or political leader are obliged to speak about certain issues, if not to lead their people then to stay a leader.
Which brings me to recent events. I cannot imagine what I would do in any position of governance in Israel this October. I recently mentioned Dr. Kalantzis, who studied the early church’s view on violence and found a consistent insistence on non-violence, and that made incompatible any employment which may necessitate taking a life – including military service and any government work that oversaw executions or the military.
And yet Israel’s actions are a far cry from Pax Romana enforced by the sword. I won’t go into detail – partly because I am woefully unqualified to comment on such a long and complicated conflict, and partly because I hardly have the stomach to read about recent details myself – but one thing I’m confident about is that nothing can justify the atrocities Hamas has committed in the last few days. There are arguments concerning that complicated history, pointing to acts of violence or oppression committed by Israel, but I believe vengeance runs directly contrary to the Bible’s ethics.
I find myself asking next, what about the morality of Israel’s response? Christianity Today’s The Bulletin addressed this to an extent, and Dr. Russell Moore briefly mentioned Romans 13 as describing authorities as having a God-given obligation to protect their citizens. While I think his point is generally true, I don’t think it’s carte blanche.Governments and militaries are put in place by God and their actions are used for His plan, I don’t think Romans speaks quite so directly to the morality of asymmetrical warfare, and it is certainly possible for authorities to cut so far against Christian morality we have a duty to resist them.
Where I find some guidance is a tenet at the core of my belief: that there is no such thing as “other people”, a point I tried to get at in Friend to the Other. I don’t have enough information to say what any given individual should do, but as a broad principle, I think it’s important to remember each of us is where we are by God’s grace. It’s easy to take sides in a conflict, particularly one whose legacy and wounds are as deep as this one. I have seen vile rhetoric online from both sides, flinging baseless accusations and justifications at the other side, and it’s become evident to me that most people involved in these conversations don’t realize how easily they could be on the other side of it.
It’s similar to how only other people go through having their house robbed or a car stolen, and only when it happens to us do we realize we are someone’s other people. In the same way, it’s well known that people severely underestimate how much they are influenced by things like culture and media. We may hold up examples of how good our tribe is or how bad the other tribe is, but at the core, there’s no fundamental difference between us other than circumstance.
Where I’m going with this is twofold. First, I’ll circle back to the parable of the good Samaritan and point out the same thing I did last time: that the teacher of the law who asked “Who is my neighbor?” could not even bear to identify the Samaritan by name. I think that points to a truth that makes even me uncomfortable: we are called to be helpers and neighbors to both sides of this conflict. And I think that makes it really easy for us to identify with the teacher of the law – do I really want to give humanitarian aid to a soldier of Hamas? Or to a nationalist Israeli leader? And if I’m being honest, the answer is no – but when has the Bible ever prioritized what we want?
And that’s point two: maybe the best thing we can do as Christians is make time and space for calmer voices and nuance. My wife and I have both become acutely aware of the word “tension” in our lives thanks to my writing, but to point it out in this conflict is to look at the ocean and say it may be a bit damp.
Sit in the tension. This is a focal point of the world we live in – there is pain, and there are images of God. We still live in a fallen world, and we are called to grieve with those who grieve – yet we are also called to be healers, and to be set apart as torchbearers of the Eden blessing. Though the world is full of sin and suffering, we carry the good news that there is still hope.
I don’t claim solving an ethnic conflict dating back a century will be easy, I just claim that the pain in this situation is exactly what the Sermon on the Mount addresses.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Matthew 5:38–48
For further reading, I’d recommend Psalm 22 and Job 31.
Life in Tension 