New Testament Reading-Luke 19: 28-40
Not long ago a U.S. citizen named Walt found himself in a countryside not far from Bethlehem. He was planting olive trees under the tutelage of an eleven-year-old Palestinian named Isaac. Every time he dug his pick into the earth Isaac would correct him saying, “No, no! Des way,” as he slammed “the pick much deeper into the rocky red soil.” After about an hour, it was clear that Isaac had done most of the work while Walt had found a role in offering praise. As they continued digging, they eventually struck a patch of orange dirt with a diameter of roughly ten inches. Isaac quickly called his grandfather to show him what they had found. Suddenly, there was a group of men peering into the hole talking animatedly in Arabic about what they saw. What they had discovered were the remains of a large and ancient olive tree that had been cut down.[i]
You see Walt was participating in a program called “Keep Hope Alive: The Olive Tree Campaign.” It was created by the East Jerusalem YMCA and the YWCA of Palestine in 2002 to plant new olive trees in the region. A year earlier Israeli soldiers and settlers had begun to systematically cut down the olive trees of Palestinian farmers. Numbers differ but according to the Keep Hope Alive website more than half a million olive trees were uprooted, burnt, and destroyed.[ii] I have read another article that puts the number at a million.[iii] What is crucial to realize is that for Palestinians olive trees are not only of vital economic significance but they are also of immense cultural and religious significance.
Given this reality, we might ask ourselves what the conditions were that led to this universal symbol of peace being cut down in such devastating numbers? And, how are we as Christians in the United States supposed to relate to this violence and the broader violence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? Can we relate to it with any sense of hope? Speaking at a conference in Washington D.C. this past week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu defended Israel’s recent decision to construct 1,600 new homes for Israeli settlers in East Jerusalem. He did so by evoking Jewish history. Just as King David built Jerusalem into a capital city 3,000 years ago so to would Jewish people continue to build in Jerusalem today.
Our scripture reading speaks of the Mount of Olives, a hill that, as the name suggests, was once covered with olive trees. It is now located in East Jerusalem. If one were to visit the Mount of Olives’ summit today, one would find the Arab neighborhood of at-Tur. At first glance, it would seem a sad irony that our reading from Luke reaches its climax when the crowds cry for peace as Jesus parades into Jerusalem. The crowds proclaim “peace in heaven” which is simply a way of declaring God’s intentions for bringing about peace. The cynical might say that it seems like Jerusalem has been waiting a long time for God’s intended peace. Yet, we know that Jerusalem has not always been divided like it is today. We also know that part of what makes scripture so powerful is that over and over again we are able to find ourselves in its story. The important question for us is where do we find ourselves in this story today.
One of the common misperceptions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is that it is a Jewish-Muslim conflict, but this obscures the reality in a couple of ways. First, it obscures how the conflict is really more about the policies of governments than it is about the religious beliefs of various peoples. Second, it obscures the decisive role that the U.S. government plays in the conflict. In 2007, our government signed a ten-year agreement to send $3 billion dollars a year to Israel in military aid. If our government really wanted to stop the building of settlements and bring about a two state solution, all we would have to do is withdraw our financial subsidization. Instead, on the same day and at the same conference at which Netanyahu spoke, our Secretary of State extolled that our aid to Israel actually increased this year.
We might also keep in mind the report that Amnesty International issued after the Israeli invasion of Gaza a year and a half ago. To refresh your memory, during the three week offensive, “Israeli forces killed more than 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza, including more than 300 children.” The Amnesty report is entitled “Fueling Conflict,” and the primary focus is the United States which “has been by far the major supplier of conventional arms to Israel.”[iv] Some of you might remember the scandal caused by Israel’s use of white phosphorus, a banned chemical weapon. All of the white phosphorus used came from the United States. The report further details how it was illegal under both international law and US law to supply arms to Israel. Finally, it makes clear that what happened in Gaza could not have occurred without US taxpayer money.[v]
So, how do we relate all of this to our scripture and faith? Let’s think of how the gospel of Luke brings us to the point of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem. After his baptism, we find Jesus in the synagogue essentially declaring that the Spirit of the Lord is upon him and that he has been anointed to bring good news to the poor, to set the captives free, to restore sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free. Jesus then begins his recruiting. He gathers an odd mix of destitute fishermen, despised tax collectors, and devout women into what at first is a small band of followers but soon grows into a thriving movement with enthusiastic crowds. With his booming ministry of reconciliation, healing, and hope, Jesus proclaims the good news of God’s kingdom. Eventually, the movement builds to a climax with Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.
The procession into the city has often been thought of as a kind of divine beauty pageant with Jesus waving to the crowds from the back of a donkey, but scholars have recently helped us to see that the procession into Jerusalem was really a planned demonstration, a deeply symbolic and profoundly religious social action. We now know that Jesus was riding into Jerusalem from the East at about the same time that the Roman imperial forces were riding into Jerusalem from the West just as they did every year for Passover. Whereas Pontius Pilate and the Romans rode into the city on their warhorses, Jesus rode into the city evoking Zechariah’s image of the divine king who rides victorious, yet humble on a donkey. Whereas Jesus rode into Jerusalem amid crowds of peasants proclaiming the peace of God from above, Pontius Pilate rode into Jerusalem proclaiming the peace of the Roman Emperor amid a people who feared and despised everything for which he stood. Pilate was there to keep the rabble in line because Passover with its celebration of Israelite deliverance and freedom had a subversive effect upon the people. Timed as it was, Jesus’ procession brought to the fore the clash between the Kingdom of God and the Empire of Tiberius Caesar.
With this background, if we were to now find ourselves in the story, the crucial question for us is which procession do we want to be apart of? Do we want to be a part of the procession that draws the peasant farmers from their olive trees in joy? Or, do we want to be a part of the procession that causes them to flee in fear? Today, we might not yet be at a stage where we have a movement ready to march into Jerusalem, but I see signs of something growing. This last week the president of our denomination invited people to sign an online petition calling for the end of the Gaza blockade. Elsewhere, organizers are endeavoring to emulate the successful disinvestment strategies that helped bring an end to apartheid in South Africa. And, then there is that odd mix of people who are a part of Keep Hope Alive. The goal of the project is to bring 350 sponsors a year to Palestine from countries like the US, Japan, Ireland, the UK, Denmark, Sweden, and more. Each year these sponsors strive to help plant 8,000 new olive trees. To me, it sounds like a ministry of reconciliation, healing, and hope.
When Walt was in Palestine looking down that hole at the remains of an olive tree, Isaac’s grandfather came over to him and spoke of how it had been cut down. Then with joy he added, “But you and my grandson will plant another one in its place, and we will have olives again!” We too can help make sure olives grow again. For just $20, one can sponsor the planting of a new olive tree. I have donated $20 so we can sponsor at least one tree, and in case you were wondering what the children were working on earlier, we have got a giant postcard that we are going to send to the Keep Hope Alive offices in East Jerusalem. We will put it in the narthex for people to sign. If you feel called to add to another olive tree, there will be a basket for contributions. There will also be information about our denomination’s online petition to end the blockade. Linda Eddy will be there at the table to answer any questions you might have. Linda has been given a Fulbright award to teach nursing and help start the first nursing school in Gaza.
To close this sermon, I think I could use some audience participation. I have asked Kristin and Sabrina to parade our giant postcard among the crowd here. As they do so, let’s all shout out with joy “Peace in Heaven.” Amen.
[i] Walt, “Keeping Hope Alive,” Joint Advocacy Initiative, <http://www.jai-pal.org/content.php?page=679>.
[ii] Joint Advocacy Initiative, “Keep Hope Alive-The Olive Tree Campaign,”
<http://www.jai-pal.org/content.php?page=1>.
[iii] Sonja Karkar, “The Olive Trees of Palestine Weep,” ZNet, (September 4, 2007),
< http://www.zcommunications.org/the-olive-trees-of-palestine-weep-by-sonja-karkar>.
[iv] Amnesty International, “Fueling Conflict: Foreign Arms Supplies to Israel/Gaza,” (February 2009),
< http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/MDE15/012/2009/en/5be86fc2-994e-4eeb-a6e8-3ddf68c28b31/mde150122009en.html>.
[v] A helpful summary of Amnesty International report was given by Norman Finkelstein in an interview he did on Democracy Now: “Norman Finkelstein Responds to Clinton, Netanyahu AIPAC Comments,” Democracy Now, (March 23, 2010), <http://www.democracynow.org/2010/3/23/norman_finkelstein_responds_to_clinton_netanyahu>.
