Lent 2, John - Born Again

John 3.1-17

‘Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.’ (John 3.2)

The first time I went to Israel and Palestine, I expected to see some questionable sites of Jesus ministry, do some “good works” at the Lutheran school in Bethlehem and be depressed about the conditions Palestinians are forced to live under. I expected to feel sorry for the Palestinians, their every move controlled by Israel. If the peace negotiators had not been able to achieve an agreement, I expected there was nothing I could do.

But the people I met had different plans for me.

Their puzzling hospitality invited me into their shops and homes. The Palestinians I met know that they are prisoners in their own homes because my tax dollars provision the Israeli army. They know that American corporations manufacture the weapons of their oppression—Caterpillar bulldozers that knock down their homes and uproot their olive trees to build the wall, M-16s that are aimed at them at every checkpoint, F-16s flying low overhead and shooting to blow up their homes and schools, security cameras and computer systems enable soldiers to control and humiliate them at checkpoints.

Knowing that without my tax support Israel could not continue its occupation of their land, how could they welcome me into their homes and serve me tea and cakes? This hospitality is who they are. They have never blamed me for their impossible lives. And they have not given up.

Their faith in me to change their situation challenged me. When I asked what I could to to help change their

oppression, they told me, “Tell our stories. Surely if Americans knew how we are suffering, things will change.” I felt powerless. What could I do? I have no influence with my government. Yes it’s my tax dollars, but what can I do?

As I get to know them and see the work they are doing to build up their community, performing miracles of transformation, turning their prison into a healthy place for children to grow up, I feel like Nicodemus. His declaration to Jesus showed that he saw God’s hand in the healing work Jesus was doing. Like Nicodemus, I, too, have seen the power of God’s healing promises. I have seen people imprisoned behind a 25-foot wall being transformed by the new life they have received in Christ Jesus. I have seen God’s promise of abundant life being fulfilled in the work of these faithful Christians, as they create the Bright Stars after-school programs—music and dance, art and sports—for the children of Bethlehem. I have seen God’s miracles of transformation as I watch Muslim and Christian children learning about each others’ cultures and religions and practicing tolerance and peacemaking at Dar al-Kalima school. I have seen how these Christians, trusting in God’s promise of salvation, have been freed to live their lives AS IF the wall did not exist, to build a college in Bethlehem so that when there is peace, there will be young people equipped to lead a new Palestine.

I did not expect to be hooked by these people, but in Bethlehem I have seen miracles of healing and I have experienced a miracle of forgiveness, a hospitality as radical as Jesus’ words to Nicodemus: “You must be born from above.” Trusting God’s promises that their occupation will not be the last word, the people of Bethlehem have been given new life...and a future for their children. ˆ

Photo: Art Resists the Wall, Bethlehem

God of Abraham, you have promised eternal life for all who trust in your promises. Help us, who have been baptized into new life, to be instruments in your work of salvation in a world where people are perishing. Amen.