Lent 2 - Mark - Like Peter

Lent 2 – Mark
Mark 8.31-38

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders….and be killed….and Peter….began to rebuke him.(Mk 8.3)

We Westerners have a tendency to intellectualize and reshape Jesus’ suffering, rejection, and death, preferring to focus on the resurrection—hence our empty crosses and our over-the-top Easter celebrations. We create vast bureaucracies (police, prisons, armed forces, hospitals, nursing facilities) that insulate us from suffering. Like Peter, we don’t want to hear about suffering and death.

The political world of Jesus and his followers, however, was very different—mass crucifixions, beatings, imprisonment and torture by Rome’s soldiers, were common. While we can hardly relate to these conditions, millions of people around the world endure this suffering daily.

In a May, 2011 speech President Obama talked about the Arab Spring and the young Tunisian who began a revolution by setting himself on fire. The president honored Mohamed Bouazizi for his desperate act. Listen to a 2-minute clip of the speech.

When I heard the president say this, I was appalled—I wondered, What does it take? Must Palestinians torch themselves to get the world’s attention?

The president went on to make the connection between the freedom movements of the Arab Spring and our own Civil Rights movement: “There are times in the course of history when the actions of ordinary citizens spark movements for change because they speak to a longing for freedom that has been building up for years,” the president said, comparing Bouazizi’s actions to “the defiance of those patriots in Boston who refused to pay taxes to a king, or the dignity of Rosa Parks as she sat courageously in her seat." [source: ABC News]

I was reminded of the President’s words again a couple of weeks ago when I heard about Khadar Adnan’s hunger strike in Israeli prison. This Palestinian’s own “longing for freedom” has compelled him to say NO in the only way he can—refusing to eat. Adnan was arrested on December 17 and has been held in “administrative detention” ever since. He has no right to see the accusations against him; his lawyer is not permitted to see the evidence; he has no right to see his family, or to speak with his lawyer. He can be held indefinitely and resentenced without trial. (see a report of his arrest and detention in Israel’s Haaretz newspaper)

Physicians for Human Rights Israel, Amnesty International, and the Carter Center appealed to Israeli officials for his release.

In his speech, the president also said, “And you can't have a real dialogue when parts of the peaceful opposition are in jail.” He was talking about Bahrain, but the statement describes Israel too. Twenty-one elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council are among the more than 300 Palestinians also being held in administrative detention by Israel. These men are labeled terrorists because they advocate for and end the Israel’s occupation of Palestine. They have not been charged or convicted for any crime.

Adnan has written from prison, "I hereby assert that I am confronting the occupiers not for my own sake as an individual, but for the sake of thousands of prisoners who are being deprived of their simplest human rights while the world and international community look on.” He ended his hunger strike on February 21, after reaching an agreement for his release in April. [photo: Reuters]

Gracious God, you know so well the suffering of your people. Even the birth of your son was met with violence and death, as empire fought to maintain its power. Give us courage to witness the suffering in our world. Help us to understand our own role in our twenty-first century empires and strengthen us to resist oppression. Amen.