What exactly does the phrase “no justice, no peace” mean? A most generous interpretation would say that, unless we consciously advocate for everyone to be treated as fairly as possible, God will not grant us the peace he so generously offers.
The most negative perception of the phrase would consider it a threat that, unless the powers that be bend to our definition of justice, their lives will be made painfully unpeaceful.
An extreme lack of peace has plagued the Middle East for longer than most of us could imagine. In 1947 the United Nations adopted the Partition Plan to divide the British Mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states. On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was created, giving the Jewish people a homeland that they had been without for almost 2,000 years.
This sparked the first Arab-Israeli War, which ended in 1949 with a victory for Israel but 750,000 displaced Palestinians. A partial solution was to divide the territory into three parts, which were the State of Israel for the Jewish people, then the West Bank and Gaza Strip for the Palestinians.
Tensions have run high in the Middle East for our lifetimes. Different countries have invaded others in an attempt to seize more territory. An extremist view of Islam considers jihad against the infidels to be a moral good. For many of them, most Israelis and North Americans are infidels.
We remember that on Oct. 7 the Hamas terrorist organization, which exists in large part to obliterate Israel, launched surprise attacks on Israeli civilians, killing approximately 1,200 and taking over 240 hostages.
Israel retaliated with a ground invasion of northern Gaza and the war has continued with only brief cease-fires. Not one of us could come up with a workable, pleasant solution for sharing a border with an enemy who wants to annihilate your country and all of your people.
To minimize the amount of innocent blood shed during war is crucial, yet incredibly difficult. This conflict has been gruesome in the number of casualties. To make matters worse, Hamas gladly offers up innocent Palestinian people as martyrs. Because of certain closed borders, it has been next to impossible for many in Gaza to escape.
Mottos, chants and generalizations — like my generalizations here — fall way short in trying to encapsulate neatly the deeply nuanced and complex problems of the Middle East.
As Christians, we certainly know that targeting innocents, destroying property, frightening others and calling for the destruction of an entire group of people run counter to the way of the cross. In no way do they reflect the actions of Jesus. In the United States, it never should be a reality that any Jewish or Muslim student would be blocked from attending class, for example.
As much as possible, let us emulate the way of peace and the challenging, thought-provoking dialogue our savior modeled. Even on the night of his betrayal, which would lead to death, Jesus did not reduce himself to lashing out at those clearly in the wrong.
“While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, ‘Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?’ When Jesus’ followers saw what was going to happen, they said, ‘Lord, should we strike with our swords?’ And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus answered, ‘No more of this!’ And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.” Luke 22: 47-51
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